Making Streaming Media Sustainable

July 21, 2023

I often think about Woody Allen’s well-known statement that “80% of success in life is just showing up.” There are many ways this manifests in our professional lives. Undergrads are less likely to succeed if they don’t show up for class. Being present at faculty meetings is more likely to improve relationships with our liaison departments. One way just “showing up” has benefitted me is by joining a research project outside my liaison areas.

In July 2021, Ithaka S+R (the research arm of Ithaka, which runs JSTOR) put out a call for participation for their Making Streaming Media Sustainable research project. “Streaming media” in this context means streaming films and music from vendors like Kanopy and Alexander Street Press. Gaining a better understanding of these platforms’ usage is crucial to containing library spending on them. The project aimed “…to share evidence about and strategies around streaming media licensing terms” and “examine patron practices and needs when working with streaming content.” The project was divided into two parts: Ithaka S+R would conduct a nationwide survey of collection development librarians and researchers at 24 participating universities would conduct structured interviews with instructors to discuss how they use streaming media in their classes.

The Pitt Libraries leadership team decided we should be a part of the project, so our then-Associate University Librarian (AUL) sent out an invitation to join the team. I was intrigued by the invitation, but also hesitant. While I fielded the occasional purchase requests from my liaison faculty, audiovisual media acquisitions and contracts were (and are) far out of my comfort zone! Fortunately, deep knowledge of these areas wasn’t required. Since real growth happens in both librarianship and life when we step into the unknown, I decided to join the project.

For our portion of the project, my colleagues and I virtually interviewed 10 Oakland campus instructors who largely taught in foreign languages and the hard sciences (neither of which are my liaison areas). Ithaka S+R provided the interview protocol, which asked instructors, among other things, how they find films and use them in their classes. The corrected interview transcripts were then sent to Ithaka S+R for use in their final report, which is linked below. In brief, we found that instructors felt students had less ability to read a text and were more comfortable with media. Instructors also didn’t expect students to pay for access to streaming media and view it qualitatively differently than print texts. An incidental finding was instructors’ concern about their students’ mental health and the toll the pandemic had taken on them.

This has been an enormously rewarding experience in many ways. First, I got to talk with instructors I never would have had I not been a part of this project. Second, I gained an understanding of how our instructors conceptualize use of streaming media in their classes and how those understandings fit in with national trends. Finally, the interview protocol’s structure and language offer a template for future conversations with my faculty about class design and assigned materials.

So, whenever a professional opportunity comes along and you’re unsure about it, show up. It could be a great experience!

For those interested in the final Ithaka S+R reports, here are the links: