About listings

Make sure your listings can be found

When you join the IDLS you are creating a professional listing. Until your listing is linked to a documentary, it will not be displayed in most search functions. It's important to link your listing to at least one documentary.

We store information using the following "structure"

Professional listing information
details about you or your organization - created from your membership application

• name
• location
• link to web site or professional web page on the IDLS

Documentary listing information
details about documentaries

• Title
• Year produced
• Language spoken
• Short description
  (255 characters and spaces or less - used for subject search)
• Country of origin
• Running time (in minutes)
• Production method
• Any dubbed or subtitled versions
  (no limit to number listed)
• Other titles used in release
  (no limit to number listed)
• Alerts to sensitive subject matter - "XAlerts"
• Long description, notes or critical review

Link information
details about professional listings related to a documentary

• documentarians and their credit in credits
• distributors, formats available and catalog item numbers
• production companies in credits
• festivals and competitions entered and awards won
• broadcast history
• funders taking credit

Getting yourself organized

Before you start your membership application

1) Expore IDLS to see if you, or your organization, are already listed    

If you are listed you still need to activate your membership using your IDLS ID Number

2) Explore IDLS to see if any of your documentaries are already listed

You won't have to re-enter the information - but simply link your professional listing to this work

3) Organize your catalog of work not yet listed in the library

You'll want to gather all this information in one place before you start - be sure to have both listing and link information for each documentary
(see "How Library is Organized" at left)

4) Explore IDLS to find any listed documentaries you worked on so you can add your credits

You'll want to link your professional list to all the documentaries you worked on

5) Check out options for an IDLS professional web page

If you don't have a web site, you'll want to create a free web page on the IDLS

Before beginning to create a web page, you will want to have the following information organized, preferably in a word-proccessed document you can cut-and-paste:

• For individual documentarians, a brief professional biography
• For orgzanizations, a brief history of your group
• Self-distribution information, if you self-distribute your work
• A description of your professional services
• Contact information for the general public

Other considerations:

If you have a large catalog, or a well organized existing electronic source of information (spread sheet, database, word processed document), please contact us. We may be able to enter your information in the library directly, without the need to type it all in again.