Our approach to the film database, Kanopy has changed out of financial necessity. To learn more, read below.
How Kanopy Works
Kanopy does not use a subscription model, where we know how much we’ll spend each year. The Kanopy model is a PDA (patron driven acquisition), where we only acquire and pay for a title when it is triggered by use. Three uses of an individual title triggers a 1-year rental fee of $135 for that title.
In contrast to other PDA’s, in the Kanopy model, we don’t actually “buy” a triggered title, but instead we rent the film for one year. At the end of the rental, if the title is triggered again, we pay for the rental again.
Our Kanopy Costs
- In Fiscal Year 2017, we spent $33,592
- In Fiscal Year 2018, we spent $59,535
- So far in Fiscal Year 2019 (from 7/18 – 1/19) we spent $60,885.
If we continue at this rate, by the end of the fiscal year we will have spent over $100,000, which is unsustainable for films that we are only renting for one year.
What Can We Still View?
We will continue to retain access to titles triggered by 3 uses, until the year rental for the individual title is up. The year rental begins on the month the title was triggered, i.e. the month of the 3rd use. For example, if a title was triggered on 10/15/18, we will have access through 10/14/19. If a title was triggered on 5/24/18, we will have access until 5/23/19, and so on.
Please check with your subject specialist librarian to check to see if we still have access to a particular film and for how long.
We will continue to use Kanopy as a vendor and if there are films that are useful for your department, we can continue to license those films. The cost is $135 for a year’s license and that cost would come out of a department's allocation.
We will continue to license Kanopy films for events, such as a conference, movie night , etc. Please note, however, most but not all films on Kanopy have public performance rights. If you plan to show a film to any group that includes individuals who are not enrolled in a specific course for which that film is shown, please let Rick Davis know so he can investigate the availability of public performance rights.
We will continue to display Kanopy on our database page, however, only the TU licensed films will show.
Why Now?
We recognize this announcement is very abrupt and we hope this does not cause our TU faculty and students too much alarm. We strive to be the best stewards of the resources we are given and we want to be as transparent as possible about why we do what we do in the library. Please know that this was a very difficult decision for us as a library. We don't want to limit access to our resources unless we absolutely have to and we felt that Kanopy's rapidly escalating costs necessitated this sudden action.
Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.