Explore these Video Streaming Services
By: Stuart Grant
Tags: Documentary, Public Libraries, Video Streaming Service, Technology, Film

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Explore these Video Streaming Services

photo courtesy of Fran Jacquier on Unsplash

The video streaming service Netflix is now a household word, as ubiquitous a brand name as Kleenex. Amazon and Hulu are gaining in users too. When you get right down to it, there isn’t one big media company that isn’t in the streaming game. New players and genres are being added all the time. The pandemic has only reinforced this trend to the point where the very survival of the cinema is now in doubt. Oddly, the nearly extinct drive-in is suddenly making a comeback.

If you are a library member in your jurisdiction, you have probably discovered the many alternative forms of literature, entertainment and media that are being made available to card holders like DVDs, e-books, databases, news clips, reference libraries, video games, and online publications from behind a paywall.

Streaming video services are also available although I have yet to hear of one of the giants like Netflix or Amazon being offered through a public library network. I discovered two video streaming services at the start of the pandemic whose content was a refreshing departure from the better known providers.

Hoopla Logo — Screenshot by author

Hoopla offers streaming content in the categories of television, music, comics, audiobooks, e-books and movies. The host website is www.hoopladigital.com. A link from the public library website of your city should connect you. You will have to create a separate account for accessing Hoopla content. Hoopla can also be downloaded as an app from your favourite app store for use on your wireless device.

TELEVISION

Top television categories include:

animation and cartoons

children

crime

documentary

drama

health and fitness

history

mystery

science fiction.

Closed captions are available if included in the original version and users can rate content with a star system.

MUSIC

Music content categories include every well known genre as well as:

music awards shows

faith based

Christmas specials

age specific

artist spotlights

genre playlists

karaoke

Broadway

era specific

meditation

fitness soundtracks

The audio experience is just like listening to a CD. If your home computer is not your household sound system for enjoying music, you might want to use your allocated monthly “library loans” from Hoopla on selections from other media than audio. Sitting in front of my home work station is not my preferred way to enjoy music.

MOVIES

Movie categories include all popular genres as well as:

art house

anime

comics inspired

live performance

indie

health and fitness

mental health

sign language

age specific

The search function has many criteria to narrow down your search including:

release date

date added

language

format

user rating

featured

popular

category

You can also search on all these criteria from within the children’s section.

E-book categories are largely non-fiction with a lot of cooking, how-to and children’s content.

There are more Audiobooks than ebooks with more fiction categories as well as non-fiction genres like bestsellers, nutrition and how to.

As my library’s agreement with Hoopla does not include comics, I was unable to browse selections from this category. Every jurisdiction will have it’s own policies as to what Hoopla content is available.