Re: arsclist record archive

["phirsch" <phirsch@xxxxxxxx>]

In response to:

>>On Thu, 12 Dec 2002, phirsch wrote:
>>
>> Most people with a
>> serious interest in recordings and discography (i.e., all of you - and
>> myself) want ALL the pieces of music and ALL of the performing
individuals
>> (clearly associated with the proper pieces) , along with full label,
>> catalog number at a minimum and would certainly appreciate recording
dates,
>> venues and information on the accompanying material (liner notes,
libretti,
>> artwork, etc.). The fact is, this is extremely cumbersome, verging on
>> impossible in the mold provided by the AACR chapter 6 guidelines for
sound
>> recordings. Another fact is that most libraries would like their
catalogers
>> to produce more than 2 or 3 catalog records a day and so limit the
>> "enhancement" of records to a practical level.

Karl Miller writes:


>To add a bit of my own perspective...
>
>Things are much better than they were. Most search engines, OCLC, RLIN,
>and many local systems, like our own, have keyword searches which provide
>searching access to contents notes.
>
>As a one who has a serious interest in recordings, and one who is very
>aware of the time (and the costs involved) it takes to prepare a fully
>authenticated cataloging entry for an audio recording I am amazed that we
>have as much information in MARC records as we do.
>
>There are other questions regarding use. Some collections seem to be
>better served by finding aids.
>
>There are also questions of the quantity of material and the costs
>involved. I certainly do admit that the situation is far from ideal...an
>example...our archive of the Houston Symphony (we are currently preparing
>an online finding aid) holds some Barbirolli performances. A search on
>OCLC does not indicate this. At this point, even the preparation of a
>full MARC record is far beyond our fiscal resources.
>
>Yes, I would hope for better.
>
>Karl


Karl,

I am totally in agreement with you that there is a tremendous amount of
information about LP contents that can be mined from OCLC, RLIN and library
OPACs. I am in fact currently involved in planning a project which will be
responsible, when completed  for the addition of tens of thousands of
records to the number of LPs cataloged and viewable online. I was trying to
give some insight on just what to expect from a catalog to those list
members whose frame of reference does not include formal training in
cataloging.

I had at nearly thirty years of record collecting and amateur discography
under my belt when I found myself in a job where I was responsible for a
database of recordings on compact disc (name available on request offlist)
that I was able to design nearly from the ground up. Since this was prior
to my first encounters with library school or electronically formatted
(MARC) catalog records, I plunged ahead and created what I felt was a
catalog that contained fully detailed track level information that could
easily be searched by work or performer and contained information on
recording dates and venues that are not usually found in catalogs. Now,
this catalog was a commercially funded (for profit) entity and many of
these features were, quite frankly, not going to bring in big bucks if the
data was going to be used to sell CDs (its main stated purpose).I argued
the merits of repackaging the data in a manner that would be 100%
searchable and marketed to collectors that have always been, in my
experience, eager for better ways to locate and identify what recordings
exist. Not too surprisingly, this never came to pass, other than a brief
attempt to sell a DOS-based version on CD ROM to libraries and educational
institutions that was hastily scuttled without really ever being given much
of a chance to develop into a really useful product.

All of this experience was quite educational and has served to balance all
that I later learned while getting a Master's degree in Library Science. To
find that there was no one official level of detail present in all
bibliographic records but that the staffing and budget of the organization
doing the cataloging would determine how much and what portion of the
contents got cataloged was a revelation. This, added to what I have earlier
argued is a sound-recording-unfriendly cataloging system, is what I base my
caveats to users of catalogs and complaints towards their overseers. I feel
that, since there is so much individual effort going on doing specialized
discography, it would be particularly useful to explore those areas where
sound recording cataloging and discography overlap with an eye towards
creating effective and useful links (a complete merger would be nice, but I
think I'll leave that concept on my "wild dream wish list") between these
two areas.

I doubt that much of this is new to ARSC members, but I am relatively
fresh, despite my long-term devotion to sound recordings, their location
and preservation, to this organization, so I hope you will all indulge my
ascending the e-soapbox at this time.

Thanks,

Peter Hirsch



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