The Librarian shall endeavor to obtain, by gift from the owner, an archival quality copy of the Registry version of each film included in the National Film Registry. Whenever possible, the Librarian shall endeavor to obtain the best surviving materials, including preprint materials. Copyright owners and others possessing copies of such materials are strongly encouraged, to further the preservation purposes of this Act, to provide preprint and other archival elements to the Library of Congress.

The Librarian shall endeavor to obtain, for educational and research purposes, additional materials related to each film included in the National Film Registry, such as background materials, production reports, shooting scripts (including continuity scripts) and other similar materials.

All copies of films on the National Film Registry that are received as gifts or bequests by the Librarian and other materials received by the Librarian under subsection (b), shall become the property of the United States Government, subject to the provisions of title 17.

All copies of films on the National Film Registry that are received by the Librarian under subsection (a) of this section, and other materials received by the Librarian under subsection (b), shall be maintained in the Library of Congress and be known as the “National Film Registry Collection of the Library of Congress”. The Librarian shall, by regulation, and in accordance with title 17, provide for reasonable access to the films and other materials in such collection for scholarly and research purposes.

The Librarian shall utilize the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center of the Library of Congress at Culpeper, Virginia, to ensure that preserved films included in the National Film Registry are stored in a proper manner, and disseminated to researchers, scholars, and the public as may be appropriate in accordance with—

(1) title 17; and

(2) the terms of any agreements between the Librarian and persons who hold copyrights to such audiovisual works.

(Pub. L. 104–285, title I, § 106, Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3380; Pub. L. 109–9, title III, § 302(c), Apr. 27, 2005, 119 Stat. 225.)