Library and Reading Room
The Collection
The Library houses Poland's largest collection of Polish and foreign publications devoted to film and audiovisual media, comprising almost 30 000 books and over 1 000 periodicals.
Other collections:
- press clippings collected before 2007, compiled by title, person and subject
- a collection of catalogues from Polish and foreign film festivals
- literary materials (including scripts, shooting scripts, continuity scripts, dialogue lists)
- archival documents (such as minutes of meetings of the Film Pre-Release Review Committee and the Scenario Evaluation Committee)
- set designs
- sheet music
- film programmes
- posters – more than 6 000 posters are presented on the website of the Gapla Film Poster Gallery www.gapla.fn.org.pl
- film stills – more than 185 000 images are presented on the Fototeka website www.fototeka.fn.org.pl
- online access to the database of the FIAF – the International Federation of Film Archives (including a bibliography of the contents of foreign periodicals on the subject of film)
- other databases on CDs
Special collection
Valuable and archival materials are only available in the Reading Room and are prohibited from being copied. They include:
- archival copies
- special collections (e.g. manuscripts)
- rare prints
- exceptionally protected copies (cimelia)
- copies in a bad condition, as well as bound periodicals in a format larger than A4
Online book search engine
Who can use the collection and how?
- readers can make use of the collection only in the Reading Room with no right to borrow the materials; the materials are available for viewing free of charge
- inter-library loan – students and university faculty personnel can use some of the books and literary materials; one-time users can borrow no more than 3 volumes a month (except for items from the reference section or particularly valuable publications) on the basis of one-time or circular order slips (collection in person or by post)
- in exceptional cases with the consent of the Director of the National Film Archive – by prior arrangement with the manager of the Library and the Reading Room – certain other items may be rented out, e.g. for exhibitions
Ordering items
- orders for books, periodicals, folders of newspaper clippings, printed festival materials, archival documents, film programmes, brochures and databases on CDs are executed immediately without the need for prior ordering
- orders for literary materials are executed once a week, on Wednesdays (czytelnia@fn.org.pl, phone: +48 22 542 10 86)
- orders for film stills are executed online through the Fototeka website www.fototeka.fn.org.pl in accordance with its rules
Photocopying services
- the photocopying point which operates by the Reading Room makes photocopies on the spot of the materials from the collections of the National Film Archive
- in accordance with the provisions of the law on copyright, only fragments of published materials may be copied, and not more than 1 publishing sheet (22 pages)
- due to the archival nature of the collections, not every document can be copied (Special Collections)
- only orders submitted in person in the Reading Room are executed (selection is made by the person submitting the order)
- payment for single-sided photocopies: 0.40 PLN (A4) and PLN 0.80 (A3)