With the semester in full gear and the holidays fast approaching, many of you might want to use videos as resources for your assignments or simply may want something to watch during your time off. The Trout Library can help! We subscribe to Kanopy, which is a streaming video platform that includes about 30,000 items – including documentaries, instructional materials, and some feature films. Think of it as a more scholarly version of Netflix. In Kanopy, you will find material covering topics in the arts, the general sciences, the social sciences, business, health, and more. You will also find drama, comedy, classic cinema, and science fiction. If you have never had the opportunity to use Kanopy for a class, it would be worthwhile to check it out.

If you are logging into Kanopy for the first time, then first you will need to go through the following multistep process in order to create an account:

  1. Start by using this link:  https://harcum.kanopy.com/

A Kanopy icon can also be found under Quicklinks on the Library’s home page, and there is a link under “K” on our Databases page that will take you to the same place.

  1. After clicking on the Kanopy link, click on the orange box, "LOG IN TO HARCUM." 

  1. The username and password that you will need for the next step can be found in Harcum Hatch. Log into Harcum Hatch, click on the Quicklinks tab and scroll down to Library Database Password List. The username and password for Kanopy will be included in this list.

  1. Enter the username and password, and you will be taken to the Kanopy website. Here you will be able to create your own personal account.

  1. Click on “Sign up” in the upper right-hand corner. On the resulting page, fill in your name and be sure to use your @harcum.edu email address. Then create a password, and click “Sign Up” at the bottom.

  1. You will receive an email from Kanopy asking you to verify your email address.

The Kanopy Guide itself can be accessed by clicking on the appropriate icon under Quicklinks on the Library’s home page. Once you have created an account, going forward you will only need to use your Harcum email and the password that you created in order to access Kanopy.

You will find that Kanopy is easy to search. When you enter the database, you will see a search box at the top of the page, and there is a Browse menu beside it to the right. Either enter a search topic, or if you need some ideas, click on the Browse menu to view the vast number of topics that Kanopy has to offer.

Once you perform a search, you will find that you can limit the results by supplier, filmmaker, language, whether or not the film is captioned, and year of production.

After you make a selection, you will find a description of the video – including the running time, production year, rating, subject headings, and more. You will also see that a number of useful features are offered. Click on “My List” to save the video to your playlist for future reference. The “Share” button will provide you with a persistent link that you can use to email the video or embed it into an Office document. The “More” button allows you to access a transcript of the film and also provides you with citations of the video in various formats, including APA and MLA.

A great feature of Kanopy is that it allows you to create video clips which you can then save or embed in documents if you don’t want to include the whole video. First add the video to your playlist and then click “Create Clip/Playlist” followed by “Edit Playlist.” On the resulting screen, click the Edit button. 

Then choose the start and end time and save.

Remember that in the Trout Library we are here to help you. Questions regarding library databases, including Kanopy, should be directed to us and not to I.T. You may reach us by email at library@harcum.edu or through our chat service during the hours posted on the Library’s home page.

    

Bill Fanshel

Evening/Weekend Librarian

wfanshel@harcum.edu

610-229-9311