Streaming

The LRC is eager to assist in obtaining streaming rights for the films you wish to use for a course you are teaching. We will conduct the research for you to see if and where a film is available for streaming, or do a fair use evaluation for streaming under certain conditions.

Know which film you want?

The LRC and Askwith Media Library have purchased some individual films licensed in perpetuity, and the Library subscribes to a variety of video streaming platforms. So that you don't have to search each platform individually, we have created a master list of films on all the platforms...

Browse films by language

Both the LRC Catalog and U-M Library Catalog allow you to search for films by language. In the LRC Catalog, select "Video -Digital" under Material Type and type in your language of interest, then click "Search." In the U-M Library Catalog, use the Advanced Search; scroll down until you see the selections for "Language" and "Format;" select the language(s) you are interested in and choose "Visual Material" as the format (not "Motion Picture"). Click "Advanced Search." On the results page, you may want to use the option on the left hand side to further filter to resources "Available Online."  

In addition to films that are provided by the Library on a variety of streaming platforms, the LRC and Askwith Media Library also purchase streaming rights for individual films, generally for a period of time from 1 year to "in perpetuity." Here is a list of films with a Streaming License in Perpetuity, meaning that there's no recurring fee to renew the license. These films are therefore great picks for long-range course planning, as they can stay up on your Canvas site all term, for as many courses as desired.

There are multiple options for creating/finding film clips for use in your teaching:

• The LRC can make clips for you. Please email us with your request list or submit this document to reservations-lrc@umich.edu.
• UC Berkeley Lumière: This is a database of clips that you can register to access here. LRC staff are also available to guide you through the process or to assist in identifying how many clips (used by faculty at other institutions) are already available for the language(s) you teach.

Whether and how to use subtitles can vary depending on several factors:

• instructional goals
• students' language level
• accessibility
• length of media
• degree of analysis

We cannot guarantee that we'll be able to provide the subtitles you prefer, but we will always attempt to provide your preference for: English subtitles, target-language subtitles/captions, or no subtitles. If you want subtitles, but there are none available for the film (or clip) you wish to use, we could help you incorporate a subtitling assignment into your course, or hold an LRC event to assist in reaching this goal. This requires some lead time and planning, but we would love to explore options with you.

For Students with Disabilities

Some students with disabilities require subtitles as an accommodation in their courses. Students requiring accommodations must register with Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD). Guidelines for requesting accommodations are available through SSD.  Once a student is in the SSD system, they can use the Captioning Request Form (for student use). Workflow guide with contacts available here.

If you or your students are having issues finding a film on your Canvas site, or if there are viewing issues, check this Streaming Troubleshooting Guide, or contact us at reservations-lrc@umich.edu.

Copyright and Fair Use

The LRC works closely with the University Library Copyright Office to ensure our processes are in line with copyright law.

The situation for each film is unique:

• some films can be licensed (and up on Canvas all term)
• some can be streamed under fair use (for a more limited period of time)
  

We use the Fair Use Evaluator to assist in making determinations about fair use.

Additional information about copyright and video can be found on the Library's Copyright and Using Video research guide.