[ARSCLIST] ARSC Conference 2007

[Bill Klinger <klinger@xxxxxxxxx>]

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--- ARSC ANNUAL CONFERENCE ---

Don't forget to save the dates! May 2-5, 2007: The Ward Irish Music
Archives, in conjunction with the Sanfilippo Victorian Palace, hosts the
41st annual ARSC conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Hilton Milwaukee
City Center, 509 West Wisconsin Avenue.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

The Program Committee has received proposals for presentations on a wide
range of musical genres and a variety of technical issues. (If you submitted
a proposal, don't worry if you haven't yet received a notification of
acceptance; the committee is still reviewing proposals.) Here is a small
sample of what's in store:

-- "The Golden Age of Irish Music Recording," Harry Bradshaw. During the
1920s, Irish musicians in the United States recorded hundreds of discs for
the immigrant record-buying market. Some of these recordings became highly
influential in Ireland and played an important role in shaping Irish
traditional music during the remainder of the 20th century.

-- "Irish Americans in the Acoustic Era," Mick Moloney. An
ethnomusicologist, regarded as the foremost authority on Irish America,
Moloney has produced more than 40 albums, done numerous TV appearances, and
authored "Far From the Shamrock Shore: The Story of Irish American History
Through Song."

-- ARSC Technical Committee panel session: "Small-Scale Audio Preservation,
Storage, and Management Issues and Solutions." For both large and small
institutions, insufficient resources or a limited IT infrastructure may
dictate a small-scale preservation storage solution and a transitional
storage strategy. This session presents case studies of small-scale
approaches, and then develops the idea of a transitional repository that
provides safe, interim storage until trusted, mass-storage-based
preservation repositories are available to smaller institutions.
Representatives from a commercial storage vendor and an academic institution
will be on hand to raise larger issues and help answer questions.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP: "Preservation of Audio in the Digital Domain"

This one-day workshop covers the basics of preserving audio in the digital
domain, addressing difficult issues concerning equipment, technical
metadata, workflow, and storage. Archivists, librarians, and collection
managers -- anyone who works with archival sound recordings -- will receive
guidance on formulating solid digital-preservation strategies, and a greater
understanding of the issues involved in working effectively with IT
personnel, audio engineers, and others pursuing the preservation endeavor.

The workshop consists of four sessions:

1. "Standards and Best Practices for Audio Preservation"

Speaker: Mike Casey (Associate Director for Recording Services, Archives of
Traditional Music, Indiana University; Co-chair, ARSC Technical Committee).

2. "Choosing the Right Tools for the Job: Archival Audio Equipment Solutions
for Most Budgets"

Speaker: Dave Nolan (Audio Archivist, 92nd Street Y, New York).

3. "Storage Solutions and Data Management"

Speakers: John Spencer (President, BMS/Chace) and Jon Dunn (Associate
Director for Technology, Digital Library Program, Indiana University
Libraries).

4. "Preservation Workflow: The Sound Directions Project at Indiana
University"

Speakers: Paul Mahern (Sound Directions Audio Engineer, Archives of
Traditional Music), Ronda Sewald (Sound Directions Project Assistant,
Archives of Traditional Music), Mike Casey (Associate Director for Recording
Services, Archives of Traditional Music), Jon Dunn (Associate Director for
Technology, Digital Library Program), and George Blood (Safe Sound Archive).

TOURS

Conference attendees are in for a couple of very special treats. On
Thursday, May 3, the Ward Irish Music Archives will host a dinner reception
and tour of its facility. Located in suburban Milwaukee, the archives
"promote, preserve, and celebrate Irish music in all forms." Considered to
be the largest public collection of its type in North America, the archives
house more than 40,000 Irish music artifacts -- sound recordings, books,
videos, sheet music, and musical instruments. Among the fascinating displays
is an extensive and detailed examination of the influence of Irish-Americans
on U.S. popular music.

On Saturday, May 5, an all-day outing will take registered conference
attendees to Jasper and Marian Sanfilippo's Victorian Palace, a
44,000-square-foot mansion and private museum in Barrington Hills, Illinois.
The world's largest collection of restored automatic musical instruments is
on display -- phonographs, music boxes, coin-operated pianos, orchestrions,
dance organs, calliopes, and more. Two of the highlights of the Victorian
Palace are the gargantuan 80-rank, 8000-pipe theater organ, with chambers
occupying four stories, and the Eden Palais, an exquisite European salon
carousel from 1890. Don't miss this rare opportunity to tour the spectacular
Sanfilippo museum, which is not open to the public.

Mark your calendars and keep checking
http://www.arsc-audio.org/conference2007.html for details. For further
information (including exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities), contact
Kurt Nauck, Conference Manager, at nauck@xxxxxxxxx .