Databases

Streaming video collection of independent, social-issue and environmental films from renowned leaders in documentary film distribution, including titles from Bullfrog Films, Collective Eye, GOOD DOCS, Women Make Movies, and many others.

Drama Online is an award-winning digital library that has been created as a response to the need for a high-quality online research tool for drama and literature students, professors, and teachers. It combines exclusively available playtext content and scholarly publications with filmed live performances, film adaptations and audio plays.

McMaster offers access to: 

Contains video and text material focusing on engineering failures and successes such as Apollo 13, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Deepwater Horizon oil spill, Ford Pinto, Space Shuttle Challenger and the Titantic.

A free collection of more than 2,000 videos and podcasts related to entrepreneurship, innovation, product development, and other business topics, including lectures from thought leaders in the field.  The content can be searched or browsed by speaker, topic, collection, date, media type, popularity and more.

Brings together multimedia materials (text, archival primary sources, video and audio) around key environmental challenges, including climate change, water/air pollution, biodiversity, conservation, agriculture, deforestation and more. The database is curated around specific environmental issues and events from the 20th and 21st centuries. Provides an understanding of the relationship between people and the environment through social, cultural, economic, political, historical and ecological perspectives. 

F.A. Davis and McGraw Hill Education have partnered to provide this comprehensive digital resource for physical therapy. It includes more than 40 e-book titles, along with over 660 on-demand how-to videos, cases, and review questions. The F.A. Davis PT Collection gives educators the tools needed to train the next generation of PTs, and enables physical therapy students to confidently prepare for their PT professions.

This playlist includes two seasons produced by RedCloud Studios and featuring Archaeologist/Artist Kris Nahrgang and Dancer/Activist Sarain Carson Fox. Both share their personal origin stories and talk about where they are at in their own journey of identity.

This curated playlist, sourced from McIntyre Media, provides a collection of multimedia resources primarily focused on Indigenous experiences, histories, and perspectives within the Canadian context. The collection features a wide array of video content, spanning various topics such as the child welfare system, health, residential schools, culture, and Indigenous resistance. The resources encompass a mix of documentaries, interviews, talks, and short films, contributing to a multifaceted exploration of Indigenous issues. Many of these works are created by or feature Indigenous individuals, offering firsthand perspectives on significant subjects. All resources have specified expiration dates and are accompanied by supplementary guides and information.

Wild Kitchen is a playlist based in the Canadian Sub-arctic about people who harvest wild food. From Indigenous hunters and multi-generational fishermen to pioneering homesteaders, Wild Kitchen explores living sustainably off the land. Juno award-winning Inuit actor and performing artist, Tiffany Ayalik and her production team, travel to the remote wilderness to learn about wild food, its cultural significance, and the people who harvest it..

A series of video clips developed by the University of Toronto and the Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network. These clips provide healthcare students with the core competencies required for the provision of interprofessional practice and collaboration.

Provides researchers rich archival content, visual ephemera, monographs, and videos that explore how food shapes the world around us.

The only specialist database dedicated to public health, completing the picture of international medical and health research by capturing key literature not readily covered by other databases. Includes journal articles, book chapters, research reports, conference papers, multimedia (e.g., image, audio, video) and more.

This primary source database brings together material from The National Archives, UK and the British Film Institute to document the changes in reactions, responses, medicines, and treatments of infectious diseases within the British empire and across the globe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Thematic areas include animals and livestock, disease prevention and interventions, institutional care, maternal and child health, and more, with a range of document types allowing researchers to explore this area of STEM history and colonial administration.

Includes coverage of 180 issues, topics, and events from the late 1890s to the present that are key to understanding today’s world including border and migration, atrocities and human rights violations, peacekeeping, climate change, terrorism, revolutions, and human trafficking. Specific events explored include the U.S. and Mexico Border, the Rwandan Genocide, the Arab Spring, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and climate migrants in Asia Pacific.

Globe on Screen 1&2, available from Drama Online, includes a selection of critically acclaimed performances at Shakespeare’s Globe, founded by the pioneering American actor and director Sam Wanamaker. Dedicated to the exploration of Shakespeare’s work and the theatre for which he wrote, Globe on Screen video collection contains 30 stunning stage productions representing over 75 hours of content. Recorded live on the Globe stage in high definition and surround sound, the videos feature performances from leading actors including Mark Rylance, Stephen Fry, and Roger Allam’s Olivier award-winning role as Falstaff in Henry IV.

Provides comparative documentation, analysis, and interpretation of major human rights violations and atrocity crimes worldwide from 1900 to 2010. The collection includes primary and secondary materials across multiple media formats and content types for each selected event, including Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Rwanda, Darfur, and more than thirty additional subjects.

JoVE Science Education is a revolutionary video library dedicated to teaching laboratory fundamentals through simple, easy-to-understand video demonstrations.

McMaster has access to the entire library including the following collections:

• ADVANCED BIOLOGY
• BASIC BIOLOGY
• CHEMISTRY
• CLINICAL SKILLS
• CORE BIOLOGY
• CORE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
• ENGINEERING
• ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
• LAB MANUAL: BIOLOGY
• LAB MANUAL: CHEMISTRY
• PHYSICS
• PSYCHOLOGY

JoVE publishes the leading peer-reviewed, PubMed-indexed video methods journal. Articles consist of high-quality video demonstrations and detailed text protocols which facilitate scientific reproducibility and productivity.

The scope of the journal includes novel techniques, innovative applications of existing techniques, and gold standard protocols in the physical and life sciences. The content and editorial vision of the journal is advanced by JoVE’s Editorial Board and Science Editors. JoVE’s 2018 impact factor is 1.108.

McMaster subscribes to all of the 13 sections, covering the following areas:

• BEHAVIOR
• BIOCHEMISTRY
• BIOENGINEERING
• BIOLOGY
• CANCER RESEARCH
• CHEMISTRY
• DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
• ENGINEERING
• ENVIRONMENT
• GENETICS
• IMMUNOLOGY AND INFECTION
• MEDICINE
• NEUROSCIENCE

McMaster's subscription to  Kanopy provides online access to over 7,000 documentary films from a range of major producers, including PBS, California Newsreel, Kino Lober, Documentary Educational Resources, and many more.  Videos can be integrated with Avenue to Learn and accessed remotely by students.  The majority of the videos are closed captioned, and clip-making is allowed.  Transcripts are also available by clicking on the 'More' tab.

Full screen mode and playback speeds can be adjusted upon clicking the "Play" button of the video.

To access additional features such as creating a Clip/Playlist, Adding comments or sharing via social media, a personal login  (eg. Google) is recommended.

Further information is available at the Kanopy Help page

This databases showcases two radio programs: the weekly Spanish-language Enfoque Nacional (1979-1988) and the Daily English-language Latin File (1988-1990), available for the first time in a searchable database as digitized audio with transcripts. They focus on Latinx issues related to politics, sociology, human rights, the arts and more with interviews of key figures and news reporting by a new generation of Latino/a journalists at the time.

• Enfoque Nacional, 1979-1988 (Weekly, 500 episodes of 30 minutes each) 
• Latin File, 1988-1990 (Daily, 414 episodes of 15 minutes each)

Self-serve instructional modules on palliative care in Canada. Users may create an individual account in Pallium Central to track their progress.

NOTE: September 22, 2025: LinkedIn Learning subscription ending 
April 30, 2025: LinkedIn Learning access for McMaster alumni ending.
An online training database providing access to thousands of high-quality instructional videos on a broad range of topics in the areas of business, education, design, photography, programming, animation, video, audio and music. 

Contains health care information for patients and consumers.

Music Online: Listening provides high quality streaming audio to support the teaching and research of music. It currently provides over 11 million audio tracks, across all the key musical genres, and is growing as new recordings are added. Users will find recordings of classical, folk, world, jazz, and popular music from the world’s best labels, including Hänssler Classic, Chandos, Smithsonian Folkways, and more.

This resource incorporates Smithsonian Global Sound as well as these other collections:

Online collection of recorded sound, including folk, popular, classical and world music, speeches, and oral histories, delivered via streaming audio.

Browse by musical instrument, geographic area, or topic, e.g. American folk traditions, blues, bluegrass and old-time country, American Indian traditions, world traditions (by continent), jazz, classical, spoken word, sound effects.

Historical content includes: ballads from the American Revolution, War of 1812, or the American Civil War; freedom and protest songs from the Civil Rights era; songs from the Slave Coast; Canada's history in song. Spoken word content includes: speeches, biography, memoir, drama (e.g. ancient Greek tragedies), poetry, language instruction.

Features streaming videos of films, clips and trailers from the National Film Board (NFB) collection, including NFB world-renowned documentaries, films that chronicle key moments in the lives of Canadians and works that take a stand on issues of global importance: the environment, human rights, international conflict and more. It also contains acclaimed Canadian dramatic features, documentaries, animated films, and experimental works.

High definition streaming video of 50 National Theatre Live (U.K.) broadcasts, with notable productions of Shakespeare, as well as recordings never previously seen outside of the National Theatre’s archive. The database also includes exclusive digitized archival materials such as prompt scripts, costume designs, and more are available to provide behind-the-scenes background and contextual information.

Provides an online collection of recorded classical and jazz music delivered via streaming audio. Also includes CD covers, track listings, liner notes, composer biographical information, opera synopses and libretti.

A comprehensive collection of advanced neurosurgical techniques including text, surgical videos, lecture webinars, and neuroanatomical images.

Includes journal and magazine articles, books, videos, dissertations and other publications covering nursing, allied health, alternative and complementary medicine, public health, and other healthcare topics. Designed to meet the needs of researchers at healthcare facilities as well as students enrolled in nursing and allied health programs at academic institutions.