This article begins with a short description of the emergence of audiovisual resources and the need for their preservation. It continues with the history of the establishment of the first governmental film archives. The characteristics of an audiovisual archivist and the major responsibilities of audiovisual archives are explained. As an example, the audiovisual archives of New Zealand are introduced. The audiovisual archives of the history and culture of Australian aboriginals is also presented to introduce some of the fundamental activities of audiovisual archives. The article concludes with the need for audiovisual professional communities in Iran, creation of a Farsi thesaurus in the field of audiovisual resources, establishment of national audiovisual archives, curriculum development for academic archival studies, fair use of audiovisual resources and protection of copyright of these resources with special emphasis on digital resources.
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