Streaming Media

Cal State San Bernardino Students Test Free Movie and Music Download

Cal State San Bernardino's library will be the first academic library to pilot a streaming content service that lets students stream or download movies, music and audiobooks using their student IDs.

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 10/05/15

A streaming content service that caters to libraries has struck its first deal with a major university. hoopla digital, better known for delivering audiobooks, movies, music, comics, e-books and television shows to mobile devices through its library customers, will be doing the same for students at California State University, San Bernardino.

The institution is the first to participate in a hoopla pilot program with institutional libraries.

Under the arrangement, students at the school's two campuses can use their university IDs to access content from the site and stream or download it to watch or hear on a smartphone, tablet or a browser.

The program has apps for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire HDX. The content can be watched by any number of students simultaneously, and when the content is due to be returned, it simply expires, making it unviewable by the person who checked it out.

"We're delighted that Cal State San Bernardino is the first academic library in North America to partner with hoopla digital to provide students with free, on-demand access to an array of digital media content," said Cesar Caballero, dean of Pfau Library, Cal State's main library, in a prepared statement. "This new service enhances the university's ability to meet the evolving information literacy and recreational needs of 21st century students."