EIU Booth Library

Database of the Week: Kanopy Streaming Media

Posted on September 19th, 2017

Welcome to ‘Database of the Week,’ where we here at Booth, with the help of our invaluable Reference Librarians, will be shining a light on some of those lesser-known, but wonderfully valuable, databases we host at the library!

For the first database to showcase, we’re picking something that you can use for those film and history classes, but you can also use on your downtime from classes, too. And it’s educational, so you aren’t technically slacking.

Kanopy Streaming is one of the streaming databases you can find on on the database A-Z page (click on ‘K‘) linked from Booth’s website. You can also find it on the ‘Books and Movies’ search tab from the homepage. (Click on ‘Streaming Video’ under the search bar!)

Kanopy Streaming has a Netflix-like interface, where you’re able to scroll though documentaries, foreign films, and even classic movies, and stream them at your leisure. You can watch off campus too (with your EIU login, of course)! Kanopy Streaming also has some pretty nice features, for instance:

Users who are hearing impaired (Or with really loud roommates) can run a transcript of the video while it plays. Just start the film, click the ‘More’ link, and then the ‘Transcript.’ If you don’t quite know where to start in Kanopy Streaming’s large collection of titles, the ‘Subjects’ link at the top of the screen can help you sort through films to find that one particular doc you need on women in media, or the over-arching effects of global warming.

Here are a few interesting titles to get you started:

Before Stonewall (1984): a documentary focusing on the lives of LGBT peoples before the police raid on the Stonewall Inn in 1969, which opened the floodgates to the fight for equal rights for LGBT Americans.

Stolen Education: The Legacy of Hispanic Racism in Schools (2013): another doc, but this one details the struggle of Hispanic-American children in the 1950’s school system. Chronicling their struggles, from being held back in first grade for three years, to being discouraged to achieve academically because they spoke Spanish, this film gives a critical view to both racism and the education system.

And, for those times when you need a break from any and all academia:

The BBC’s Emma: this four-episode series brings the comedic Austen novel about the beautiful Emma Woodhouse’s matchmaking abilities right into your dorm! This pick is best suited for a mini-binge before your chemistry homework.

The Blob (1958): a cult classic! This cheesy “horror” movie is perfect for a Friday night treat after a week full of classes.

That’s all for Kanopy Streaming. So please, enjoy some movies this weekend! See you next week for another featured Database of the Week.