How to Find Films in CLIO
General Information
The Butler Media Collection is comprised of VHS and DVD film titles. Titles listed as "Butler Media" circulate to all Columbia affiliates for 3 days (students) or 7 days (faculty and officers). Titles listed as "Butler Media Res" circulate to faculty for 7 days for class use and are available for in-library use only to all other affiliates.
In CLIO, use the drop-down menu to search keywords in All Fields, Author, Title, or Subject. Put exact phrases in quotes: "life of pi".
Refine your search using categories. Once selected, these will remain in place until they are removed:
- Format
- Author
- Publication Date
- Library Location
- Language
- Subject – to find items about a topic
- Subject (Era) – to find items about a time period
- Subject (Region) – to find items about a place
Title Search
Enter a keyword(s) or put exact phrases in quotes: “sunset blvd”
Enter a keyword(s) or put exact phrases in quotes: “wilder, billy”
Subject Search
Recommended search for browsing title lists. Film formats are assigned subject headings, similar to books. To find works in a particular genre or on a topical subject, use subject search. The following are examples of subject headings frequently used in cataloging films.
- feature films
- comedy films
- documentary films
- biographical films
- gangster films
- war films
- foreign films
For additional subject headings, see the Library of Congress Subject Headings, copies of which are in Butler Reference and other reference departments within Columbia University Libraries.
Foreign Film Titles
Subject searching also allows you to retrieve listings of foreign film titles. If you are interested in seeing a list of Spanish films held in the collection, try searching by subject heading for motion pictures, spanish. For French films, try motion pictures, french.
Keyword Search
Keyword searching is useful for identifying visual formats in CLIO.
- Use keyword(s) and add "DVD": hamlet shakespeare dvd
- Put exact phrases in quotes: "life of pi" dvd