How We Brought European Film to Public Libraries — And lived to tell the tale
How We Brought European Film to Public Libraries — And lived to tell the tale
6 min read
6 min read
About
Role:
Expand AVA Library from in-library viewing booths to a streaming platform
Team:
CEO, 4 part-time developers, 1 content curator & me
Timeline:
12 months for phase 1, 12 months for phase 2
Tools:
Asana, Github, Adobe Suite
Deliverables:
Streaming platform for curated European films, accessible via public libraries
Setting the Scene
I was hired to the AVA project help deliver a pretty ambitious vision: to make European cinema more accessible to the people it’s made for.
The opportunity was clear:
Europe produces around 2,000 films a year — but Hollywood dominates the box office, and European films are often buried or hard to find on major streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, 65,000 public libraries across Europe welcome over 100 million visitors annually — trusted spaces with huge potential for cultural discovery.
AVA was built to bridge that gap: bringing curated, high-quality festival films into public libraries to create a non-commercial, local space for film discovery.
I joined AVA during the kick-off phase to manage the project and coordinate stakeholders — working closely with an experienced UX lead to define how the vision could take form.
I was hired to the AVA project help deliver a pretty ambitious vision: to make European cinema more accessible to the people it’s made for.
The opportunity was clear:
Europe produces around 2,000 films a year — but Hollywood dominates the box office, and European films are often buried or hard to find on major streaming platforms.
Meanwhile, 65,000 public libraries across Europe welcome over 100 million visitors annually — trusted spaces with huge potential for cultural discovery.
AVA was built to bridge that gap: bringing curated, high-quality festival films into public libraries to create a non-commercial, local space for film discovery.
I joined AVA during the kick-off phase to manage the project and coordinate stakeholders — working closely with an experienced UX lead to define how the vision could take form.
AVA library partners across the Europe
AVA library partners across the Europe
Reality hits: No UX lead - just me, a lot of libraries and a grand vision
Reality hits: No UX lead - just me, a lot of libraries and a grand vision
Reality Sets In
Two months in, the UX lead left the project — burnt out by the lack of funding and technical support.
With no budget for additional hires, I stepped into her role.
Suddenly, product design joined my already rather full list of responsibilities.
I kept the wheels turning, and we delivered on-demand video libraries installed inside seven public libraries across Europe — Berlin, Cologne, Tampere, Leuven, Cork, Bristol, and Amantea — each hosting curated short film programmes from local and international festivals.
It delivered part of the original vision: bringing festival-quality programming into accessible public spaces.
But it wasn’t scalable.
The booths had limited reach, and user expectations were shifting fast — toward streaming, flexibility, and access on their own terms.
The next challenge was clear:
How do we turn this promising pilot into a truly accessible digital platform — something that could grow beyond the library walls?
Two months in, the UX lead left the project — burnt out by the lack of funding and technical support.
With no budget for additional hires, I stepped into her role.
Suddenly, product design joined my already rather full list of responsibilities.
I kept the wheels turning, and we delivered on-demand video libraries installed inside seven public libraries across Europe — Berlin, Cologne, Tampere, Leuven, Cork, Bristol, and Amantea — each hosting curated short film programmes from local and international festivals.
It delivered part of the original vision: bringing festival-quality programming into accessible public spaces.
But it wasn’t scalable.
The booths had limited reach, and user expectations were shifting fast — toward streaming, flexibility, and access on their own terms.
The next challenge was clear:
How do we turn this promising pilot into a truly accessible digital platform — something that could grow beyond the library walls?
The Roadmap
We had 12 months - working 2 days a week on the project.
An in-house team of three: me, Yuriko - the content curator, my boss - and a team of 4 developers.
The mission: deliver bespoke streaming platforms for public library users across 11 European cities.
We ran two-week sprints to deliver across seven core phases — from defining the roadmap and visiting libraries across Europe, to auditing infrastructure, designing the product, curating content, aligning stakeholders, and launching in 11 cities. I led UX research, partner coordination, and product rollout—holding the roadmap together across teams, time zones, and a very tight budget.
We had 12 months - working 2 days a week on the project.
An in-house team of three: me, Yuriko - the content curator, my boss - and a team of 4 developers.
The mission: deliver bespoke streaming platforms for public library users across 11 European cities.
We ran two-week sprints to deliver across seven core phases — from defining the roadmap and visiting libraries across Europe, to auditing infrastructure, designing the product, curating content, aligning stakeholders, and launching in 11 cities. I led UX research, partner coordination, and product rollout—holding the roadmap together across teams, time zones, and a very tight budget.
A simplified visualisation of the roadmap
A simplified visualisation of the roadmap
A visualisation of the struggle to find European cinema
A visualisation of the struggle to find European cinema
Research
To better understand viewing habits, I ran an online survey with 368 respondents across EU countries. The results confirmed what we suspected:
Only 18% had watched a European film in the past month
61% struggled to find quality European films on platforms like Netflix and Prime
41% said they’d be more likely to watch them if curation and access were improved—especially through a trusted source like their local library
To better understand viewing habits, I ran an online survey with 368 respondents across EU countries. The results confirmed what we suspected:
Only 18% had watched a European film in the past month
61% struggled to find quality European films on platforms like Netflix and Prime
41% said they’d be more likely to watch them if curation and access were improved—especially through a trusted source like their local library
User Interviews
Alongside the survey, I spoke to users and staff in several of our pilot libraries. The process was informal, but a few consistent themes stood out:
People preferred to watch on their own devices, not in library booths
Libraries were no longer seen as a place for discovering film
European cinema was hard to find or not promoted
People trusted libraries but didn’t know where to start
If I were doing it now, I’d approach the research with more structure—clearer goals, better questions, and more deliberate analysis - but as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Alongside the survey, I spoke to users and staff in several of our pilot libraries. The process was informal, but a few consistent themes stood out:
People preferred to watch on their own devices, not in library booths
Libraries were no longer seen as a place for discovering film
European cinema was hard to find or not promoted
People trusted libraries but didn’t know where to start
If I were doing it now, I’d approach the research with more structure—clearer goals, better questions, and more deliberate analysis - but as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
User behaviour with regards to European films
User behaviour with regards to European films
Facing the reality of project constraints
Facing the reality of project constraints
Scope vs Reality
The research pointed to a clear user need: flexible, accessible streaming with strong curation. But building that kind of experience wasn’t realistic within the constraints of the project.
The harsh reality, when set against user expectations, was that we couldn’t deliver a full vision across all participating libraries. To meet people’s needs — and to compete with the quality of experience they were used to from mainstream platforms — we would have needed more funding, and more technical infrastructure than most partners could offer.
The research pointed to a clear user need: flexible, accessible streaming with strong curation. But building that kind of experience wasn’t realistic within the constraints of the project.
The harsh reality, when set against user expectations, was that we couldn’t deliver a full vision across all participating libraries. To meet people’s needs — and to compete with the quality of experience they were used to from mainstream platforms — we would have needed more funding, and more technical infrastructure than most partners could offer.
A bespoke platform for Berlin
As luck would have it, Berlin’s ZLB (Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin) had both the funding and the ambition to push the platform further - spearheaded by the Head of the Film Library - Anna Bohn.
From here on, we focused on delivering two versions of the platform - a standard version for 10 of our library partners, and a premium version for Berlin.
That closer partnership with Berlin’s public library gave us the access needed to better understand their users — from user data and interviews, we created Karo - the ZLB user persona.
As luck would have it, Berlin’s ZLB (Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin) had both the funding and the ambition to push the platform further - spearheaded by the Head of the Film Library - Anna Bohn.
From here on, we focused on delivering two versions of the platform - a standard version for 10 of our library partners, and a premium version for Berlin.
That closer partnership with Berlin’s public library gave us the access needed to better understand their users — from user data and interviews, we created Karo - the ZLB user persona.
Setting out to design a separate 'premium' platform for Berlin
Setting out to design a separate 'premium' platform for Berlin
Setting out to design a separate 'premium' platform for Berlin
Karo, the persona that defines the ZLB user
Karo, the persona that defines the ZLB user
Meet Karo
Karo is 34, a teacher living in Berlin and a long-time public library user. She’s curious about European cinema but rarely sees it featured on the platforms she uses — and when she does, it’s buried or hard to navigate. She’s heard about great films at festivals, but doesn’t know how to access them legally. Karo’s not interested in watching movies at the library itself — she wants something she can stream easily on her laptop or phone, ideally curated and recommended by a source she trusts. For users like her, AVA had to feel simple, smart, and seamlessly integrated into the library system she already used.
Defining the user persona helped us the form a targeted and specific user problem statement.
Karo is 34, a teacher living in Berlin and a long-time public library user. She’s curious about European cinema but rarely sees it featured on the platforms she uses — and when she does, it’s buried or hard to navigate. She’s heard about great films at festivals, but doesn’t know how to access them legally. Karo’s not interested in watching movies at the library itself — she wants something she can stream easily on her laptop or phone, ideally curated and recommended by a source she trusts. For users like her, AVA had to feel simple, smart, and seamlessly integrated into the library system she already used.
Defining the user persona helped us the form a targeted and specific user problem statement.
The problem statement
"ZLB library users need a way to easily stream curated European films from home across devices, in German or English, with their ZLB credentials, because currently European film content is either hard to find on mainstream platforms or limited to physical library booths — which restricts access, discovery, and cultural engagement."
This helped us to focused our efforts on:
Device responsiveness
Login via library credentials
Multilingual support
Curated programming
User-type restrictions (e.g. child accounts)
"ZLB library users need a way to easily stream curated European films from home across devices, in German or English, with their ZLB credentials, because currently European film content is either hard to find on mainstream platforms or limited to physical library booths — which restricts access, discovery, and cultural engagement."
This helped us to focused our efforts on:
Device responsiveness
Login via library credentials
Multilingual support
Curated programming
User-type restrictions (e.g. child accounts)
A responsive, multi-language platform accessible via library card anyone?
A responsive, multi-language platform accessible via library card
Karo's needs and wants for her streaming platform
The AVA VOEBB Sitemap
Platform Structure
Before visual design, I mapped out a lean sitemap to guide the UI and dev work. The key was keeping things clear and curated—not overwhelming users, but helping them discover something worth watching.
The core structure included:
Home – Curated carousels and thematic picks
Browse – Filters for genre, country, duration
Film Detail Page – Synopsis, credits, trailers
My Library – Saved films and watch history
Login – Library card authentication
Accessibility – Multi-language toggle and simplified interface
Initially, we planned more advanced filtering and personalisation, but scaled this back after seeing that most users wanted simple categories and editorial picks, and too many options caused confusion.
Before visual design, I mapped out a lean sitemap to guide the UI and dev work. The key was keeping things clear and curated—not overwhelming users, but helping them discover something worth watching.
The core structure included:
Home – Curated carousels and thematic picks
Browse – Filters for genre, country, duration
Film Detail Page – Synopsis, credits, trailers
My Library – Saved films and watch history
Login – Library card authentication
Accessibility – Multi-language toggle and simplified interface
Initially, we planned more advanced filtering and personalisation, but scaled this back after seeing that most users wanted simple categories and editorial picks, and too many options caused confusion.
Design Handover & Build
We contracted a Berlin-based UI designer/frontend developer, Facettenreich, to bring the product to life visually. From a UX perspective, the priorities were clarity, accessibility, and ease of navigation—especially for users less familiar with streaming platforms.
The interface needed to be minimal and intuitive, with clear visual hierarchy and strong contrast for readability. We incorporated a language toggle (German/English) to reflect ZLB’s bilingual audience and ensured WCAG-compliant colour contrast and focus states wherever possible. The menu was designed to keep content discoverable through flexible navigation (by genre, theme, place, or festival), while preserving a sense of editorial curation
Once the design was approved, I oversaw implementation—working in sprints with the dev team and coordinating async feedback with ZLB stakeholders to ensure every detail matched user expectations and library infrastructure.
We contracted a Berlin-based UI designer/frontend developer, Facettenreich, to bring the product to life visually. From a UX perspective, the priorities were clarity, accessibility, and ease of navigation—especially for users less familiar with streaming platforms.
The interface needed to be minimal and intuitive, with clear visual hierarchy and strong contrast for readability. We incorporated a language toggle (German/English) to reflect ZLB’s bilingual audience and ensured WCAG-compliant colour contrast and focus states wherever possible. The menu was designed to keep content discoverable through flexible navigation (by genre, theme, place, or festival), while preserving a sense of editorial curation
Once the design was approved, I oversaw implementation—working in sprints with the dev team and coordinating async feedback with ZLB stakeholders to ensure every detail matched user expectations and library infrastructure.
Facettenreich's frontend UI design of the AVA Berlin site
Facettenreich's frontend UI design of the AVA Berlin site
Testing to optimise the AVA Platform
Testing to optimise the AVA Platform
Testing & Troubleshooting
We ran a two-week testing period with ZLB staff and internal users. I coordinated bug triage and iteration between devs and stakeholders. A few unexpected issues popped up:
Hero image fallback – Many films only had thumbnail stills, which broke layouts; we added automated fallback logic
Metadata gaps – Festival film data was inconsistent, so we created placeholder structures
Library login friction – Integrating with VÖBB’s system took extra coordination with ZLB’s IT team
If I’d had more time and resources:
I would have run structured usability tests across a wider demographic and validated the full user flow from login to playback. But the feedback we did gather led to immediate, useful improvements—especially around clarity of navigation and the Browse filters.
We ran a two-week testing period with ZLB staff and internal users. I coordinated bug triage and iteration between devs and stakeholders. A few unexpected issues popped up:
Hero image fallback – Many films only had thumbnail stills, which broke layouts; we added automated fallback logic
Metadata gaps – Festival film data was inconsistent, so we created placeholder structures
Library login friction – Integrating with VÖBB’s system took extra coordination with ZLB’s IT team
If I’d had more time and resources:
I would have run structured usability tests across a wider demographic and validated the full user flow from login to playback. But the feedback we did gather led to immediate, useful improvements—especially around clarity of navigation and the Browse filters.
Impact
Launched across Berlin’s ZLB library network (VÖBB)
Over 30,000 registered users in the first year
100,000+ films streamed
70% repeat usage rate
Still live and streaming curated European films seven years later
In the years since launch, AVA helped reposition public libraries as innovative, forward-thinking cultural spaces. As Anna Bohn, head of the Film Library at Berlin ZLB wrote in her essay about AVA for the International Federation of Libraries Association:
“The introduction of video streaming offers has significantly boosted the public image of libraries, showing them as committed to cultural participation.”
Launched across Berlin’s ZLB library network (VÖBB)
Over 30,000 registered users in the first year
100,000+ films streamed
70% repeat usage rate
Still live and streaming curated European films seven years later
In the years since launch, AVA helped reposition public libraries as innovative, forward-thinking cultural spaces. As Anna Bohn, head of the Film Library at Berlin ZLB wrote in her essay about AVA for the International Federation of Libraries Association:
“The introduction of video streaming offers has significantly boosted the public image of libraries, showing them as committed to cultural participation.”
AVA marketing materials post-launch
AVA marketing materials post-launch
Responsive AVA streaming across multiple devices
Responsive AVA streaming across multiple devices
Conclusion
In the end, we delivered—both the bespoke library for Berlin and a standard platform for the other library partners- though not without hick-ups.
The project was understaffed, underfunded, and I didn’t have the training or support to lead something that complex without feeling constantly on the back foot. Most of the time, it felt like we were putting out fires, figuring things out as we went.
Looking back with seven more years of experience, I cringe at how chaotic it got at times. I eventually made the decision to move on from AVA after it had become clear that the support and resources needed to scale the work sustainably were not going to be put in place. I stayed on for six more months to see the Berlin launch through and to handover the project to my (very capable) successor—I’d built very strong relationships with the team at ZLB and other library partners and wanted to make sure we finished what we started. And we did. AVA launched - and people are still actively using it, and for that I’m proud.
After I left AVA, I stepped back from product and focused on video and motion design. With hindsight, AVA was an enormous challenge—too much for where I was at the time. But I pulled it off. And almost a decade later, it’s still streaming European cinema to public library users.
In the end, we delivered—both the bespoke library for Berlin and a standard platform for the other library partners- though not without hick-ups.
The project was understaffed, underfunded, and I didn’t have the training or support to lead something that complex without feeling constantly on the back foot. Most of the time, it felt like we were putting out fires, figuring things out as we went.
Looking back with seven more years of experience, I cringe at how chaotic it got at times. I eventually made the decision to move on from AVA after it had become clear that the support and resources needed to scale the work sustainably were not going to be put in place. I stayed on for six more months to see the Berlin launch through and to handover the project to my (very capable) successor—I’d built very strong relationships with the team at ZLB and other library partners and wanted to make sure we finished what we started. And we did. AVA launched - and people are still actively using it, and for that I’m proud.
After I left AVA, I stepped back from product and focused on video and motion design. With hindsight, AVA was an enormous challenge—too much for where I was at the time. But I pulled it off. And almost a decade later, it’s still streaming European cinema to public library users.
Takeaways
You can’t fake a full team: No matter how hard you work, if there aren’t enough people or time, you’re always going to be patching holes instead of building properly.
People’s habits win every time: It didn’t matter how good the booths were — people wanted to watch from their sofa. If your design fights real behaviour, you’re already losing.
Good instincts aren’t enough: I figured a lot out as I went, but without proper UX structure and feedback, everything took longer and felt rougher than it should have.
Working hard isn’t the same as working smart: We dragged AVA over the line through sheer stubbornness, but if I’d had a clearer process and a bit more backup, it would’ve been a very different (and much less painful) experience.
AVA marketing materials for content post-launch
AVA marketing materials for content post-launch
Click the link below to visit the AVA library streaming platform for Berlin
Click on the link above to visit AVA
Click on the link above to visit AVA
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© James McBreen 2025
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Let’s make something great
Whether you’re hiring or just curious, I’d love to hear from you.
© James McBreen 2025
Sitemap
Follow
Let’s make something great
Whether you’re hiring or just curious, I’d love to hear from you.
© James McBreen 2025