By Mary Beth Barber

Fans of nature videos like Blue Planet can now see these documentaries and the dozens others from the BBC Landmark collection through public school systems at no cost as part of the COMPASS resources from the State Library. Students can now explore our earth, from the vast oceans and skies to the small and intricate worlds of insects, in vibrant video and surround sound on the Alexander Street video viewer.

In fact, there are three new collections – the BBC Landmark Collection, BBC Horizons Collection (the BBC’s version of NOVA), and BBC Literacy Adaptations in Video for English literature fans. Every public-school student and teacher can view these videos online at no charge through their school district, and others can see the Horizon Collection and BBC Literary Adaptations through their local library.

Learn more about the BBC Landmark collection and how to create a clip in these collections through short Zoom videos created by Mary Beth Barber at the State Library’s COMPASS.

Have a Blue Planet party! Schools and libraries can show these videos to large groups as part of the licenses, if students and families (for family engagement events or after-school programs) are not charged a fee. These are great “assignments” for pre-vacation classroom events and over-break activities as well!

Like the other Alexander Street collections provided by COMPASS such as the PBS collection for public schools, these videos are through a perpetual license, meaning teachers can develop lesson plans spanning multiple years without fear of losing access. 

See if your school has single-sign-on access by going to the ProQuest Homework Central interface at https://explore.proquest.com and choose the “All Video Collections on Alexander Street” tile. (We encourage educators to try this from home to ensure off-campus access, too.) If your school doesn’t appear to be set up yet for connecting to the Alexander Street collections, inform your IT department and contact compass@library.ca.gov  for help.

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