Home | Access to Music (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDELINES

Policy and legislation

• Danish Public Library Act says that all public libraries should “promote information, educational and cultural activity by making available ... recorded music”. The Act has not only placed a requirement on libraries to provide music and videos amongst other services, but has also legislated for funding to ensure that it can happen (see: training below). 

• Law on Public Libraries, 1992, revised 1998, Tallinn, Estonia. Estonian Law on Public Libraries describes a public library as “a municipal library which acquires, stores and makes available the printed matter, audio-visual materials and other documents...”

• Basic Rules for setting up complex art departments in public libraries, according to the Resolution of the Cultural Committee, 1975. These Bulgarian rules for libraries which include music. 

• Professional charters for librarians in public libraries can also assist, as in the Netherlands, where the charter says “The term information here includes all recorded cultural expressions, in word, image and sound”. 

Access

The Internet 
An increasing number of individual music libraries are developing their own web pages, or are mentioned on public libraries’ main web pages. Online gateways to collections and directories provide much speedier access to specific information for all users, and are invaluable for those in remote areas and the housebound. Online national directories of holdings, with links to libraries, are vital. Online links to the services and catalogues of local music libraries are also important, to ensure that local holdings feed into the national scene and that local residents know what is and what is not available locally. See links & resource discovery

A great many ‘streaming’ video resources are already available via the Web from Europe and all over the world, including community webradios, broadcast news bulletins, drama, music, ‘archive’ television (e.g. events and old series), educational resources, parliamentary and court TV, financial and business services, religious broadcasting and full-length commercial movies and shorter ‘clips’ see Ariadne. In order to play streaming’ video, special software ‘players’ are needed: they can usually be downloaded free from the Internet. Public libraries can provide access for those without adequate connectivity from home.

The increased availability of digital and networking technologies allows similar accessibility to in-house collections and the outside world. A local catalogue is as accessible as that of other libraries available on the Internet; local digital collections are as available as remote ones. Public libraries should consider the following possibilities.

Music libraries are now producing their own download platforms as a legal alternative to CD lending services. If these are covered by licensing agreements and technically protected by Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies, they might well become a new user-friendly kind of library service, making diverse repertoires available in areas without well-stocked music libraries. A pioneering example is the Danish music libraries' web portal Musikbibliotek.dk/Gentofte Bibliotekerne which allows Danish library users to download copyright-protected music files online instead of borrowing CDs (http://www.musikbibliotek.dk/).

• Adding new information, such as sound files, to the traditional catalogue 

• Making the actual material, new and old, available on-line.

• Taking on a role as producers of material

Library systems (see integrated library systems) have mainly been designed for books, and a degree of ingenuity has been required to adapt them to the needs of music and non-print materials. Public library systems should integrate electronic data, the Internet and metadata for all (physical and electronic) documents and resources at the same level of access. Music librarians need to influence systems suppliers to implement solutions which take account of their needs.

Co-operative acquisition schemes could improve the range of material available to the users and provide an economical way of using library funding. 

• The establishment of collections of mixed media, either through core collections, or through consortia of libraries acting in similar domains could avoid duplication and allow for interlending of material as well as obtaining consortia-wide rights of use and licences for electronic (or other) material.

• Regional libraries may provide a focal point for the supply of materials and expertise, as in the county music library system in the UK and the regional libraries in France and Germany.

• Different public libraries may concentrate on the recordings of different group of composers, to ensure that coverage and availability is as wide as possible e.g. GLASS - Greater London Audio Specialisation Scheme.

One example of good practice is "AG Stuttgarter Musikbibliotheken" of the music libraries in Stuttgart/Germany ( http://agmb.iuk.hdm-stuttgart.de/ ) .

Special services
Where sound carriers are not available for loan, listening services are vital. Libraries can also often provide areas for performance and act as local centres for the arts, particularly in remote areas. Libraries may provide access to a keyboard or offer a computer with Sibelius, Finale, Capella, Score, Igor, WEDELMUSIC or other music processing programmes which enable users to produce printed music.

The provision of personal computers and Internet access is of increasing importance. This is perhaps especially important for libraries with poor facilities, as the web gives access to information on other collections as well as information per se. 

The local library may be a centre for the community with a multi-purpose presentation room and times for discussion, poetry and music. Such events may be organised by the library or by other organisations. Public music libraries may organise concerts and other musical events and this has proved to be a valuable way of attracting music library use.

Such a facility could also be used to enhance access to music in alternative formats for print-impaired people (Braille music translation services, software etc.).

Resource, the UK Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries issued in December 2001 the results of a survey of provision for disabled users (See also disabilities) which identifies current provision, barriers to access, recent research, a programme of primary and action research, and the development of guidelines for good practice. 

Music collections and services should be provided and tailored to the interests of ethnic communities in each locality.

Information standards see also resource description
The number of music titles for which no good catalogue record exists in electronic form is high. Additionally, the widespread need to automate music library catalogues, which are often still in manual or card form, means that standards must be agreed for the work to be achieved on a co-operative basis. 

A standard for a core bibliographic record has been prepared by the International Association for Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (IAML) and also by the International Association for Sound and Audiovisual Archives (IASA). The Ensemble consortium of music libraries in the United Kingdom has its core bibliographic record for printed music, based on the IAML core bibliographic record with enhancements, on its website. This project has agreements with a number of public libraries for future work. More uniform cataloguing standards would improve access to information in the computerised catalogues that are available via the Internet. New technology offers a wide range of less “traditional” possibilities. Prints and manuscripts can be digitised.

No single existing classification scheme can be recommended as being ideal for music. The economic factors involved in re-classifying substantial collections create a practical barrier to substantial change. However, the needs of music should continue to be brought to the 
attention of the editors of major schemes and further improvements sought.

Home | Access to Music (Summary)
Full Text: Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4