Fellow Screen-L Subscribers: I'm locating additional information
on internet's relation with the Library of Congress, and will
share it with you as soon as available. Meanwhile, it is
important to emphasize that only a portion of the film and
television holdings are online (which is also true of other
collections as well). Films began to go online in 1986, so, for
instance, most holdings from the nitrate era received prior to
that date are listed in different files. Generally, the best
command is simply "find t " for a title, replacing the t with p
for a person or c for a corporation (ie, find t within our
gates). For a keyword search, simply use find without any t,p, or
c qualifier. To limit the search to visual materials, type
";f=av" after the search word, although this still brings up
Prints and Photographs holdings and old av cataloging. The latter
often displays the phrase "Not in LC Collection," but the item
may still be held and listed elsewhere. Different types of
records will be encountered, from brief inventory level records,
containing unverified information, to cataloging by professional
staff. Note the type of material on a title; only ref prints and
viewing copies may be studied, although preprint material will
also be listed. As well, be cautious of dates; search displays
may not reflect the initial distribution date. Hence, for
definitive answers, as well as to make arrangements for
screenings, it is still best to direct questions to the Reference
Section, Motion Picture-Broadcasting-Recorded Sound Division,
James Madison Bldg., Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540.
Brian Taves, Motion Picture Division
Tavesmail.loc.gov
This is not an official statement of Library policy.
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