Audio and Video Resources

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Finding Streaming Video

Current Western students, staff and faculty have access to quality, professional productions via the licensed resources below. These resources include movies, documentaries and more.

Alexander Street Press
...is a multidisciplinary collection of streaming videos for scholarly research, teaching and learning. You can make clips and create a playlist. Western Libraries access to Alexander Street Press is provided in collaboration with King's University College Library.
Audio-Cine Films
...is the exclusive Canadian rights representative for : Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Tristar Pictures, Screen Gems, Universal Studios Canada (MCA), MGM Studios, United Artists.

British Film Institute (BFI) National Archive
"...looks after one of the largest and most important collections of film and television in the world. Its teams of experts ensure that the collection is preserved and developed for future generations and made widely accessible to today’s audiences."
British Pathé
...is considered to be the finest newsreel archive in the world with 85,000 films unrivaled in their historical and cultural significance.
CBC Documentaries
...provides documentaries on demand and information about a wide variety of other documentaries that are broadcast on CBC.

Criterion on Demand
...is an online digital delivery feature film platform that provides easy access to educationally relevant feature films used in Canadian higher education institutions. Includes more than 1,600 English-language titles, 1,300 French-language titles, and 135 world language films with English sub-titles. Also includes more than 100 documentary features.
Curio.ca
...provides access to the educational content from CBC and Radio-Canada. Documentaries from television and radio, news reports, archival material etc. are available in both English and French. Curio.ca is developed expressly for the Canadian educational community, including school boards, government ministries, universities, colleges, cégeps, and public libraries.
Digital Theatre Plus
... provides online access to a digital streaming video collection of unique films of current, leading British theatre productions.
Docuseek Canadian Collection
...contains over 2,000 documentary films including the GOOD DOCS collection with a focus on social and environmental issues. Access is in place until April 30, 2025, in collaboration with King's University College Library.
Drama Online
...includes full texts of plays from across the history of the theatre, ranging from Aeschylus to the present day. Includes non-English-language works in translation, scholarly and critical editions, first night program texts, and critical analysis and contextual information.
HSTalks (Henry Stewart Talks)
The Biomedical & Life Sciences Collection contains over 3,300 seminar-style lectures, covering key subjects areas from basic science to therapeutic intervention. The Business and Management Collection includes over 1,800 lectures, case studies and interviews.

Internet Archive: Moving Image Archive
"...contains thousands of digital movies uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts."

Kanopy
...provides mediated demand streaming of feature films and award-winning documentaries from around the world covering a wide variety of topics. Featured producers include Criterion Collection, PBS, HBO, Kino Lorber, First Run Features, BBC and many more. Access is provided in collaboration with King's University College Library.
Please note: Kanopy’s streaming availability is limited due to budget constraints. For personal entertainment purposes, please visit London Public Library. See https://www.londonpubliclibrary.ca/digital-collection/kanopy
National Film Board
...provides Western Libraries with access to over 3,600 Canadian documentaries, films, animations and clips. Course instructors may want to create a CAMPUS profile to enable additional features.
SAGE Video
…showcases highly relevant educational video across key social, behavioral, and health science disciplines. Each collection includes a breadth of video types to support diverse learning and research needs.
TVO : documentaries
...is a streaming platform delivering ground-breaking and Canadian-made documentary films that enable the exploration of social, political, and current affairs through a diverse range of story-telling perspectives. Open Access.

Finding Streaming Video for Music

The following resources include streaming video of operas, concerts and dance performances. See the generic streaming video resources for musicals and documentaries.

Medici.tv
Medici.tv specializes in high definition video of classical music.... Over 1,400 programs--concerts, operas, ballets, documentaries, master-classes, educational films and artist profiles--may be streamed anytime. Over 100 concerts are broadcast live each year, in collaboration with prestigious performers, concert halls and festivals.
Met Opera on demand. Student access
More than 450 Met performances. Dozens of Live in HD productions, classic telecasts from the 1970s, '80s, '90s, and '00s, and hundreds of radio broadcasts dating back to 1936. Access restricted to registered students, staff and faculty: authentication required for use from off-campus locations.
Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall
This resource includes a number of concert performances of operas as well as other semi-staged vocal performances.

Finding Physical Video Recordings

To search for video recordings (e.g., DVD, Blu-ray, VHS), use the Advanced Search in the library catalogue.

Do one of the following:

Include the following keywords: videorecording OR video*
Set Resource Type to: Video/Film (Note: some of the search results may be online.)

Include one or more of the following:

Unique or distinctive word(s) from the title or subject
Director's, writer's or (in the case of musical performances) composer's surname, if applicable
Actor's or performer's name (e.g., Bernstein), if applicable

Note regarding Music Library video recordings:

Call numbers for all VHS tapes in the Music Library begin with the prefix MVD.
Call numbers for all DVDs in the Music Library begin with the prefix MDVD.
You may browse these using the Call Number field in the Advanced Search in the library catalogue.

Note to course instructors:

Physical items can be requested and held at any Western and Affiliate Libraries location for pickup.
Recommend a purchase of a film of interest that is not currently in Western Libraries' collection.

Last Updated: May 2, 2024 4:58 PM
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Subjects: Dance, Film Studies, Music, Theatre Studies, Visual Arts