Unlike many other resources within the library, streaming media is not owned perpetually when obtained by the library. Streaming media, rather, is licensed on a temporary basis from the vendor and access to each title will expire at the end of the licensed term. A new fee must be paid in order to license the media each subscription term. Recent budget cuts caused SU Libraries to look for a more cost-effective way to continue to make streaming media available. After extensive research, we elected to subscribe to a database model, rather than prioritizing title-by-title licensing on our other platforms.
Academic Video Online (AVON) is currently the easiest and first choice method of obtaining streaming media available to the SU community. Paid for as a yearly subscription fee, this database contains over 80,000 films and clips which are instantly available for viewing by both faculty and students. These films are also able to be incorporated into classrooms via permanent links. An added benefit of AVON is the ability to create and utilize “video interactions” within films. This allows faculty to embed discussion prompts, multiple choice questions, polling and more into videos and access real time analytics to see student responses. Searching this database can be done via collection, subject, or title. Simply find a title and click play! This makes AVON titles ideal for supplemental viewing, in-class viewing, and assigned viewing outside of class time.
AVON is available via the DATABASES tab on the library homepage, or at this direct link: https://video.alexanderstreet.com/channel/academic-video-online
For more information about streaming video, please see our Streaming Media Licensing Policy.