Scholarly research, then and now.

In this article, the author looks back at his years of research about early cinema and related media in libraries and archives worldwide, and examines the great number of changes that have taken place since about the 1980s in the organisation of such institutions and in research methods. Aspects that are covered include significant transformations in cataloguing, bibliographic software and digitisation of texts. The author discusses how changes in these and related areas have affected himself and other scholars, citing concrete examples. He concludes that, while much research can now be done remotely via the web, research libraries will continue to be essential resources for research in (media) history and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]