[Web4lib] Media Hosting Options - Recommendations?

[Houghton-Jan, Sarah]

Hi!

 

Our library is looking at the cost/benefit issues related to hosting media
in-house vs. hosting it externally with a free or paid service.  We are
exploring the various options out there (e.g. YouTube for videos), but are
wondering if any of the wonderful web librarians out there have had this
experience themselves.  We're worried that the cost of upping our bandwidth
in order to adequately host multimedia will cost more than we can afford, or
more than the benefit it will afford us.  Hosting on outside sites, though,
carries its own risks such as a lack of reliable data archiving, possible
ads, lack of branding, etc.

 

So, if you've hosted multimedia at your library internally, please tell us
how that's going.  And if you've hosted it externally, please let us know
that as well, including any data you have on the cost, storage limits,
bandwidth limits, terms of agreement and privacy issues, ads, and so forth.


 

Any information is appreciated - so don't hold back!

Sarah Houghton-Jan

Digital Futures Manager, San José Public Library