Video Distribution

Streaming Video

Instructors and students will want to know that Yale has contracted with Kanopy to offer on-demand streaming of thousands of documentaries, indie films, classics from the Criterion Collection, the BBC, PBS, and many others. Films can be watched from anywhere, anytime by the Yale community, and users can make their own playlists.

Video Collection

The CLS has hundreds of foreign language videos on DVD, representing a wide range of languages. Titles, descriptions, and other information can be found in our library catalog. While we can retrieve most titles from our collection immediately upon request, for less-commonly watched titles we must have advance notice in order to locate and retrieve the title.

Scheduled Video Screenings at the CLS

Instructors may schedule video screenings at the CLS by emailing steven.melillo@yale.edu. In the email, please specify the running time, current location of the work, the number of students expected to attend the screening(s), and preferred screening times. Screenings may benefit from the presence of an instructor or teaching assistant to facilitate discussion, but on request a CLS staff member will start the video at the designated time (though CLS staff will not monitor the screening or take attendance or the like).

Videos on Reserve

In lieu of scheduled screenings, instructors may place videos on reserve for students to watch at their convenience. Videos on reserve may be from the CLS collection or supplied by an instructor (e.g. from a personal library or the Film Study Center). When students arrive to watch an assigned film, our Technology Service Desk staff will direct them to a viewing room at the CLS or suggest alternatives if a room or the film is not available.

Students must leave their ID cards at the Technology Service Desk when borrowing videos. Videos may not be taken out of the building except by instructors, who must sign them out from a CLS staff member.

Instructors who wish to put a video on reserve should email steven.melillo@yale.edu and include the reserve period start and end date. (Videos are generally kept on reserve for a few days or weeks.)