Jacksonville Public Library to begin Free online movie streaming service

By Benjamin Cox on April 20, 2018 at 12:00pm

The Jacksonville Public Library wants to take you to the movies.

More specifically, the library wants to offer its patrons the chance to watch movies in their own homes.

Head Librarian Chris Ashmore says the free service is known as Kanopy.

“There’s a link right from our library’s homepage. And what you do is, the very first time you have to register, which is pretty simple. It asks for your first and last name, your library card number, and then you have a library card pin number. If you don’t know that, you can always call the library or drop in and we’ll tell you what it is. Then you get a screen, and it looks just kind of like your subscription streaming services like Netflix or Hulu or something like that. It’s more, there’s foreign films kind of highly acclaimed, critically acclaimed things, indie films. Lots of documentaries, PBS, some old classic movies.”

The service has started to be offered this week.

Ashmore says the service is very easy to access.

“Each person would get, because we pay per stream, would get four per month to watch absolutely free just with the library card. And then the next month starts up and they can watch four more. If you go to our website, which is JAXPL.org, it’s right in the center. There’s a link that describes it. It says “KANOPY”, Kanopy with a K, and you click on it and it just walks you through. I mean it’s just one of those real simple, ‘Type in your name’, ‘Type in your library card number’, and then boom you’re picking out movies.”

Ashmore says this service is only accessed through an Adult Library card. It is not yet available for children.