To comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, Schaffer Library has eliminated its practice of digitizing DVDs. Faculty were notified of this change in January 2024. Beginning Fall 2024, Schaffer Library will no longer digitize a film from DVD or provide access to previously digitized films on Panopto. If you have questions or concerns about these changes, please contact Frances Maloy, College Librarian.
Questions about our film and streaming collections? Email librarycollections@union.edu
As per §110 (1) of the U.S. Copyright Act, faculty are permitted to show films in the classroom for educational purposes. For face-to-face instruction, film clips and/or entire films can be shown.
Schaffer Library subscribes to many streaming media services that make it easy to integrate film into your pedagogy. We also have an extensive collection of DVDs that can be viewed in your classroom and/or placed on Course Reserve. Showing licensed video and legally acquired DVDs are compliant with the U.S. Copyright Act.
Please note that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 prohibits the conversion of DVDs to digital format. For more information about DMCA, view the American Library Association (ALA) “Digital Millennium Copyright Act” page or the Schaffer Library Copyright for Faculty guide.
See the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) “Performance of or Showing Films in the Classroom” for further advice and examples.
The best place to start your search is Primo, the library catalog. Primo searches our streaming databases and DVD collection at the same time, providing a comprehensive search. Enter your search terms below to get started.
Tips:
Below are some of our popular streaming databases, which you can search directly. For a complete list of our streaming audio and video databases, please visit our A-Z Database List.
Provides access to hundreds of feature films ranging across decades of cinema. Many films come with various subtitle and Closed Captioning options as well.
A collection of videos covering a range of subjects along with recreational videos, news coverage, and documentaries.
Provides more than 26,000 streaming films in its collection - including leading producers such as Criterion Collection, Universal Paramount, The Great Courses, New Day Films, California Newsreel, Kino Lorber, PBS, BBC, First Run Features, Media Education Foundation, Documentary Education Resources.
