The BFI National Library, 70 years old this July, offers access to the world's largest collection of information on film and television. CLIG was invited to visit on Wednesday 11th August. Reading Room Librarian Ayesha Khan and her colleagues gave us the guided tour.

We learnt that although the Library's priority is to cover British works, the scope of the collection is international. The periodicals collection alone holds over 400 titles from 45 different countries.

As you would expect, the Library has an extensive database of film know-how. A film buff can look up production details for films and research the crew as well as comprehensive biographies for the stars.

Film fact number one: did you know Fay Wray (born Vina Fay Wray) was a huge silent film star years before King Kong - and one of the few to make the transition to 'Talkies'. And one piece of TV/Comic book trivia especially for us - in the original comics and TV show Batgirl was a Librarian. Well, didn't we all know we were Superheroes?

Film fact number two: the Library doesn't actually hold any film! It is all stored off-site at Berkhamsted, where the preservation work is done.

So, what can you see at Stephen Street? Well, the Library holds over 46,000 books, over 5,000 periodicals, (catalogue available at www.bfi.org.uk/library/olib), newspaper cuttings dating back to the 1930s, 20,000 unpublished scripts (some of them actual working copies), publicity materials and unpublished materials donated by organisations and individuals such as John Schlesinger of Sunday Bloody Sunday fame.

Some of these are classed as Special Collections and held off-site but all can be retrieved on request and viewed by appointment in the special collections room.

As a special treat for us, some of the Special Collections were on out on display. Among them were Marlene Dietrich's contract for the 1937 film Knight Without Armour, and in contrast, a contract of Kenneth Williams from one of the many Carry on films. We perused scripts from To Kill a Mockingbird and Tom Cruise's The Firm, then “oohed” and “aahed” over Derek Jarman's film diary for Caravaggio, a work of art written in beautiful calligraphy, with photos of the cast, pictures, and sketches of his inspirations for the film.

After viewing the special collection material we trekked down to the basement to view the archive material and storage facilities. We browsed our way through the collections, Screen International from 1933 was particularly entertaining and very heavy (and the bound volume of Hello from 2003 was interesting too). We were also fascinated by the mix of vintage and modern movie posters plastered over every square inch of wall and filing cabinet.

Finally, we all snuck a look at some of the stranger requests the Library team has received over the years. Some of them were quite worrying, does the world really need that much research into sex in films? The spelling was shocking too.

On our way out, we passed the cinemas. There are two, (available to hire at about £40 per hour) and also individual booths where you can view requested film footage from the archive. We were excited to learn that the night before our visit Woody Allen had been in to use the cinema to view the rushes of his new movie, currently being filmed (or should that be 'lensed') in London.

Anyone can visit the Library. It is members-only but for £6 you can become a day member, no booking needed, just turn up.

If you can't make it to Stephen Street yourself, Information Services provide a telephone information and research service based on the Library's collections and databases. If you have a request you think they can help with, just give them a call on 020 7255 1444 and ask for Information. The lines are open Monday to Friday 10am - 1pm, 2pm - 5pm. A quick enquiry might be dealt with free of charge but Information Services will be happy to discuss your research needs and advise you of the costs involved.

If you are inspired to find out more about the BFI National Library, why not visit their website at
http://www.bfi.org.uk.

Thanks to all at the BFI National Library for an entertaining and educational visit.