Any Fairfax County Public Library (FCPL) card holders who’ve been taking advantage of Kanopy might want to start working through their watchlist now.
FCPL announced on Sunday (Jan. 5) that it isn’t renewing its subscription to the on-demand movie and TV streaming service, so users will no longer be able to access the platform after Jan. 31.
“We understand that this news may be unwelcome to many and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause,” the library system said in a social media post. “FCPL is dedicated to offering its cardholders top-tier services and resources, and while that will not include Kanopy moving forward, we will continue to invest in other resources that will best serve our community.”
FCPL introduced Kanopy as a pilot in February 2022 at a time when branches had reduced in-person hours due to staffing shortages amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first year, the library’s subscription was covered by grant funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, which included a direct allocation of $222 million to Fairfax County to help it address and recover from the pandemic.
However, the cost of a subscription, which is renewed annually, has grown in subsequent years to the point where FCPL can no longer accommodate it in its limited budget, Acting Deputy Director Dianne Coan says.
“There was enough interest for us to keep it, but in the intervening three years, the price for renewal this year would have almost doubled from our original costs when we started,” Coan told FFXnow. “It simply was no longer viable.”
Started in 2008 in Australia as a DVD distributor, Kanopy soon evolved into a streaming platform that partners with academic and public libraries, which pay a fee for each view. While the service is free for users, who get access with their library card and are allocated a set number of views or “tickets” each month, the costs for the libraries can add up.
According to Coan, the pay-per-view model is one of the most expensive approaches used for digital materials, though when the Kanopy partnership launched, then-FCPL director Jessica Hudson told FFXnow that other video streaming options were even more costly.
Last year, the Board of Supervisors approved one-time funding of $500,000 to help FCPL acquire more books and other materials, but the initial allocation for the collection budget “has remained flat for several years,” Coan says.
The library system was allocated just under $35 million in the fiscal year 2025 budget that took effect on July 1, 2024, slightly down from the previous year. Cost increases from the $32.5 million spent in FY 2023 have been driven by employee needs, including salaries and recruitment efforts, with operating expenses actually declining from $9.2 million to $5.7 million.
With county leaders asking all agencies to identify potential cuts to address a $292.7 million deficit, FCPL is unlikely to see much, if any, additional funding when County Executive Bryan Hill presents his proposed budget on Feb. 18.
Coan says FCPL will focus this coming year on updating its nonfiction print materials, with help from the one-time funding approved last year, but it’s open to adopting a Kanopy-like service if a more affordable alternative crops up.
“We will continue to be on the lookout for similar services that have more sustainable and reasonable pricing models for public libraries,” she said.
