Now Streaming: A Consortial PDA Video Pilot Project

In 2014, eight academic libraries in the state of New York collaborated on a group patron driven acquisition (PDA) pilot program with Kanopy, a video streaming service for libraries. The institutions, despite vast differences in size and profile, each launched Kanopy’s streaming solution on their campuses under a program where they would jointly contribute to and acquire films based on group usage. The pilot ran for seven months and led to some fascinating insights into the differences in demand for film across campuses, the possibility of PDA as a model for library acquisition, and the feasibility of a group approach to acquisition. This paper presents the background to, results of, and reflections on the pilot program from the three unique perspectives of the consortium, the vendor, and one of the libraries involved, providing a holistic view of the success of the pilot and the lessons learned.