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Music in
a Digital World:
Directions,Initiatives, Collaborations
The
Biennial Conference of the International
Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres
(Australia-
New Zealand Branches),
held in association with the Australasian
Sound Recording Association, Canberra
1215 September
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Welcoming
the new Director of ScreenSound Australia at the
IAML/ASRA conference are (from left) Pam Saunders (Deputy
Director, SSA), Robyn Holmes (Curator of Music, NLA),
Dr Paolo Cherchi Usai (Director, SSA), Meg Labrum (Senior
Manager Collections Branch, SSA), Jan Fullerton (Director-
General, NLA) and Ann Baylis (Senior Manager Access and
State Offices, SSA)
[CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE]
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The iconic image of a young man holding in his hand his entire
personal music collection in downloads on his iPod is a challenging reminder
for music libraries and archives that a rapid—and not so quiet—revolution
is taking place in the ways in which music is created, played, produced,
heard, represented and documented. Music libraries and archives are confronted
not only with a changing information world, but also with some profound
shifts in the nature of musical practice and experience. What we collect,
and how we collect, preserve, manage and provide access to music in libraries
and archives is at stake. Creators, industry and users are driving change
as the technology rapidly improves, challenging libraries and archives
in a web environment to integrate traditional formats (for example, relating
score and audio), support new artistic practices, enrich musical access
and widen musical discovery and experience.
How do music libraries and archives begin
to plan for and manage such change in this increasingly digital world?
This was the focus of the International
Association of Music Libraries (IAML) Biennial Conference, held in
Canberra from 12–15 September,
and jointly hosted by the National Library of Australia, Australian
National University School of Music and ScreenSound
Australia.
The conference was distinctive because it was a joint conference of both
Australian and New Zealand
chapters and the Australasian Sound Recording Association. This created
a rich dialogue across disciplines, formats, institutions, sectors, and
nations. The conference drew an unexpectedly large number of participants
and speakers—representing national and state libraries and archives, specialist
performing arts and university libraries, public libraries, broadcasting
archives, and the Australian Music Centre—each characterised by a determined
spirit to share knowledge and develop expertise for particular institutional
needs and benefits.
The conference approached the topic from
three perspectives across the three host venues. The first day, held at
the National Library of Australia, worked its way through a range of processes
underpinning the Library’s function—the preservation, management and delivery
of digital music collections. Topics included digital repositories; enabling
data sharing; generating digital music collections; preserving and managing
digitally created music; online contextual information. Key issues
were raised around creating digitised music collections; collecting and
storing born digital music; metadata to support harvesting and aggregating
music objects; strategies for persistent access to music web resources;
ISMNs; and building contextual information about music and musicians.
Guest experts posed questions and presented some solutions; each key paper
was accompanied by case studies from Australian and New
Zealand music organisations of individual
or collaborative projects. For example, the Australian Music Centre presented
its digital concept for addressing its ‘whole of business’ needs, from
information management through to e-commerce delivery of music resources.
The state libraries demonstrated how they tackled the issue of creating
digitised music collections of unique state materials in very different
ways, as part of a national cooperative strategy led by the National Library,
and representatives from New Zealand
highlighted their recently funded initiatives in digital preservation.
The second day, hosted by the School
of Music, Australian
National University,
addressed the issue of collaboration—from Australian, New
Zealand and international perspectives,
with IAML’s overarching role highlighted. Visits to AIATSIS
and the National
Museum
of Australia
allowed us to consider some cross-sectoral approaches to collections,
rights and protocols, and learning objects online. The collaborative PARADISEC
project provided a model for managing audiovisual resources and outcomes
produced by researchers of living music traditions.
The third day, hosted by ScreenSound Australia,
the National Screen and Sound Archive, and held in association with the
Australasian Sound Recording Association, specifically focused on a complex
range of issues associated with audio collections. Two forums, ‘Is the
CD Dead?’ and ‘Whistle While you Work: Intellectual Property and Musicians’,
opened up debate on themes which pervaded the conference about the production,
preservation and consumption of music in the contemporary context. Case
studies on building and managing unique heritage audio collections showed
how new technology, developed within a national data sharing strategic
framework, can make historical materials more accessible. Finally, a presentation
by the Greenstone project from the University
of Waikato dazzled us with the potential of music information retrieval
to enable querying and access to music collections entirely through musical
means.
With a range of institutions contributing
to the conference, the opportunity for sharing across sectors was great,
producing not only a buzz, but plenty of argument and debate. Somehow,
music conferences always take on a musical life as well. The Conference
began with a musical event and welcome reception at the National Library
to celebrate the distinguished Australian composer, pianist, researcher
and teacher Professor Larry Sitsky on the occasion of his 70th birthday.
Two of our young librarians, also professional trumpeters, heralded the
opening session with some improvised fanfares. The conference dinner at
AXIS at the National Museum
of Australia
proved a veritable feasting experience. But the ‘virtuosi’ of the conference
proved to be a forum in which six young professionals discussed their
hopes, expectations and experiences in their chosen careers. This group
lit up the room with their enthusiasm and optimism. Those in the audience
sat up straighter in their chairs, leant forward, and paid attention—the
future of music collections, information management and retrieval is in
good hands!
Robyn
Holmes,
Curator of Music, NLA and Co-convenors Marianna Pikler and Joye Volker,
Australian National University
| ROBYN
HOLMES |
Curator
of Music
National Library of Australia
Parkes Place
CANBERRA ACT 2600 |
Tel:
02 6262 1529
Fax 02 6273 5081
Email: rholmes@nla.gov.au
www.nla.gov.au |
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