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Library Services for Faculty

How to order books, how to put items on reserve, how to schedule a library workshop for your course and more!

Getting Films to Use in an Online Teaching Environment

The library is able to help faculty get streaming films for use in online teaching environments.We do ask faculty to do the following when considering using films in online teaching.

  1. Investigate what we have online already. 
    • Search Knox Primo by keyword, title, etc. Use the filters in the right-hand column to limit your results by "movie" and then "electronic":
    • Search Academic Video Online (AVON). All films in AVON are available for use by Knox faculty, staff, and students.
  2. If you do not find suitable films available using the above methods, please email your librarian liaison with specific titles. Your liaison will investigate other options.

You may wish to direct students to commercial providers where they may be able to individually purchase access to films. Some of those are:

  • Netflix
  • Vudu
  • Hulu
  • Cable Providers
  • You-Tube 
  • Amazon Prime Video
  • Open Culture

Getting Films

For class showings or use by multiple students:

  • Films to be shown in to a class must be purchased by the library ~ they cannot be obtained via ILL or I-Share.
    • Send purchase requests to liborders@knox.edu with the title and director
    • Please send orders at least 2 weeks before you need them.
    • If you need a film order super rush - please indicate that in the email to liborders@knox.edu
    • Send only actual orders to the order email.  If you have questions about films, send these to your liaison
  • Commercial Rental is sometimes an option, but rentals often cost as much as ½ the purchase price, and so if a title is likely to be used more than once this is not cost effective.
  • Interlibrary loan (ILL) is not a suitable method. 
    • ILL is meant to provide patrons with individual research sources that their own library does not have.
    • ILL is not meant to substitute for an institution buying curricular materials and cannot be used to supply resources to a whole class
    • Also ILL doesn’t work for many films – most libraries will not lend films, and you can’t schedule an arrival date or loan period
    • ILL is not free to Knox, only to you.  Borrowing films usually incurs substantial lending fees and postage costs.  So, we'd rather spend $25 to own a film than $20 to borrow it.
    • If an item is not available for purchase or rental, then ILL can be used as a last resort.  However, with ILL you cannot set an arrival date or length of loan, so you must be flexible.  
    • ILL items cannot be put on reserve

For Individual faculty use for research, preview or course prep

  • If the cost of a film is under $40 Library Purchase is still usually the best method.  ILL is not free to Knox (just to you) and films usually come with a fee and postage costs.
  •  If the cost is over $40, then ILL can be used for this type of individual research.  Keep in mind though that because many libraries will not lend films via ILL it can be difficult to get films and it can take 2-3 weeks to get a film via ILL

Using Films from Our Collection

Any of our films can be used for class showings

  • Please check a film’s availability at least 2 weeks before you plan to use it. Otherwise the film may be checked out or loaned to another library.
  • As with other reserve items, you can send a list to your liaison or bring your films to the circulation desk and fill out a reserve slip.
  • When placing a film on reserve, please provide a show date or copy of your syllabus with show dates to the circulation staff so that we can insure the film is available when needed
  • Personal films can be put on reserve, but keep in mind that students can be hard on DVDs and you may see a high level of wear.

Campus Wide or Public Showings 

  • The library will not purchase films if they will not be used by classes.  If they are only for a campus wide or public showing, then funds for purchase or licensing need to come from other sources such as the Lectures & Concerts committee funds. 
  • If you want to do a campus wide or public showing of a film we already own, this can only be done with films purchased with pubic performance rights (PPR).
  • Only a small % of our collection comes with PPR.
  • We are in the process of indicating in the catalog which of our films have PPR in the catalog, but this project is not yet complete.  All recently purchased films indicate this, but not all older films
  • If the library catalog does not indicate if PPR is included in a film, contact your liaison if you want to know if a particular film comes with PPR.
  • When ordering a film, if you want us to purchase it with PPR, please indicate that on the order request. This is option is only available for some films.
  • Not all films are available with PPR; usually PPR is only available for documentaries. Feature Films have to be licensed for a single showing through an agent for campus wide or public showings.