Communication, Media & Theatre Research Guide

Librarian-selected resources for students of CMT

Need Help?

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Robin Harris
Contact:
r-harris14@neiu.edu
(773) 256-2148

Request Instruction

Research instruction is available to students either in-class or virtually through D2L. Please email me the CMT subject librarian to set up a session. Two weeks notice is ideal for planning purposes.

You can add the CMT subject librarian to your D2L class by filling out this form.

What About Kanopy?

Heard of Kanopy? Free to viewers (but not libraries), Kanopy has been in the news a bit due to its cost for public and academic libraries. Even Harvard University has had to restrict its use.

The pricing model is this: when a user watches at least 30 seconds of a video, that counts as a "view". On the 4th "view" of the same video, the NEIU Libraries are charged $150 for a one-year license to that video.

The NEIU Libraries offered unlimited, on-demand Kanopy for a few years, but due to increased usage and recent budget cuts, we can no longer support that model for recreational viewing. Instead, we are happy to purchase licenses to videos used in courses or in support of academic research. Here's how to make a request:

kanopy request form

When you get to this screen, please complete all fields, including your NEIU email address (@neiu.edu) and a message about your video request. Will you be assigning it for a class? Does it support your research for a course? The more information you can provide, the more likely we are to be able to support the request. Please list the course and instructor, if relevant.  We can then follow up once the film is approved and provide the correct link for use in a syllabus or D2L.

If you know in advance you need a video only available on Kanopy, please provide as much lead time as you can for us to process the request. We will do our best to reply as soon as possible, often the same day (Monday-Friday).

Thank you for your understanding. We know how valuable this resource can be for course content.

The Textbook Issue

The NEIU Libraries will purchase textbooks or course readings by faculty request to be placed on reserve at the Circulation Desk.

  • Library purchased reserve textbooks will have a reserve period of two hours (for use in the Library only).
  • The library may not be able to purchase every textbook requested.
  • A new copy will not be purchased if the item is in the existing library collection or is already available on reserve as a personal copy.

You can also put personal copies of the books on Course Reserve at the Library. This allows your students to check the books out for a short time period, for example from two hours to overnight, so multiple students can have access to the materials.

Finally, familiarize yourself with the Open Educational Resources movement. These digital resources include course readings, multimedia tools, and even textbooks that can be repackaged and used in your own courses. Learn more and find resources at:

  1. SPARC Open Education
  2. OER Commons
  3. #GoOpen
  4. OpenStax College
  5. Open Textbook Library

If you require your students to purchase the course textbook, please be sure to order it with plenty of time before the semester begins, and check to make sure the campus bookstore has your text in stock before you start the course reading assignments.

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