Commissions

Cataloguing and Documentation Commission

The Work of the FIAF Cataloguing and Documentation Commission

The mission of the FIAF Cataloguing and Documentation Commission is to promote the exchange of information, expertise, and materials among FIAF colleagues and others in the areas of film cataloguing and of documentation related to the cinema. We define documentation related to the cinema as any and all records containing information generated in the pre-production, production, publicity, distribution, exhibition and merchandising, study, and archiving of film. Film cataloguing encompasses the creation and use of guidelines, standards and rule interpretations for describing moving image collections in archives. Our goals are to to survey and standardize working procedures in the areas of cataloguing and documentation in film archives, and to facilitate exchange at all levels. To achieve these goals, the members of the Commission meet regularly, conduct workshops. present and publish papers, and contribute to the Commission's ongoing projects.

Commission members currently contribute to such projects as the FIAF International FilmArchive Database's International Index to Film/TV Periodicals; the International Directory of Film/TV Documentation Collections; Bibliography of FIAF Members' Publications; and Treasures of the Film Archives. Past publications of the Cataloguing and Documentation Commissions include the FIAF Cataloging Rules; the Glossary of Film Terms, the FIAF Classification Scheme for Literature on Film and Television; and the Bibliography of National Filmographies, among many others. The Commission is presently surveying FIAF colleagues on their digital imaging practices in order to discuss common standards and procedures for facilitiating use of these new technologies.

The Cataloguing and Documentation Commission has always intended that its work should benefit both FIAF itself and international film culture in general.