Is it possible to access the Photos library to import clips and photos

Yes, you can access your Photos app library from the media side bar of an iMovie project. You must first go to the Photos app preferences and set your Photos app libraryas the system library. Here's a link the explains the procedure:

https://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.1/#/mov865570171

-- Rich

The use of "Photos" as an app name is not very sensible as it gets confused with the generic word "photos".

That is indeed an unfortunate choice. It makes it also hard to search the internet for Photos documentation or for us to replay to questions about Photos.

But in this particular menu it makes sense to mention the app and not the library. If you look at the sidebar in the Media Browser, you will see that the section is titled "Libraries", and there you can see one library for each of your photo applications, that supports the media Browser. Currently I am seeing my Photos Library and the Aperture Library there, so it is important to mention the application to be able to select the correct library.

Good Luck for your iMovie projects.

My iMovie is occasionally confusing me by speaking in Chinese to me after an update. 😀