British Film Institute Discusses its National Archive and Highlights Spectra Tape Libraries

The British Film Institute (BFI) is the lead body for film in the UK. The BFI strives to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive. The BFI accomplishes this by connecting audiences to the widest choice of British and world cinema; preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for today and future generations; and championing emerging and world-class filmmakers in the UK. In its efforts to advance the role of film in the UK, the BFI invests in creative, distinctive, and entertaining work, promoting British film and talent to the world and growing the next generation of filmmakers and audiences.

In a series of recent twitter posts, the BFI shared a look at its National Archive, one of the most important moving image collections in the world. The posts showcased the BFI’s tape library solution from Spectra Logic and how it helps them store and preserve their collection as part of their Digital Preservation Repository. Spectra Logic is honored and delighted to be part of this noble project designed to protect and promote British and world cinema for many generations to come.

The #BFINationalArchive looks after one of the most important moving image collections in the world, here’s a nice showcase – with some data tape robots for the #digipres folks.. https://t.co/yAW854qdMC

— Stephen McConnachie (@mcnatch) April 13, 2022

Proud to have helped write code that aided the ingest of 429TB of data to our digital storage, all this March! Powered by #Python3 standard library and the mighty while loop… https://t.co/EMzyHBM9tt

— Joanna White (@digitensions) April 13, 2022

Code creates batches of files using a while loop to fill ‘PUT’ folders to 2TB, then use @SpectraLogic API to push data to LTO tape library, then validate that PUTs succeeded – makes database media records and records size/duration of file (using @MediaArea_Net) about 900 lines!

— Joanna White (@digitensions) April 13, 2022

Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by a Royal Charter. It combines cultural, creative and industrial roles, bringing together the BFI National Archive and BFI Reuben Library; film distribution, exhibition and education at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX; publishing and festivals. The BFI National Archive holds one of the largest film and television collections in the world. Dating from the earliest days of film to the live capture of current television content, the collection contains over a million titles.

 

Their Spectra storage solution is key to the BFI’s long-term preservation efforts. Read more about the BFI’s storage environment in this case study.