Through on-demand video streaming services such as Kanopy and Hoopla, Daniel Boone Regional Library (DBRL) offers an abundance of films, television shows and documentaries to watch and download on computers, mobile devices, and televisions. Anyone that lives in Boone or Callaway County and has a DBRL card can access an account on both platforms completely free of charge.
“If you’re interested in viewing rare and hard-to-find classics, independent films and foreign flicks, the library’s new streaming service is your ticket,” DBRL said on its website, “Kanopy showcases award-winning documentaries and acclaimed films; rare and hard-to-find titles; and classic feature films, with collections from Criterion, PBS, The Great Courses and Janus Films.”
Kanopy alone carries more than 30,000 films, training videos and documentaries with updated content added weekly. You can watch up to six videos a month, including award-winning titles such as The Girl on the Train, Lolita, Moonlight, Lady Bird and many more. Kanopy provides accommodations for the hearing-impaired through captions/transcripts and is compatible with JAWS for the visually-impaired.
On top of everything offered on Kanopy, Hoopla also offers films and television shows which you can check out up to 10 items per month. ”Into the Woods”, “Ella Enchanted”, “iCarly”, “SpongeBob SquarePants”, “White Chicks” and “Rick and Morty” are popular movies and television shows that are currently not available on other streaming services such as Netflix.
“I think [Kanopy and Hoopla] are extremely beneficial to our community, especially for those who cannot afford pricier options as the library is offering tons of free options for everyone,” freshman Saloni Chaurasia said.
The library’s mission statement is “connecting [people] to ideas, information, community life and each other,” the website said.
“By providing the same services online that people can access in the library building,” Mitzi St. John the Public Relations Manager at DBRL said, “it makes library services more accessible to more people living in Boone and Callaway Counties.”
St. John said, DBRL introduced eBooks as the first online service offered in 2002. Since then, DBRL has expanded its offerings to include downloadable audiobooks, digital magazines and streaming/downloadable music. In 2014 Hoopla brought movies and television shows with the added films and videos from Kanopy in 2017.
DBRL has taken advantage of the benefits to streaming/downloadable media, supplying members of the community access to several online resources.
For teenagers, these resources not only provide popular movies and shows for entertainment but can also be a valuable tool for research. The streaming services offer informational documentaries and training videos all with the added convenience of easy access through mobile devices.
“Convenience has become important in our daily lives, and offering services online makes it more convenient for people to use the library. The library encourages lifelong learning, and the digital resources provide an engaging, convenient way to do that,” St John said. “[DBRL] has always been a place where people find information, and over the years, the ways people prefer to get that information has changed. The library has changed along with those preferences.”
What do you think about the streaming services offered at DBRL? Let us know in the comments below.
