LibGuides: Library Electronic Resources: Streaming Videos

Finding Streaming Media

The UConn Library provides access to tens of thousands of streaming videos through our catalog.

The best way to find streaming videos is to search the Library's catalog.

Go to the library catalog and conduct your search.
Use Refine my results to choose Availability = Full Text Online and Resource Type = Video

Finding and Teaching with Library Streaming Videos
Google Slides prepared for an April 2021 workshop sponsored by the UConn Center for Teaching and Learning (CETL).

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Ordering Streaming Videos

The Library subscribes to various streaming platforms to cover materials assigned during the academic year. Additionally, faculty can request an individual stream for a course. The Library will make every effort to license the stream if available and within budget. Please submit a request to purchase. It can take up to three weeks to process a streaming request - please plan accordingly.

How do I access my stream?

You will receive access to your stream within 3-business days of order confirmation.
A link to the stream will be forwarded to you upon receipt.
The stream will be available in the library's catalog within 3-business days of access notice.

How long will my requested stream be available?
Unless otherwise specified, the stream will be available for one year from time of purchase. This end date will be noted in the library's catalog.

Make note of the subscription date and confirm access prior to each semester. Contact lib.acquisitions@uconn.edu to request renewal.
The Library tracks renewals and will attempt to contact you prior to expiration.

The Library prefers to purchase a stream when possible, but it may be impossible to purchase a full-length feature film outright.

An average annual license for a documentary is $150, and $250 for a major studio film. Three-year licenses, if available, costs @$350.

Library-Subscribed Streaming Video Collections

Assigning a video from one of these collections for a class? Contact lib.acquisitions@uconn.edu to request long-term access.

Alexander Street Press Video Platform
Cross-search Alexander Street Press streaming videos across such subjects as anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and theatre. The materials include documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances, news programs and newsreels, and demonstrations. UConn owns or subscribes to the following collections: Academic Video Online, Broadway HD Collection, Docuseek, Ethnographic Video Online, Music Online, National Theatre Collection, Theatre in Video.
Films on Demand
Documentary films on various topics in the humanities and social sciences.
Kanopy Streaming Video
Subscription access to a limited number of documentaries, classic films, and feature films.
Psychotherapy.net Expanded Collection
One hundred streaming videos documenting applied aspects of psychotherapy, counseling, psychology, and social work.
Swank Digital Campus
60 feature films, documentaries, foreign films, and TV shows. Access till June 30, 2022.
Symptom Media Collection
Online mental health education and training film library with hundreds of mental health simulations. Includes the DSM 5 and ICD Guided Film Collection and Assessment Tools Library.

Finding Streams to License

The Library has licenses with the following vendors. Faculty can search the product websites to see which streams are available to license. Please check the Library's catalog to see if the stream is already licensed and available before submitting your request.

Kanopy https://www.kanopy.com/
Swank https://www.swank.com/digital-campus/
Films Media Group https://www.films.com/
New Day Films https://www.newday.com/

Library-Owned Streaming Video Collections

BBC Shakespeare Plays (Ambrose Video)
37 Shakespeare plays as originally produced by BBC, now remastered available as streaming video. Unlimited simultaneous users. Flash Streaming with closed captioning.
BroadwayHD Collection
19 premium performances of plays and musicals from the New York theatre scene
Docuseek2 Complete Collection
Approximately 1,800 issues-based documentary films from producers and distributors including Bullfrog Films, Icarus Films, the BBC, the National Film Board of Canada, CBC, Television Trust for the Environment, MediaStorm, Terra Nova Films, KimStim, Scorpion TV, and other independent filmmakers from around the world. Focuses on environmental studies and sciences, sociology, anthropology, global studies, area studies, women’s studies, history, political science, criminal justice, health, psychology, the arts, and more
Ethnographic Video Online
Classic and contemporary ethnographies, documentaries, and shorts from every continent, including hundreds of cultural groups and practices around the world.
Music Online: Opera in Video
Contains five hundred hours of opera performances captured on video
National Theatre Collection
Access 30 productions from the UK’s National Theatre. Also includes exclusive digitized archival materials such as photographs, scripts, costume designs, providing behind-the-scenes background and contextual information for each of the featured productions.
PBS Video Collection
A collection of over 1,200 streaming videos produced by PBS. Includes films from well know PBS series such as Ken Burns, NOVA, Frontline, and American Experience.
Royal Shakespeare Company Collection
High-definition video-recorded productions of Shakespeare's plays such as Hamlet and The Tempest. Filmed at the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Stratford-on-Avon theatre and featuring actors like David Tennant, Sir Antony Sher, Paapa Essiedu, and Simon Russell Beale, and directors like Robin Lough and Dewi Humphrey.
Theatre in Video
Video of plays and documentaries. Includes hundreds of leading playwrights, actors and directors.

Other Videos from Alexander Street Press
300 documentary, independent, and other films purchased or leased for unlimited access.

Free Sources for Streaming Videos

American Archive of Public Broadcasting
Multi-station archive of PBS material from years back
Internet Archive
Range from classic full-length movies to daily alternative news
Facing History and Ourselves
Access to a diverse collection of streaming video covering subjects that include history, music, and psychology. As you search the website, if a login block appears, simply click on the video title, which will bring you to a second page, which includes a password-free link for students.
Netflix Documentaries (YouTube)
Netflix is providing access to several of its documentaries through its YouTube channel. These films are expected to be available on a limited basis, but a date for removal has not been provided.
PBS Learning Media
Streaming clips from PBS programs
thoughtmaybe
Free documentaries

Library Electronic Resources — Streaming Videos