Resources in the Library

• Book catalogue (available online)
• BID database
• Screenonline
• Current Periodicals
• Frequently used books and periodicals
• Newspaper cuttings on microfiche for films and television programmes or personalities
• Internet access, via a dedicated terminal (Wi-Fi not available at present)
• Photocopying facilities
• Facilities for using personal computers

Unfortunately the Library does not hold viewing copies of films or programmes. If you would like to access particular recordings of films or programmes please contact Research Viewing Services.

The BID Database

BID is the bfi's new Integrated Database that incorporates information from our periodicals database and other data collections held by the bfi. BID can be accessed in the Library Reading room.

800,000 film and television records from BID, which include cast and credit information, plot synopses, television transmission details and information about festivals, awards and other events, can also be accessed via the web.

Explore the bfi Film & TV Database online

BID can be used to find information about the periodical holdings of the Library, which are indexed by film or television programme title, personality, and subject. However, BID also offers additional search capabilities and additional data. For example, BID allows the user to search by organisation or event. The new BID database also incorporates the National Film Theatre screening catalogue, dating back to 1951, and containing information about 30,000 screenings, searchable by film title and season.

What does BID do?

BID serves the following functions:

• As an index of articles in our periodical collection, which are indexed by film or television programme title, personality, subject, organisation, or event.
• As a list of our periodical holdings.
• As a guide to holdings or viewing copies of films and programmes in the National Archive.
• As a guide to images located in the Stills, Posters and Design department.
• As an index to items in our Special Collections, such as pressbooks, unpublished scripts, and film and television ephemera.
• As an index of our collection of national newspaper clippings and production notes, housed in microjackets and indexed by title or personality.

What can BID tell me?

• What articles does the bfi National Library have about Carol Reed's The Third Man?
• What articles are there about Kenji Mizoguchi?
• Which television company produced The X-Files, and when was it first transmitted?
• When was Krzysztof Kieslowski born and which periodical articles contain a list of his films?
• What recent articles do you have about digital television?

Some BID statistics

The BID database includes:

• 810,000 film and television titles, together with cast and credits
• 1.2 million personality records
• 210,000 records for film and TV organisations, including production companies, distributors, trade associations etc.
• 23,000 records for individual festival and award occasions, conferences and other events (some of these contain information about films shown and prize-winners)
• 9,500 subject headings which provide a subject index to articles in the Library's international collection of film and television periodicals
• Bibliographic references to over 1.3 million periodical articles, including film and television reviews, obituaries, interviews, and articles listed under subject headings.

All these references are to articles in periodicals held in the library, and the database contains all the information that was originally stored on card indexes dating back to the beginning of the bfi National Library in 1933.

The database is international in its coverage of film and contains records dating back to the beginning of film production. It includes both fiction and non-fiction, and theatrical and non-theatrical releases, short films and independent productions.

Television records are mainly for programmes broadcast in the United Kingdom, and the information has been collected more systematically since the late 1960s, although we are gradually inputting information about earlier broadcasts.

There are also records of the National Film And Television Archive's holdings of films, stills, posters and designs, and the Library's holdings of pressbooks and other materials. Many of these holdings records are still being completed, so you need to check with the appropriate Department if you are unable to find what you want.