Vick

MLA Annual Meeting

San Diego, CA

March 22, 2010

Liza Vick, Harvard University

lizavick@fas.harvard.edu

Back to Basics: Organizing World Music in A

Basic Music Library, 4th Edition

Editors

 Editor-in-chief: Daniel Boomhower (Library

of Congress, d.boomhower@gmail.com)

 Classical: Amanda Maple (Penn State

University, amanda.maple@gmail.com)

 Jazz and Popular: Edward Komara (SUNY

Potsdam, komaraem@gmail.com)

 World: Liza Vick (Harvard University,

lizavick@gmail.com)

Process – Where are we now?

 ALA Publications has the manuscript

 Format? Print with online to follow

 Contributors – Librarians, Scholars

Mid-East, N Africa, Central Asia

Asia (and Pacific)

Table of Contents Layout

Size, organization and balance

 Taxonomy with citation count from BML3.

 Numbers: Nearly 3500 citations in world

music (total: 10,000).

 Changes from 3rd Edition: Diaspora, types,

subdivisions.

 Balance is difficult to achieve.

 Fluidity between sections and editors

Citation elements

taxonomy level 1: section (world)

composer/creator

format

item title

publisher

publisher number

performers

number and type of discs

descriptor

cultural group

OCLC accession number

Sources consulted (org)

 Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names Online

 Ethnographic Thesaurus – Draft Facets (project

suspended?)

 LCSH (and name authorities)

 AllMusic.com

 Experts (you)

 We anticipate that MLA-BCC Genre/Form Task

Force projects will benefit future editions

Sources consulted (content)

 BML3

 Worldcat

 World Music: the Rough Guide, Vols 1-2

 Garland Encyclopedia of World Music

 Garland Handbook of…series (Routledge)

 National Geographic Music

 BBC Radio 3 – World Music

Music Library Vendors

 Music Library Service Company

 aaa Music Hunter Distributing Company

 Email:musichunter@nyc.rr.com,

musichunter@computer.net

 Gary Thal Music, Inc.:

 Ph: 212-473-1514

General Vendors

 Amazon

 Barnes and Noble

 CD Baby

 CD Universe

 eBay (used, out-of-print)

 Emusic

 Tower Records

Acquisitions Gateway Websites

(highly selective)

 Internet Collection and Acquisition Resources (Lilly Music Library,

Indiana University, Fling):

 World Music

 General CDs and Videos

 OP Cutout/Deleted Recording Resources:

 (See also label directories)

 Music Selection Resources on the WWW (King County, Seaberg)

 Ethnomusicology LibGuide (University of Washington Libraries,

Gibbs)

Acquisitions gateways, con’t

 See also new acquisitions lists for libraries with strong

ethnomusicology collections, for example:

 UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive

 Catalogs:

 Archive of Traditional Music (Indiana U)

 Archive of World Music (Harvard U)

 Ethnomusicology Archives (U of Washington)

 World Music Archive (Wesleyan U)

 American Folklife Center (Library of Congress)

Recording labels and

distributors (selective)

 Archives Internationales de Musique

Populaire (AIMP)

 Arhoolie

 Buda Musique

 CDRoots

 Le Chant du Monde

 Harmonia Mundi Distributors

Recording labels and

distributors (con’t)

 Long Distance

 Network Medien

 Pan Records (dist. by Arhoolie)

 Rounder (Alan Lomax series, etc.)

 Smithsonian Folkways

 World Music Institute

Review sources (highly selective)

 CD Hotlist (New Releases for Libraries)

 fROOTS

 RootsWorld Recording Reviews

 Reviews in library, ethnomusicology and popular music

journals such as:

 Ethnomusicology, “Current Discographies”

 Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library

Association: Sound and video recordings reviews

Collecting in Specific Areas (Archive

of World Music, Harvard)

 Tips for Acquisitions of Sound Recordings from

the Middle East

 Basic concepts:

 Standing orders often not feasible/reliable

 Traditional music: Allegro, Harmonia Mundi,

Amazon, dist.

 Popular: websites like Maqam

 Transliteration is crucial!

 Lists of noteworthy musicians

Emerging formats

 MP3 downloads

 Subscription streaming services

 Smithsonian Global Sound

 Contemporary World Music

 Smithsonian Folkways reissues back catalogue

materials on demand or in emerging formats

(such as DRM-free digital downloads)

Emerging formats, con’t.

 Rhapsody

 Pandora

 Last.fm

 Mondomix (DRM-free MP3 downloads)

 Afropop Worldwide (Radio, Internet)

 YouTube (carefully)

Updating?

 Revisions of smaller subsections every few

years (affordability).

 If you see areas needing improvement,

contact editors to volunteer.

-END-

Image courtesy Virtual Instrument Museum (Wesleyan U)