Video Resources in the Library: Home

• Kanopy offers feature films and documentaries for streaming. Content partners include the Criterion Collection, A24, A&E, Kino Lorber, and the History Channel. 

• Academic Video Online (AVON) from Alexander Street offers a variety of documentaries, performances, news shows and academic videos from a variety of publishers including PBS, CNN, Alexander Street, Broadway Theatre Archive, United Newsreel Corporation, and BBC Worldwide, as well as feature films from Sony Picture Classics and documentaries from Film Platform.

• Swank Digital Campus licenses and distributes content to non-theatrical markets. The CCC Libraries share a package that allows for a limited number of titles in use at any given time.

• The HWC Library maintains a collection of nearly four hundred titles on DVD. To find out if we own a copy of a specific title, search the online catalog or contact a librarian for assistance.

All library databases, including our video streaming platforms, are subscription databases. This means that to access them from anywhere outside of a City Colleges building, you will need to log in with your CCC username and password. Note: Enter the username without the @student.ccc.edu ending.

The login page will look like this:

Copyright restrictions, as well as bandwidth and authentication requirements, limit how videos can been screened for remote (online) classes and events. Films in the Kanopy, AVON, and Swank databases do not allow for streaming for a synchronous viewing via teleconferencing software such as Zoom. Below are a few suggested alternatives:

• Have students watch the required video on their own prior to class. Remind them that they will need to log in with their CCC credentials to watch any movie in Kanopy, AVON or Swank.

• If students are required to watch clips of videos, consider posting the permanent links to these (or embedding) in your course site for students to view on their own. If your preference is for students to watch the clip/s in class, consider having students watch individually and then return to the group to discuss.

• Have students watch a full-length video on their own during class and use the chat box in Zoom to comment, discuss, etc. Each student will need to log into the database from which the video is being viewed with their own CCC credentials.

Adapted from Duke University's Learning Innovation Blog

Kanopy: If you find a video in Kanopy that CCC does not currently have access to, please click the “Request Access” option that appears on the video’s title card to complete the form. See this page for more information. Both instructors and students can request access. Effective 2024, the "Suggest a film" option to ask Kanopy to add a video that is not in the current collection is no longer available.

Swank: In addition to the 1000 titles available during a given academic year, there are a limited number of slots available for instructors to request titles not included in the Top 1000. Once these slots are filled, no more individual requests will be accepted. Access to individual titles can be requested through the HWC Library's Video Request Form. Preference for these requests is given for the following courses:

1. Fine Arts (FIN ART) 104 (The World of the Cinema)
2. Fine Arts (FIN ART) 109 (History of Cinema)
3. Fine Arts (FIN ART) 114 (Film History I)
4. Fine Arts (FIN ART) 115 (Film History II)
5. Communication Media (CMMEDIA) 163 (Film Rhetoric)
6. Literature (LIT) 155 (Literature and Film)

Please be aware that films are for academic use and can only be requested by faculty, staff or student organizations for use in HWC / CCC courses.