Are you a HE researcher who will be using the new BFI library regularly now and in the future? If so, bfiwatch would like to hear about your experiences – positive, negative or ambivalent. We are particularly interested in the availability and accessibility of HE research materials at the South Bank site and the progress of the digitisation programme. These are early days for the new library – your response will be invaluable in monitoring its development and value as the premier HE moving image research facility in the UK.
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New BFI library at South Bank
I had some issues using this library last week. There was an unbelievably loud chldren’s street/ performative theatre event going on just outside, which meant everyone was deafened and wincing. Also, because I arrived at 13.05, they told me I had to wait an hour to get the only book I had requested, although staff were at a loose end. At 2.15 I enquired but books had not yet come up from the basement. At 2.25 it transpired my order had been forgotten, so I finally got it around 2.45. This may sound trivial but I had to leave for home to pick up my daughter from nursery around 4.30 so the lost time made a huge difference and the hourly collection seems an unfortunate new development. I was happy to pay for membership and more availability of materials! The new space also seems rather small, as well as not very ‘sheltered’.