The Toronto Public Library has added 30,000 streaming videos to its collection via a new partnership with Kanopy, a San Francisco-based startup that provides libraries and post-secondary institutions with on-demand video streaming.
Anyone with a valid Toronto library card and an email address can use the service for free.
The two restrictions are that users can only watch eight videos per month, and that they have three days to finish a video after starting it.
However, in that three day period, it’s possible to watch a video as many times as one wants, from anywhere in the world, and on almost any device. One thing to note is that watching a video partway through counts against your eight per month watch limit.
The Kanopy mobile app is available on iOS and Android. The company also has Apple TV and Roku apps, and users can watch the platform’s content via a web browser.
Accessibility is another strong point of the platform, with each video being fully captioned. In addition, Kanopy is compatible with screen reader software such as JAWS.
While Kanopy won’t replace your Netflix subscription, the platform’s collection is still excellent, with recent movies like Manchester By The Sea and Paterson available to stream. There are countless documentaries and independent movies to watch as well, including Christopher Nolan’s second film, Memento.
Source: Toronto Public Library
