Introduction to Shared Libraries

Summary

• Shared Libraries let governing bodies and large organisations share one central video library with multiple schools.
• A Shared Library is created in Library Editor by a ClickView Administrator.
• Subscriber schools are added with help from Product Support.
• Schools access Shared Libraries from Discover in the Libraries section.
• Administrators control how subscriber schools add content to Shared Libraries.

What is a Shared Library?

A Shared Library works like a school library, but is owned and managed centrally by a governing body, Department of Education, or large organisation. With a Shared Library, multiple schools within the organisation can access and use a central collection of educational videos.

ClickView Administrators can curate the perfect video library for their governing body and control how video is used across their schools.

Benefits and features

Shared Libraries help governing bodies centralise and manage video content across multiple schools. They support organisation-approved access, content preferences and permissions, school contribution workflows, and organisation-level visibility into how content is used.

Before schools can access a Shared Library

Schools can only see and use a Shared Library after both of these are true:

• The governing body has created the library in Library Editor.
• Product Support has completed the subscriber setup so your schools are connected to that library.

How a Shared Library is created

Shared Libraries start as a standard library created in Library Editor, then are converted to a shared library by adding subscriber schools.

Step 1: Create the library in Library Editor

A ClickView Administrator first creates and populates the library, similar to setting up a standard school library.

1. Sign in to ClickView with an Administrator account.
2. Select your initials (top-right), then select Library Editor.
3. Create a new library by selecting + New library (left) or + Create a library (centre).
4. Enter a name, then select Create library.

For more information on creating a new library, please see How to create and manage your school library.

Step 2: Build the folder structure

After the library is created, set up folders (and subfolders) so schools can browse content easily.

• Select the three dots icon next to the library, then select “Add folder”.
• Name the folder, then select “Create folder”.

Please refer to this article for more information on creating library folders.

Step 3: Add subscriber schools

After the library is created and populated, the organisation’s ClickView Administrator should contact Product Support to add subscriber schools so they can access the Shared Library.

How schools access Shared Library content

Once your school is subscribed, staff and students can:

1. Go to Discover in ClickView.
2. Open the Libraries section to see available school and Shared Libraries.
   
3. Select the Shared Library to browse folders and find videos.
4. To locate specific content, click on your library folder and navigate through its structure.
   
   

Requests and contributions to a Shared Library

ClickView Administrators for the organisation can choose whether schools can contribute content, and whether additions require approval using the library requests workflow.

The Shared Library administrator can enable or disable this feature via the toggle button, under ‘Library request settings‘. This enables the administrator choose to approve or reject content requests from subscriber schools. For more information about this feature, see our library requests article.

How video requests work (from subscriber schools)

When requests are enabled, educators at subscriber schools can request a video be added to the Shared Library:

1. Sign in to ClickView and open the video.
2. Select the 3 dots icon and select Add to library.
   
3. In the pop-up, choose the Shared Library, choose a folder, and write a message to the library administrator.
   
4. The Shared Library administrator receives an email and a notification, then approves or rejects the request.

For step-by-step guidance, see How to send video requests for a Shared Library.

Frequently asked questions