Introducing Kanopy: 30,000 New Streaming Movies
We’re adding 30,000 new streaming videos to our collection!
Toronto Public Library is now offering a platform, Kanopy, that lets you stream thousands of feature films, documentaries, international films and training videos, for free, on all of your devices – and all you need to create your account is an email address and a library card.
Here are the details:
- You can access Kanopy films with your smartphone, tablet, PC or Smart TV
- Kanopy is compatible with Roku, Android, iOS and Apple TV
- You have three days to watch each film
- You can access up to eight films a month
- Most films are accessible, with captions and transcripts, and are compatible with screen reader software such as JAWS
To learn more, check out our Getting Started Guide.
The selection of films is outstanding. It includes titles from producers including the Great Courses and PBS, as well as award-winning indie, documentary and Canadian films. Hundreds of new titles are added each month. Here’s a small sample:
Maudie
The great Sally Hawkins portrays Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis in this quirky, romantic biopic.
Sign up and start watching "Maudie".
I Am Not Your Negro
An Oscar-nominated documentary narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, "I Am Not Your Negro" explores the continued peril we face from institutionalized racism.
Sign up and start watching "I Am Not Your Negro".
Brooklyn
Saoirse Ronan is torn between two loves – and two countries – in this 1950s tale of an Irish immigrant in New York.
Sign up and start watching "Brooklyn".
Paterson
Adam Driver plays a working-class poet in Jim Jarmusch's "heartfelt" (Washington Post), "intellectually dazzling" (San Francisco Chronicle) movie.
Sign up and start watching "Paterson".
Marjorie Prime
Eighty-six-year-old Marjorie reconstructs her life with a digital copy of her late husband (Jon Hamm). "…A clever and affecting meditation on memory, bereavement, love and remorse masquerading as a sci-fi movie." – (Independent (UK))
Anita: Speaking Truth to Power
Twenty-seven years before she began chairing the Hollywood commission on sexual harassment, Anita Hill testified before the US Senate, empowering millions to stand up for equality and justice.
Sign up and start watching "Anita: Speaking Truth to Power".
The Wave
In this pulse-pounding thriller, a geologist tries to prevent a tsunami from destroying a popular tourist destination.
Sign up and start watching "The Wave".
The Man Who Knew Infinity
Dev Patel ("Slumdog Millionaire") and Academy Award-winner Jeremy Irons star in this inspirational biopic about an early-20th century mathematician whose groundbreaking theories revolutionized the field.
Sign up and start watching "The Man Who Knew Infinity".
Love & Friendship
Dior and I
16 thoughts on “Introducing Kanopy: 30,000 New Streaming Movies”
Will you be publishing (or making available) an indexed copy of your catalogue?
The indexed catalogue is available once you login with your Kanopy acc’t
Wendy,
My title quarter life crisis movie is in the tpl database. How do I do I get my movie on kanopy?
Vince
Hi Vince,
That’s great! Here’s a link for filmmakers to submit their work for consideration by Kanopy:
https://www.kanopystreaming.com/about-us/filmmakers
Wendy
how do we get the library card from Montreal?
I believe non-residents can get a library card, but you have to do so in-person at a branch. See the “Non-resident” section @ https://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/using-the-library/your-library-card/
Maybe it’ll be worth the annual train-trip to the city to use the digital remote services of the TPL?
Thanks, Chris! You’re right – while Toronto Public Library cards are free to anyone who lives, works, goes to school or owns property in Toronto, it’s also possible for non-residents to acquire a card, in person, for $120.00 per year. And hey – a trip to Toronto’s always fun! 🙂
For the “Great Courses” content, do you know if each lecture in a series counts as one of your 8/month, or can one watch an entire course as one of the 8?
Do you know The Great Courses have their own streaming service? Any chance of negotiating a library deal with them? https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/
Excellent questions. Let me consult with my contacts in Collections and get back to you!
The library’s help page says you have to be 18 to use the service, but when signing up it says you have to be 13. Which is correct? I assume you’ve only turned it on for ‘adult’ cards and not ‘teen’ cards? So them being American have a 13yo requirement, but you guys have an 18 yo requirement?
Thanks. If we were to check the course out from the library directly on DVD we’d get all 24 lectures on one check out (after waiting months). Now that I’ve signed in and stuff, it does look like one lecture in the course does count as one view /shrug. Guess either watch 720hours in a week, or watch them all over 4 months.
One bonus is they give you access to the course PDF book for free — even when not signed in… that might be an iffy issue for publisher themselves…
Here’s what I’ve got: each lecture counts as one of your 8 titles per month.
Great Courses are also available on Hoopla: https://blogs.tpl.ca/digital-services/2016/05/the-great-courses-now-on-hoopla.html
They are also available on OneClick and can be checked out for 21 days: https://blogs.tpl.ca/digital-services/2016/01/great-courses-lectures-now-available-on-oneclickdigital-audiobooks.html
Hope that helps!
Hi Chris, Here’s the official word on age limits:
We are guided by the Kanopy Terms of Service:
“https://www.kanopystreaming.com/terms
Terms of Service | Kanopy
http://www.kanopystreaming.com
KANOPY TERMS OF SERVICE Revised: 31 October 2017 1. ACCEPTANCE OF TERMS
“You represent and warrant that you are: (i) over eighteen years of age or the age of majority in our jurisdiction, whichever is greater; (ii) of legal age to form a binding contract; and (iii) not a person barred from using the Service under the laws of your country of residence or any other applicable jurisdiction. Individuals under the age of eighteen, or applicable age of majority, may utilize the service only with the involvement of a paren’t or legal guardian and otherwise subject to these Terms of Use.”
We have blocked children’s and teen cards for this reason. Paren’ts or legal guardians can use their TPL card to set up a Kanopy account, and provide access to their children or teens this way if they so choose.
Hope this helps!
Wendy
Montreal is a hard case where the linguistic divide is limiting library services, probably in both official languages. It’s why I wrote in the last blog post, the suggestion that the CRTC include national access to digital library services as part of its current review of national media distribution:
“The public lending library model for distribution of media is historically rooted and wonderfully successful. I’m privileged to have these services available to me, but in traveling Canada have often found many or most communities don’t even come close. The CRTC is currently conducting a public consultation on the future of media distribution in Canada, and I’d encourage patrons and the TPL itself to make submissions supporting both enhancement of services by the TPL and the expansion of this model of media delivery across the nation. The relevant consultation is Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2017-359 with links for online submission to the Commission, with a current deadline of February 13, 2018.”
Reply 01/05/2018 at 07:23 AM
Kelli said…
Thank you for the comment and the information JB. For anyone interested in the CRTC consultation, more information is available at: https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2017/2017-359.htm
Thanks, JB! Najat, please take note: the link Kelli shared, above, gives you the opportunity to present this suggestion to the CRTC.