Library and Reading Room
Attention: In January 2019 the film-related FINA collection will remain unavailable, whereas a three day in advance procedure of ordering materials is going to be established in February.
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)