Educational screen & audio-visual guide (c1956-1971])

Educational Film Library Association This year EFLA is celebrating its Fifteenth Anniversary. It was organized in the fall and winter of 1942-43 and officially incorported as a non-profit educational association in April, 1943. First President of EFLA was L. C. Larson who was at that time on leave from Indiana University to work with the .American Film Center in New York. Elizabeth Harding, later Mrs. John Flory. was the first Executive Secretary. Both Mr. Larson and Mrs. Flory will participate in the anniversary celebrations of EFL.\ in Chicago during EFLA's 15th Annual Conference, July 25-27. The Educational Film Library .Association was founded to "promote the production, utilization, and distribution of educational films." Its specific aim is to serve its members who are primarily film librarians, audio-visual directors, and others in charge of audio-visual programs in schools, colleges, universities, public libraries, art galleries and museums, religious organizations, labor groups, and others concerned with any aspect of education or cultural enrichment. Perhaps its major service has been the establishment and continuance of the EFL.A Evaluations. First issued in 1946, these critical appraisals of 16mm films by accredited, unbiased committees according to a form developed by Dr. Edgar Dale now total over 3500 different titles. Three hundred or more new Evaluations are distributed annually to each EFLA member, in the form of 3x5 cards which can be interfiled to build up a permanent expanding file of information. Over seventy-five Evaluation Committees, each under the leadership of an EFL.\ member, are active in reviewing new films according to the criteria established by EFL.A and described in the publication A MANUAL FOR EVALUATORS OF FILMS AND FILMSTRIPS, which was prepared by EFLA and published in three languages by UNESCO for international distribution. Other EFL.'V services include a monthly newsletter, entitled the EFLA Bulletin., which lists new films and carries news and articles; Service Supplements which often include selected film lists like the recent FILMS AND FILMSTRIPS IN ARCHAEOLOGY; Film Review Digest which includes excerpts from reviews of films from a variety of periodicals; and infonnation services of various kinds for the benefit of the members. EFL.A also holds an annual Conference in Chicago in July, and regional Conferences from time to time. The current President of EFL.\ is Erwin Welke, Director of the ,\udio-Visual Extension Service of the University of Minnesota. EFI^\ plans for the immediate future include more regional meetings, contir.ued expansion of the Evaluation program, a new handbook, to be published in tlie fall, on Film Library .Administration, and such other projects and services as will serve the needs of EFLA members and of the audio-visual field. EFLA's Fifteenth Annual Conference A retrospective look at educational films of 1948 and 1943 will be one of the highlights of the 15th .Annual Conference of the Educational Film Library .Association, to be held in Chicago at the Morrison Hotel on July 25-27. The program this year has been condensed into two and a half days, so that members and others who are planning to attend will be able to do so without interfering with summer school sessions and other activities. Other features of the meeting will be: an addre.ss by Stanley Andrews, Director of the National Project in Agricultural Communications who has done outstanding work in using a variety of media to reach a wide audience effectively; an opportunity to see new and unusual films, including the prize-winning experimental film N.Y., N.Y., recently shown at Brussels, and MURDER ON THE SCREEN, a Dragnet-type epic with a message for all film librarians; an evaluation screening of the newest educational films; a demonstration of techniques for local production of 16mm motion pictures; discussion sessions on topics dealing with film library operations, the role of the public library and art museum, use of films in industry, church and other fields; and the annual EFL.A reception at which the Board of Directors will be hosts to EFLA members and guests. At the retrospective screening, it is planned to show films from 1943, tlie year in which EFLA was founded, and 1948, ten years ago, and compare them with films on the same general subject produced in 1958. The panel and the audience will have a chance to see what progress is being made in film production and to discuss whether the new films are really more effective as teaching tools. Mrs. Elizabeth F"lory, who helped establish EFL.A's original film evaluation program, will be on hand to explain how the program started and developed. The "How-To-Do-It" session, which proved so popular in the past two years, has been expanded this year to provide demonstrations of equipment and techniques which can be used in making inexpensive, locally produced 16mm films. John Molstad of the .Audio Visual Center at Indiana University is setting up the demonstrations, and those who attend will have a chance to see the equipment and how it can be used. EFLA Conference chairman. Dr. F. A. White (left-) Director, Bureau of Audio-Visual Service, University of Wisconsin, and Dr. Philip Lewis, Director, Bureau of Instructional Materials, Chicago Public Schools. Dr. Lewis also serves as Technical Editor of Educational Screen and Audio-Visual Guide. An "electric film analyzer," visualizing film evaluators' reactions, is shown in use. Discussion sections are always a nKijoi p.m ol .m KM. A Conference, and this year they will be held on a wide variety of subjects. One group will deal with problems of practical administration of film libraries, including cost of booking.s, postal requirements and services, and audio-visual budgets. Another group will take up the use of films with special audiences — film study groups, golden age clubs, and children's screenings. There will be a special series of cooperative sessions in which EFL.A members will meet with representatives of other organizations which will be holding sessions during the National .Audio Visual Convention. These include Medical and .Allied Sciences, .Agricultural .AV Workshop, Religious .AV Workshop, Industrial Training Directors Workshop, and the Industrial .Audio Visual .Association. Questions to be discussed at the cooperative sessions include how EFL.A and the other groups can work together to get better distribution and utilization of materials of mutual interest. Topics which are currently of major importance in audiovisual education will be di.scussed during the Friday afternoon sessions, when there will be sections on the use of 334 EdScreen & AV Guide — July, 1958