License to Look: Evolving Models for Library Video Acquisition and Access

Rapid and significant changes in digital video production and delivery technologies have created both opportunities and challenges for film and video producers and distributors, as well as for their institutional clients. For distributors of commercial videos, the move toward online delivery has created an attendant need to reevaluate both the changing nature of the marketplace and the economic models employed in selling products in that market. This article outlines current and evolving models for licensing and delivering commercially produced educational and documentary video content online (streamed video on demand [VOD]), and presents both librarian and vendor perspectives on the benefits and liabilities of these various models. Broad issues considered in these discussions include the added value and changing market for video content delivered online; perspectives on term vs. in-perpetuity licensing; and the short- and long-term impact of new delivery models on collection development, collection budgets, and user services.