Hints on Searching the Motion Picture Collections 
at the Library of Congress



 
1. You first need to set search limits to Motion Pictures and Television. Go to:
http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=lbSearch
and select "Type of Material" as shown:

At the bottom of the page select: 

The following should appear on all of your searches for this session only:


 
2. Of the four different search options, two are effective for motion pictures.

2a. The simplest search is effective only for searches by film title. Select:

This defaults to Search By: "Subject," but you want to search by "Title."

This search method will return all film versions of "Phantom of the Opera."
If you search by anything other than "Title" or "Serial Title," then your search will no longer be limited to motion pictures.

For the next step, see #3 below. 
 
2b. If you want a more flexible search, and want to search by title, star or production company, select:

You can search by Title (KTIL), producers, directors and stars (KPRF) [to the extent that they are listed by name in the underlying catalog record], and production/releasing company (KPUB). Remember that the more detailed your query, the fewer records will be returned. Also pay attention to the right column where you have to select from "any of these," "all of these," and "as a phrase."


 
3. Your results display defaults to "Brief Record"

You want to choose "Full Record":


 

Good luck!


David Pierce, prizma@onetel.com, 28 September 1999