Use the programme title before the topic
The Library's politics and public-affairs moving-image guide says title searches are often the easiest route because many items are not fully catalogued for subject access. It recommends limiting catalogue searches to moving-image material and consulting finding aids.
Imagine a viewer remembers an election-night broadcast but has only the network and year. Start a research note with those clues and any programme title found in a contemporary listing. Search the title or a phrase such as election night with the network identity. A broad search for the election issue can otherwise return books, still images and unrelated footage.
Separate an episode from a collection
A catalogue result may describe an individual broadcast, a series or a larger collection. Read its scope before assuming that a result title identifies one viewable video. Retain the catalogue identifier and the wording that explains what the record covers.
When a subject search fails, use the guide's suggested genre or subject vocabulary, such as television news programmes, and browse relevant finding aids. Keep a short log of the title forms and dates tried. This log makes a later reference question precise: it shows which candidate was sought and why it may sit inside a larger collection rather than as a standalone episode record.
Treat discovery and access as separate outcomes
The Library explicitly cautions that its online catalogue is not a comprehensive listing of all moving-image holdings and points researchers to reference staff for additional indexes. A missing result is therefore a reason to refine the question, not proof that a broadcast has never been preserved.
Prepare any enquiry with the programme title, network, approximate transmission date, topic and the searches already attempted. If a record is found, check the research centre's current viewing and copying information before planning access. A catalogue record does not promise immediate streaming or a personal download.
For the election-night example, retain both the network and the calendar date even if the catalogue title is broad. If a collection description is the only match, identify the series or container that needs further examination. The final enquiry can then ask whether that collection includes the specific broadcast, instead of requesting unspecified footage about an election.
Questions about this guide
Does no catalogue result mean the Library lacks the programme?
No. The Library says some holdings are indexed through additional resources beyond the public catalogue.
Why add a moving-image limit?
It helps separate film and video records from other formats that share the same subject or title.