Jane Sloan Media Librarian jsloan@rci.rutgers.edu June 2009

Research Resources: Subject Research Guides: Cinema Studies:
Searching IRIS for cinema studies for books and DVDs

Cinema studies is a relatively new field, so finding academic print materials on individual films can be a challenge. If an IRIS quick search for the title and author last name - in single 'quotes': 'age of innocence' and Scorsese - is not successful, then try the director or writer alone: Scorsese, Martin. Indexes in the books you turn up may point to writing on the film you are looking for. Bibliographies and filmographies are also extremely valuable book sources that may quicken your research.

For searches on a more general subject, like mystery films, go to the Advanced Search, type in the standard subject term 'motion pictures' -- OR 'films' will sometimes be used -- and combine it with 'mystery.' A look at the hits that come up will tell you that the heading used by our catalog is actually 'detective and mystery films.' By analyzing in this way the subject headings in the records you find, you will be able to find most of the books we have on your subject. Following are some examples of the subject terms that may be applied: Animated films, Film adaptations, Biographical films, War films, Gangster films, Spy films, Film noir, Western films, Samurai films, Science fiction films, Silent films, Musical films, etc.

Likewise, books on international film can be found by searching for 'motion pictures' and India, for example.

To find primary materials - DVDs and Videocassettes -, use the Advanced Search screen and limit your search to the format Visual Resources. Use one or two words of the title - 'mean streets' and the author - Scorsese. Since the number of these materials is much less than books, accuracy of words and spelling is important.

The Media Collections lists also provide some access to international and period cinema, but are not as up to date as our IRIS.

Please contact the Cinema studies librarian, Jane Sloan, if you have any questions about finding the materials you need.