Music Librarians on the Road Demonstrating Basic Music

Music Librarians on the Road: Demonstrating Basic Music Skills to Public Librarians in a Successful Outreach Campaign presented by Darwin F. Scott Assistant Director for Research & Instruction Services, Creative Arts & Humanities Brandeis University and Erin Mayhood Music Librarian University of Virginia for the pre-conference workshop “Train the Trainer” MLA Annual Meeting, Newport, RI February 20, 2008

The Plan v Build on NEMLA’s strong history of outreach by proactively reaching out to public librarians at their annual state or regional library meetings. v Why? Ø NEMLA visits to library school career forums had reached some new librarians but not those already on the front lines. Ø 1998 assessment on the state of music collections in Connecticut revealed a keen need for help. Ø Many generalists in public libraries were working as music librarians in all but name only for their communities. Ø MLA perceived a strong need and desire by generalists in public libraries for reliable information on all aspects of music.

Tactics v Meet the librarians on their own turf by offering sessions at annual meetings of state and regional library associations. v Make the sessions both engaging and informative. v Provide practical information. v Present ourselves as friendly, enthusiastic colleagues willing to help and genuinely interested in public libraries. v Plan to spend time at the meeting; attend the lunch and freely engage in conversation beyond the session.

More Tactics v Promote NEMLA and that New England music librarians are eager to share their subject expertise with the public library community of the region. v Inform about the Music Library Association and its important resources, particularly the copyright Web site and MLA-L (including archive). v Include at least one public library music librarian on the team to foster a sense of connection.

Strategies v Offer content that will both attract an audience and provide practical information and instruction. v Relate music reference techniques to the skills of general reference and draw upon common expertise—i. e. , engage the audience at their level. v Point out the different approaches required for music reference. v Promote an atmosphere of “shop secrets” from the experts.

More Strategies v Develop specialized music terminology. v Demonstrate outstanding pathways to highquality FREE online resources. v Show to craft successful searches based on the complex descriptive fields in MARC records for music materials. v Impart some of the shop secrets of expert music collection development that attendees can take back and begin using. v Mount the slides on the NEMLA Web site for future consultation after the sessions.

Practical Advice v Try to get a spot on the program without significant competition. v Don’t rely on live Internet connections: capture screen saves of Web pages and copy into Power. Point slides. v Bring all the electronic equipment you will need (computer, projector, cables, etc. ) unless you are absolutely certain that the conference site is fully equipped. v Allow time for audience engagement and be willing to follow the tangents during question-answer. v Expect complex and sophisticated questions: these are colleagues hungry for information and full of practical experience themselves.

Reference Difficulties Encountered by Public Librarians v Music-specific terminology (song, score, sheet music, parts, etc. ) v OPAC searching § Formats (scores, vocal scores, fakebooks, librettos, CDs, videos, etc. ) § Uniform title vs. title on page § Lack of content notes § Or, how to effectively search these notes. § Music subject headings (e. g. , plurals for genres) v Absence of viable reference sources at the library

Our Presentations Name That Tune: Music Services and the Public Library “Music Reference: Songs” (Erin Mayhood) “A Few Basic Survival Skills for Finding Music Web Sites, Acquiring CDs and Scores, and Coping with the Complexities of Music Materials” (Darwin Scott) Comments on Reference and Selection at the Providence Public Library (Margaret Chevian) § New England Library Association, Manchester, NH, September 24, 2004 § Connecticut Library Association, New Haven, CT, April 13, 2005 § Rhode Island Library Association, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI, June 2, 2005 Get Your Library Movin’ to the World Music Beat! “World Music in the Public Library: Collection Development Tips!” (Erin Mayhood) “What World Music Is—And How to Locate It in Library Catalogs and Other Electronic Resources” (Darwin Scott) Comments on World Music at the Providence Public Library (Margaret Chevian) § New England Library Association, Worcester, MA, October 16, 2005 § Rhode Island Library Association, Bryant College, Smithfield, RI, June 1, 2006

How Did We Do? — Assessment Attendance v Varied between 25 and 40 depending on the number and subject matter of conflicting sessions. v Last session in RI had 16 due to popular Google session scheduled at the same time. Audience reactions v Nobody got up and left during the presentations. v Engaged audience throughout. v Lively, interactive question and answer sessions. v Rumpus sessions after presentations to talk further. v Great interest in NEMLA and much thanks given. v Offers to return next year.

Evaluation Feedback “Very informative, well organized” “Really enjoyed all three speakers” “Lots of great info and different points of view” Ratings by four attendees: one “ 4” and three “ 5's (scale: 1=poor, 5=excellent) Evaluations from the 2005 RILA meeting “Thanks so much for the excellent presentation you gave at the Conference last Thursday. . Your talk was well organized, lively, and you provided us with very useful handouts. We learned so much about the wealth of information that is available to us. ” -Pam Mead, RILA Conference Committee (June 2006) “I thought the program was very interesting and the smaller crowd allowed a little more interaction—so glad you are willing to join us next year. Please consider yourselves on the program!” -Ariela Mc. Caffrey RILA Conference Committee (June 2006)

Fasten Your Seatbelts for a Whirlwind Tour through Our Presentations Note: Boxes in yellow on the slides summarize what was said while showing each slide.

The Music Reference Interview Focusing the inquiry in music includes: n Format Score n Recording n Does the patron need the words (lyrics) only? n Are they looking for background Try to draw on skills we all have in common. Here we talked about the information? reference interview as a technique we all share. How would a music n interview differ? Also work in a little terminology (score/recording, etc. )

Questions to Ask the Patron: What is the title of the song? n Who wrote the song? n Do you know the first line or any of the lyrics? n What decade is the song from? n Who recorded the song? n What style of music is it? n Where did you hear this song? n Illustrates the reference interview for a song search.

Building Terminology: Focus on Formats Recordings n n DVDs Compact Discs Cassettes LPs Scores n n n Full scores Piano-vocal scores Fake books Erin also showed a World. Cat search page to illustrate format limits.

Example of a piano-vocal score: Provide something visual especially if what you are talking about is very specialized, such as a piano-vocal score.

Example of a Full Score:

Example of a fake book:

Finding Songs: Why Are They So Hard? Lack of contents notes in catalog records n Songs may be part of a larger work like an opera or a musical n Languages n Again, draw on something people can identify with—and that these are difficult questions. Here Erin related finding a song to finding a poem.

Finding Song Scores – Essential Print Resources n Verification Sources Use to verify title, composer, date information n Especially useful if you have only partial information n n Song Indexes Use to determine the titles of collections or anthologies that include your song. n General or genre specific Here Erin mentioned the print bibliography of song resources we provides. n Some participants were interested in building a collection of reference resources, but far more were intrigued by what they could get for free.

Sheet Music Resources on the Internet Aid in verification n Searchable lyrics n Digitized copies of songs may be printable n Many institutions compile lists of recommended sites n Erin showed an example of a finding aid site (Boston University’s) and then an example of an actual digital collection. People were amazed at how much “free” music was here—a lot of this repertoire is very popular with the elderly public library population.

Charles H. Templeton Sheet Music Collection http: //library. msstate. edu/ragtime/main. html Contains images of over 22, 000 pieces of sheet music from late nineteenth and early twentieth century America n Covers many genres, from the ragtime of Scott Joplin, the Dixieland of W. C. Handy, the smooth ballads of Irving Berlin, the stirring patriotic anthems of John Phillips Sousa and George M. Cohan to the early roots of big band. n

Charles H. Templeton Sheet Music Collection – Digital Images of Sheet Music This slide was a big hit.

Finding Music Lyrics on the Internet Many lyric sites on the Internet. n Beware of sites with extensive pop ups. n Sites often specialize in a particular genre. n Many libraries maintain lists of selected sites. n Here we emphasized quality free sites on the Web and practical tips.

www. Leoslyrics. com Erin did a practice search of this site.

What album contains that song? Search on All Shook Up

We integrated the NEMLA logo into the slides. A Few Basic Survival Skills for Finding Music Web Sites, Acquiring CDs and Scores, and Coping with the Complexities of Music Materials Presented by Darwin F. Scott Creative Arts Librarian, Brandeis University for the Rhode Island Library Association (RILA) June 2, 2005 Sponsored by the New England Music Library Association (NEMLA) Darwin poked fun at himself—long title from the academic librarian, of course. This immediately broke any ice that I might be some stuffy academic.

Brandeis University Libraries Quick. Start Guide: Music — Music on the Web Here I pointed out the value of finding aids supplied by college and univeristy libraries—with a little shameless self promotion.

Duke University Libraries: DW 3 Classical Music Resources — Homepage Well, this recently decease site WAS a fantastic resource in 2005. What a terrible loss for public librarians, who were dazzled by this site. If only MLA could sponsor something like DW 3 for outreach efforts!

Music Library Service Company (MLSC): Online Store Home Page The public librarians were very excited about a specialized sound recording supplier that really understood the library market and how it must do business.

Music Library Service Company: Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums MLSC’s thematic lists of CDs attracted much interest, particularly for quickly building a collection or an easy response to a sudden influx of funding.

Music Library Service Company (MLSC): 47 th Annual Grammy Award Winnners

Music Library Service Company: A Basic Music Library — Musicals and Shows

CD Hot. List: New Releases for Libraries — Homepage Librarians were attracted by the wide range of repertory here.

CD Hot. List: New Releases for Libraries — Country/Folk, Sept. 2004

Amazon. com: Search for CD of Wicked Reminder: Search for CDs under MUSIC Our practical shopping guides for Amazon. com really engaged the audience. It also woke them up to the idea of getting company credit cards.

Amazon. com: Search for Vocal Score of La Cage aux Folles

Amazon. com: Search for Scores of Gilbert and Sullivan Published by Dover (searched as author: gilbert sullivan; title: score; publisher: dover)

Music Library Association Mailing List: Archive Search MLA-L and its archive were a revelation to the audience.

Music Library Association Mailing List: Archives of MLA-L

Music Library Association Mailing List: Archive Search Results — on “security (CD or CDs or DVDs)” I showed examples of then recent e-mails regarding security treatment for CDs and DVDs. This slide led to some interesting questions about dealing with disks in a library setting during the discussion session.

Music Library Association (MLA): Copyright for Music Librarians MLA’s copyright site was another revelation.

Music Library Association (MLA): Copyright for Music Librarians: Frequently Asked Questions

The New England Chapter of the Music Library Association World Music in the Public Library: Collection Development Tips Presented by Erin L. Mayhood Assistant Head, Music Library, Boston University June 1 st, 2006 Sponsored by the New England Music Library Association (NEMLA) Our 2006 focus was on World Music. The subject really engaged the public and two-year college librarians.

Reasons to include world music in your collection n n Cultural diversity Formal education support Community activity support Independent learning Here Erin focused on community engagement via world music. Do multi-cultural events in your town have music or dance components? Interest in the music of another culture will increase if your area hosts festivals or celebrations from a particular area of the world. Children can also benefit from world music recordings: lullabies, singing games, and folk songs from around the world.

Tools for Collection Development n n n Websites Reviews Vendor catalogs

Recommended Websites § University of Washington http: //www. lib. washington. edu/music/world. html § Indiana University http: //www. music. indiana. edu/music_resources/ethnic. html § Music Selection Resources on the WWW by Anna Seaberg http: //www. halcyon. com/aseaberg/ Erin showed the University of Washington site and also the list of record labels available on Anna’s site—emphasizing that she was a public librarian.

Record Label List Annotated by Anna Seaberg: Erin emphasized that this particular list by Anna Seaberg is annotated, making it extremely useful. The audience thought so too. http: //www. halcyon. com/aseaberg/worldbib. html

Recording Reviews n Periodicals n Vendor Websites • Billboard • All Music www. allmusic. com • Dirty Linen Media • Ethnomusicology • Multicultural www. worldmusicstore. com • Roots & Rhythm Newsletter (online at: www. rootsandrhythm. co m/roots/rr_latest. htm) • World of Music Erin emphasized the importance of reviews, since there are so many recordings to choose from. She promoted these titles and sites are some of her favorites.

Vendors n n Vendor websites can be useful collection development tools Look for sites that present items geographically Practical advice slide: Many traditional CD vendor do provide good coverage of world music on mainstream labels. BUT, as your collection grows, you may want to look elsewhere, particularly to site that present heir material geographically rather than by title or genre.

Favorite Vendors for World Music n n Multicultural Media: www. worldmusicstore. com All Music Guide: www. allmusic. com Music Library Service Company (MLSC): www. mlscmusic. com Berkshire Record Outlet: www. berkshirerecordoutlet. com The audience loved our “favorites. ” By now they had confidence that we knew what we were talking about. Erin then showed Multicultural Media and the All Music Guide.

MULTICULTURAL MEDIA's www. worldmusicstore. com

What World Music Is—and How to Locate It in Library Catalogs and Other Electronic Resources Presented by Darwin F. Scott Creative Arts Librarian, Brandeis University for the Rhode Island Library Association (RLA) June 1, 2006 Sponsored by the New England Music Library Association (NEMLA) Darwin had a few key strategies: to explain the difference between and confusion around the terms world music, ethnomusicology, and folk music. And how to best locate this world music recordings by taking advantage of contents notes and subject headings.

Ethnomusicology — World Music: What’s the Difference? Believe it or not, the audience was very interested in the more “The study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local academic part of this and global contexts. ” (Grove Music Online) presentation. These were intelligent, well. Largely a scholarly discipline studied primarily at universities. read and traveled Focus tends to be on field work—and indigenous, “traditional” music. librarians! Specialists are trained in music or in anthropology, sometimes in both, but the multidisciplinary nature of the subject produces differing interpretations. Ethnomusicology • • • Alan P. Merriam (1923– 1980), Indiana University: Defined ethnomusicology as the anthropological study of music and stressed “the importance of cultural and social factors in any investigation of the processes of creation, aesthetics, and the training and acculturation of performers and audience. ” • Mantle Hood (1918– 2005), UCLA: the first scholar to offer training in the performance of non-Western music (Javanese and Balinese gamelan), a practice now common at most large Western universities. He emphasized performance participation or “bi-musicality” as an essential aspect of research.

Ethnomusicology — World Music: What’s the Difference? World Music – 1 • Recent years have seen the phenomenal growth of the “World Music Industry. ” • A very defuse category, but there are certain traits that predominate. • Lacks the academic connotations or discipline of ethnomusicology. • Often popular music or Third World music—frequently the music of the lower working classes and powerless members of industrialized societies, sometimes resulting from rural–urban migrations. • The sound of globalization and transnationalism—an international marketplace. • A blending of traditional styles with Western pop features—this dualism challenges the integrity of native cultures and the survival of national genres due to the overwhelming influence of popular music recordings from the U. S. and Europe. • In some countries, indigenous traditional musics have grown marginal and irrelevant to the popular youth culture; in others with stronger native traditions in place, much more blending occurs. • Clash of nativism (an established national canon of music supported by academe and/or the state) vs. creolism, creative hybridity, fusion, and pastiche.

Ethnomusicology — World Music: What’s the Difference? World Music – 2 • Transplanted Western idioms become transformed by local tradition. • International styles—rock music, hip-hop, disco, sentimental ballads, easy listening. • Music of diasporas and transnationalism. • Themes include political statements, protest songs, pacifism, transnational sentiments, religion/devotion, dancing to “world beats, ” conscious ethnic focus. • Delivered by commercial mass communications media (sound recordings, radio, films, television, the Web) and concert/performance venues (the stage, night clubs, etc. ) • Uses amplification and electric instruments, and modified traditional or western instruments. • Rise of concert artists and world music stars—not music performed within ritual, narrative, or other cultural contexts. • World beat: “World music that is commercially marketed to Western consumers with eclectic tastes” (Grove Music Online).

These practical slides were a huge hit. World Music as a Subject Term (in the Minuteman Library Network — Boston Metrowest) World beat (Music) starting to appear as an LCSH. Worth Noting (as of May 31, 2006): • World Music as sound-recording subject heading is in 2, 941 World. Cat records. • Folk Music as sound-recording subject heading is in 37, 316 World. Cat records. • Popular Music as sound recording subject heading is in 245, 944 World. Cat records. 351 records in Minuteman Library Network using World Music as a subject heading; a growing number also appear with subdivisions. But not applied consistently to world music recordings—depends upon decisions of catalogers entering or editing records in OCLC.

Sample World Music Record with Folk Music as Subject Heading Popular music, Folk music, and World music all used as descriptors. Specific country (here Mali) used as geographic delimiter. A search on Africa would miss this recording.

Sample World Music Record — Thorough Subject Analysis Includes all performers and ensembles as authors. Extremely thorough subject analysis covers world, folk, and popular music.

Sample Catalog Record — 2005 Cataloging, Excellent Descriptors — One Type of Music (Music of Cape Verde) Performer as author Contents notes are searchable in most OPACs as keywords. A caveat: spellings match contents given on the CD notes (i. e. , no authority control). World music as subject heading Popular music as subject heading Geographic area as subheading (plus time period!) Note: no subject reference to Africa.

Sample Catalog Record — 2005 Cataloging, Excellent Descriptors — Various Types of Music Performers and groups as authors Contents note World music / Popular music subject headings Broad geographical descriptors Genres / styles of music as subject headings

Sample World Music Record (No Subject Entry for Popular Music) Popular music and Folk music not used as subject descriptors—only World music

Sample World Music Record — Folk Music and World Music as Descriptors (not Popular Music) Main performer (vocal soloist) and group as authors Very broad geographic descriptor Folk music and World music used as subject descriptors—but not Popular music.

Amazon. com: Opening Window for Music (i. e. , CD) Search Use International for most world music. Once more the Amazon tips were greatly appreciated.

Amazon. com: International Style = World Music

Amazon. com: Browse Africa Selections

Amazon. com: Mali Selections 283 recordings retrieved

Amazon. com: “International Mali” Keyword Search under Popular Music Only 12 recordings retrieved! Better to use the progressive access for the most items: 1. Popular music 2. International 3. Africa 4. Mali 5. (283 recordings) 6. Or a keyword search directly on the specific country (274 hits on Mali).

The Final Slide of All the Presentations Contact Information NEMLA: http: //www. wesleyan. edu/nemla/ Erin L. Mayhood mayhood@virginia. edu Darwin F. Scott dscott@brandeis. edu Margaret Chevian MChevian@provlib. org Erin was actually working at Boston University at the time.

This Workshop Power. Point is available online at: http: //people. brandeis. edu/~dscott/mla/newportoutreach. htm or contact Darwin F. Scott dscott@brandeis. edu for an electronic copy.