How to find videos
DVD, VHS, streaming & online
Searching by director, producer, actor or production company
Step 1: Search by Author on the Advanced Search screen in the Sofia Discovery tool.
- Producers, directors, writers and main performers may be searched as authors in the library catalogue, for example:
- Hitchcock, Alfred
- Spielberg, Steven
- Hepburn, Katharine
- Production companies may also be searched as authors in the library catalogue, for example:
- National Film Board of Canada
- Vidéographe
- Paramount Pictures
Step 2: On the results screen, in the Format filter on the left hand side of the screen, select the appropriate material type (example: DVD Video, eVideo, VHS Video).
See also:
Searching by title or series
Step 1: Search by Title on the Advanced Search screen in the Sofia Discovery tool.
- Search by title if the exact title is known, for example:
- An inconvenient truth
- Maltese falcon
- Manufacturing consent
- A series title can also be searched as a title, for example:
- Portrait of an artist
- Films for Humanities
Step 2: On the results screen, in the Format filter on the left hand side of the screen, select the appropriate material type (example: DVD Video, eVideo, VHS Video).
See also:
Searching by genre, technique or form
Step 1: Do a genre index search in the Sofia Discovery tool.
- Search for the genre heading - preceded by the genre index code ge: - to find works by genre, technique or form, for example:
- ge:Adventure films
- ge:Animated films
- ge:Children's films
- ge:Comedy films
- ge:Documentary films
- ge:Experimental films
- ge:Feature films
- ge:Horror films
- ge:Musicals
- ge:Silent films
- Closed-captioned materials is listed under the subject heading "Video recordings for the hearing impaired."
Step 2: On the results screen, in the Format filter on the left hand side of the screen, select the appropriate material type (example: DVD Video, eVideo, VHS Video).
See also:
Searching by topic
A. When the producer, director or title is not known, search by keyword to find relevant material.
Step 1: Do a Keyword Search in the Sofia Discovery tool.
- Examples
- canada AND history
- women AND biography
- ("world war" OR "vietnam war") NOT "feature films"
Step 2: On the results screen, in the Format filter on the left hand side of the screen, select the appropriate material type (example: DVD Video, eVideo, VHS Video).
See also:
- Searching for film and video by keyword using Sofia [YouTube]
- Searching for film and video: filtering by format or by collection using Sofia [YouTube]
B. If you have identified appropriate subject terms, use them to find relevant films and documentaries.
Step 1: Search by Subject on the Advanced Search screen in the Sofia Discovery tool.
- Examples
- Inuit
- Civil rights
- Trudeau, Pierre Elliott
Step 2: On the results screen, in the Format filter on the left hand side of the screen, select the appropriate material type (example: DVD Video, eVideo, VHS Video).
See also:
To view a complete list of videos and DVDs
- Enter * (one asterisk) in the Sofia Discovery tool search box
- On the results screen, in the Format filter on the left hand side of the screen, select the appropriate material type (example: DVD Video, eVideo, VHS Video).