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Library streaming media provider hoopla digital has launched LightSpeed, the 3.0 version of its user interface, which includes a faster signup process for new users, a recommendation engine, multi-tiered genre-based searching, and an algorithm designed to tailor recommendations for patrons based on the usage history.
Midwest Tape’s pay-per-circ streaming media service hoopla has announced the addition of thousands of popular movies and television shows to its lineup, through new agreements with Universal Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, National Geographic, and BBC America.
In a move that underscores OverDrive’s plans to support a robust selection of streaming video for libraries, the company on Tuesday announced the appointment of Lee C. Milstein to the newly created position of chief strategy officer. Milstein was most recently head of the news content partnership team for Google’s YouTube division, and previously held […]
Since the beginning of 2013, four major library vendors have announced the launch of new or expanded streaming services that will enable patrons to view movies and television shows at their library or at home using computers, tablets, smart TVs, or any device equipped with a web browser.
A beta test for hoopla, the new digital content platform from Midwest Tape, was launched on Friday at the Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML), and will expand during the next several weeks to include tests at several other libraries.
A Roku lending program launched last year by Ephrata Public Library (EPL) in Pennsylvania has proven so popular that the library is planning to invest in several more of the media streaming devices in the coming months.
Recorded Books has announced worldwide availability of IndieFlix for Libraries, an online streaming service that will offer access to independent films, shorts, and documentaries to library cardholders on computers, Android and iOS tablets and mobile devices, Roku, and later this year, PS3 and Xbox game consoles. The service will offer patrons unlimited access to films screened at more than 2,000 film festivals worldwide, and interested libraries would pay a flat annual fee using a tiered pricing model based on total materials circulation.
Library DVD borrowing has fallen sharply during the past year, and library users are rapidly migrating toward streaming services for both music and movies, according to the July 2012 edition of LJ’s Patron Profiles, which examines trends in Media Consumption and Library Use. DVDs are the top format for films loaned by libraries, and 27 percent of respondents said that libraries remain their primary source for movies—down from 36 percent in the first Patron Profiles survey, conducted less than a year ago. “A strong indicator of the changing media landscape is the rise of streaming and disc-by-mail services—both currently dominated by Netflix,” the report states.
Indiana University Libraries, Bloomington, in partnership with Northwestern University Library, Evanston, IL, aims to assist academic libraries and archives in managing locally-generated video and audio collections with an open source software project called Variations on Video.
