In December 2021, a joint agreement was signed between Concordia Library and the Faculty of Fine Arts (FOFA) to transfer the responsibility for the Visual Collections Repository (VCR) film collection to Concordia Library. The project aimed to transfer responsibility for acquisition and cataloguing to the Library and to establish a partnership for the management of the film collection for Film Studies classes through collaborative workflows, while maintaining physical access to the collection at the VCR.

This project had many phases including the cataloguing of the existing VCR collection, providing access to it in Sofia, as well as developing a new circulation system for audiovisual resources and an improved screening lists management system. An unexpected outcome of the project was the reaffirmation of the continued importance of physical media in teaching film. 

In this presentation we will focus on the management aspects of the project, briefly review how access was provided, and discuss some of the workflows that were developed particularly relating to the film screening needs of the faculty and give some insight on how faculty at the School of Cinema access the collection. Additionally, we plan to use this project as a case study to explore the enduring role of physical audiovisual media in cinema studies instruction, even as educational institutions increasingly adopt streaming options. To support this analysis, we will present highlights of our literature search and interviews with faculty members and staff supporting needs from the School of Cinema. We will present the results of this work at the Forum.