Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions about Docuseek

Logging in
Viewing films
Cataloging
Previewing
Ordering
Captions and transcripts
Problems and Troubleshooting
Technical stuff

Logging in

Note: Your institution must have a license to view Docuseek content. Only registered and logged-in users may view the content licensed by your institution.

The Docuseek site supports two types of users.

If you are associated with an institution that has licensed films from Docuseek, we create a generic user for anonymously accessing licensed films. The generic user for your account has a name like "University of Docuseek User". When accessing a film via your institution's catalog, or via a unique link that we have provided, you will be automatically logged in as the generic user for your institution. Your institution account may also be set up to automatically log in visitors from your institution's network as the generic user to simplify accessing your content.

You may also create a personal login using your institutional email address. Registered users have access to Docuseek tools like creating playlists and creating clips. When logged in with your personal account, as long as you are accessing Docuseek from your institution's network, you will have access to the content that your institution has licensed.

See the Registering and Logging In page for more information on creating and using a personal login.

Viewing films

How do I watch a film on Docuseek?

First, your institution must have a license to view a film. See Purchasing licenses for information on acquiring licenses.

We primarily authenticate (what institution you are from) by your internet protocol (IP) address and/or by single sign-on (SSO). For IP authentication, we need to have your IP address(es) on file to do this; this is usually done when we set up your account. IP authentication means that your users need to be on your institution's network to view a film. Off campus users need to access resources via a proxy server. We will include your proxy server info in your Docuseek account. SSO support will also be added when we set up your account. For SSO, your users will log in to their institution account to access Docuseek content.

We assign a unique URL to each film that you license. This URL can be found on the Link To / Embed dialog -- see the Integrating Docuseek page for more information. If we have your proxy server information, we will prepend it to you URL. This URL can be given to students or faculty, or included on a course page. The Link To / Embed dialog also includes iframe code to embed the film player in a web page.

We can also turn on a setting to automatically locate the institution based on the user's IP address, and determine if there is a valid license. We usually do this when your institution licenses a collection. If we automatically find the institution, users do not need the unique URL to view a film.

See below for alternative ways of authenticating users.

Help! I get an "Oops! Your location could not be validated." I need to watch the film for a class. What can I do?
You need to be logged in to the university's network to view the film. If you are off campus, you need to connect to the university's network. Typically, do whatever you usually do to access the library's resources from off campus. You should then be able to access the film. If you are still having a problem, use our Contact page and include the name of your college or university.

When I try to view a film, I see the message "the video you are trying to watch cannot be viewed from this website." What should I do?
Please contact support@docuseek2.com and provide a screen shot including the address bar. The player assigned to your institution checks the domain name of the view request, and if the incoming domain doesn't match the domain names we have entered for your institution, the message will appear. This typically is an issue when first setting things up with a proxy server.

How do you authenticate our users?
We primarily authenticate by IP address. When your account is set up, or after you order your first license, we will ask for the IP address range(s) for your institution. We can also use the LTI protocol for authenticating users. See the help wiki page Integrating Docuseek2 for more on LTI.

Can instructors add a link to their films to their course pages?
Yes. Each film will have its own permanent link that an instructor can use on a course pages. For more on integrating your Docuseek2 content with your course management system, see the help wiki page Integrating Docuseek2.

Are the films restricted to a particular course?
No. The films are licensed for use by anyone enrolled at or employed by the institution, and also walk-ins to your library.

Do students or faculty need to register on Docuseek2 to view the films we have licensed?
No. We will provide you with permanent links that will access the films without requiring a login, as long as the request is coming from an IP address in the range(s) of IP addresses that you provided us. If you have licensed several titles, we will also provide you with a customer Docuseek2 URL that will log in your users to a generic institutional account, and they will be able to use the Docuseek2 interface to discover and view films.

Can the films be used off-campus?
Yes, as long as the address of your proxy server is within the range(s) of IP addresses associated with your account.

Are titles that we have licensed kept on our servers or yours?
The films are hosted on our hosting platform. For Life of File licenses, we can provide you with a file and you may host the file on your own equipment if you prefer.

Can your servers handle simultaneous users?
Absolutely. Our hosting platform uses a state of the art content delivery system and is designed for many users to access our films at the same time. The main limiting factor will be the capacity of your institution's internet connection.

Can your streaming videos be viewed in a classroom?
Yes, as long as the classroom has an internet connection.

I am having problem viewing a film. What should I do?
See the Problems section below.

What film quality can I expect?
Most films on Docuseek2 are encoded to four renditions, with a bitrate ranging from 512 kbps to about 2500 kbps. The player uses an adaptive bitrate scheme that will deliver the best rendition that the your network will support. The delivery rate will adjust during playback if the local available bandwidth changes. Our HTML5 player uses HLS (in most cases), which allows some buffering to take place, where the player downloads and stores the next bit of film so it is available as needed.

A 2500 kbps rendition should deliver a very good viewing experience, whether on a computer or projected. But there are other factors that can come into play, including network load and projector resolution.

For a guide to common projector resolutions see https://www.projectorpeople.com/resources/resolution-guide.asp?resolution=reslist

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Cataloging

Can we add our Docuseek2 films to our online library catalog?

Yes, absolutely you may add the titles to your online catalog. This is strongly encouraged.

Do you provide MARC records?

Yes. We provide MARC records for all of our titles. Your MARC records include the permanent link to your films in the 856 field. For more information see the MARC records page.

Do you work with Worldshare / EBSCO / Primo etc?

We submit new title MARC records to Worldshare and acquire OCLC numbers for every quarterly update. At that time, we also deliver updated collection information for the WorldCat knowledge base for our Complete and Essential collection.

We also deliver metadata to Primo / Summons in the form of MARC records, and deliver KBART files for the two collections to EBSCO for each quarterly update.

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Previewing

Can I preview a film before I license it?

Yes. If you register and log in to Docuseek2, you can view the first 10 minutes of the film. In special cases we can enable a longer preview period. Note that we are also happy to provide your institution with a free 30-day trial.

A faculty member at my institution wants to preview the film. Is that possible?

Yes. The faculty member just needs to register with her or his institutional email address, and log in to preview a film.

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Ordering

Do you have an order form or list of titles on Docuseek2?

Yes. A spreadsheet of the titles available on Docuseek is available for download.

Can I pay be credit card?

Yes. You may order online and safely provide your payment information. For more on how we process credit cards, see our Privacy statement .

Can I specify when the license should start?

Yes. If ordering online, you can enter a license start date. If ordering by email, just let us know when you would like for the license to start.

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Captions and transcripts

Do the Docuseek2 films have closed captions?

About 1340 titles on Docuseek2 have closed captions. However, the original language of many of the films is not English and so many have subtitles. About 1650 titles have closed captions OR subtitles OR no dialog.

I licensed a film that does not have closed captions. Can I request that captions be made for the film?

Yes please let us know if you need closed captions for a title. We will try our best to get captions for the film.

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Problems and troubleshooting

When I try to view a film, I see the message "the video you are trying to watch cannot be viewed from this website." What should I do?

Please contact support@docuseek2.com and provide a screen shot including the address bar. The player assigned to your institution checks the domain name of the view request, and if the incoming domain doesn't match the domain names we have entered for your institution, the message will appear. This typically is an issue when first setting things up with a proxy server.

When I try to view a film, I get an error "Bad Request: Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand. Size of a request header field exceeds server limit." What should I do?

Try clearing your browser cache and cookies, for both Docuseek and, if you are using a proxy server, for the proxy server as well. If this does not fix your problem, please contact support@docuseek2.com.

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Technical stuff

What browsers do you support?

Do you have an EZproxy stanza I can use?

Here is a sample stanza that you can use for Docuseek2 with an EZproxy server:

Title Docuseek2
HTTPHeader -Request -Process Accept-Encoding
HTTPHeader -Request -Process X-requested-with
URL https://docuseek2.com
HJ https://docuseek2.com
HJ https://www.docuseek2.com
HJ https://pragda.docuseek2.com
HJ https://gej.docuseek2.com
HJ www.docuseek2.com
DJ docuseek2.com

Have a question that doesn't appear on this FAQ? Email support@docuseek2.com.