Libraries: Streaming Video at the Library: Streaming Documentaries

Pacific Oaks Library Streaming Documentary Platforms

Pacific Oaks Library provides access to thousands of streaming documentaries on a variety of platforms. On this page, you'll find links and brief descriptions for the major documentary collections .

Kanopy Streaming Collection This link opens in a new window
The database is a streaming video resource with a board collection of over 26,000 films on every subject imaginable and from leading producers such as Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, New Day Films, HBO California Newsreel, Kino Lorber, PBS, BBC, First Run Features, The Video Project, Media Education Foundation, Documentary Education Resources. Kanopy’s website makes it easy to watch, share and discuss films across campus.
Access for some titles is by request
Black Studies in Video This link opens in a new window
Black Studies in Video is a signature Alexander Street collection featuring award-winning documentaries, newsreels, interviews and archival footage surveying the evolution of black culture in the United States. In partnership with California Newsreel, the database provides unique access to their African American Classics collection, and includes films covering history, politics, art and culture, family structure, social and economic pressures, and gender relations.
Indexed in OneSearch
Current Affairs in Video This link opens in a new window
Current Affairs in Video is a unique streaming video resource featuring a collection of issue-based documentaries from around the world. Covering Immigration and Border Studies, Middle East Studies, Urban Studies, Political Science, Globalization, and Human Rights, the films focus on the key issues and events of recent global history.
Indexed in OneSearch
Ethnographic Video Online This link opens in a new window
Ethnographic Video Online is a comprehensive online resource for the study of human culture, behavior and society around the world. The collections contain over 1,300 hours of streaming video, including ethnographic films, documentaries, select feature films, and previously unpublished fieldwork. It’s also a resource for a study of the discipline itself: By placing examples of traditional ethnographic methodologies alongside indigenous-made films representing previously overlooked perspectives, scholars, teachers and students of anthropology can gain a sense of the discipline’s history and of its future direction.
Indexed In OneSearch
Latin America in Video This link opens in a new window
Latin America in Video offers quality original language documentaries from some of the most important producers and independent filmmakers in Latin America. The films were produced in Latin America, by Latin Americans, about Latin American issues, such as cultural identity, political history, human rights, popular culture, agribusiness, education, religion, and much more. It brings a comprehensive, exclusive and unique perspective on the region to any library.
Indexed In OneSearch
LGBT Studies in Video This link opens in a new window
The database is a cinematic survey of the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people as well as the cultural and political evolution of the LGBT community. This first-of-its-kind collection features award-winning documentaries, interviews, archival footage, and select feature films exploring LGBT history, gay culture and subcultures, civil rights, marriage equality, LGBT families, AIDS, transgender issues, religious perspectives on homosexuality, global comparative experiences, and other topics
Indexed In OneSearch
The PBS Video Collection This link opens in a new window
This collection assembles hundreds of the greatest documentary films and series from the history of the Public Broadcasting Service into one convenient online interface. A core of 245 titles, selected for their high quality and relevance to academic curricula, covers many educational disciplines, including history, science and technology, diversity studies, business, and current events. This collection provides access to the films and series users already know and trust, including Frontline, NOVA, American Experience, Odyssey, and films by Ken Burns and Michael Wood.
Indexed In OneSearch

Find a complete list of all video collections.

Getting Started with Streaming

To get you started, below is a glossary of some of the key terms that it might be helpful to understand:

Platform - A platform is often defined as "the underlying hardware or software for a system." In this case, platform refers to the specific software used by an individual vendor (such as Alexander Street Press/Filmakers Library Online) to deliver streaming files to the Simmons community. Each vendor platform includes different features and has somewhat different, if similar, functionality.

Browser - A browser is "a software application used to locate, retrieve and also display content on the World Wide Web, including Web pages, images, video and other files." In this case, by browser we mean Google Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari or other software that you're using to open a web page. It's important to understand that some browsers work better than others to display streaming video content. So if you're having trouble playing a streaming video file, you might want to try it using another browser!
Plug-In - A plug-in is a "hardware or software module that adds a specific feature or service to a larger system." In this case, plug-ins can include modules such as Adobe Flash, Silverlight and Quicktime that allow you to view a video from within a web browser.

Permalink or Permanent Link - A permalink or permanent link "is a direct link to a single entry or content," such as a journal article or individual film, within a larger resource, such as a database, online reference book or streaming media platform. As the resource is updated with new material, that specific material "will get its own page with a URL that can be used rather than linking to the main URL" of the resource. In this case, the permanent link to the resource can be included in Moodle so that students have direct access to a streaming documentary on their course page.

Embed - An embedded file "refers to any type of multimedia file that you might insert, or embed into the Web page. This includes files like graphics and sound files" as well as videos. YouTube is probably the most common type of embedded video you might see on a website. Embedding video is more complicated than linking to it and, while some of the platforms in the library's collection offer an option to embed, linking to the resource is simpler and more reliable.

If there's another term you don't understand, find confusing in this context or think might be helpful to others, please let us know and we'll add it to this glossary!

Source: Key terms adapted from the Webopedia.