National Library of Australia Staff Papers, 1995

Font Size:  Small  Medium  Large

Music on the National Bibliographic Database

Pam Dunlop

Abstract


The paper I gave at 1991 National Cataloguing Conference talked about today's climate of shrinking funds and increasing pressure to maximise use of existing collections and how, in this context, networking becomes a viable and essential tool for dissemination of information regarding holdings of specialist collections. Additionally, the development of improved searching packages such as Supersearch [and now its user friendly sister Sofi] on ABN, and individually tailored on-line public catalogues permits us to access information in catalogue records through non-traditional access points. Around this time discussion on the appropriateness of the National Bibliographic Database (NBD) for recording bibliographic information, and thus building up knowledge about the Distributed National Collection (DNC) specifically for music, was also being raised in other forums.

Mary O'Mara, in her paper Networks and Music Libraries, presented at the IAML (Australian Branch) in 1992, outlined forums which generated this discussion; the 1990 Ross report which recommended that a working party be established to "recommend to the National Library of Australia ways in which access to printed and recorded music may be improved" and how the NBD could improve its coverage of music; the Towards Federation 2001 Conference; and Eric Wainwright's initiative in seeking music specialists' support for proposals for Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET) funds to enhance national access to music holdings.


Full Text: HTML