A preconference workshop regarding preservation and digitization of recorded sound was a highlight and while not part of the conference, there were presentations about the program within the conference program. The university’s Media Digitization and Preservation Initiative was shut down for two days for conferees to see and learn what and how things were being done. Presentations were based on the ARSC Guide to Audio Preservation created in collaboration with the Council on Library and Information Resources published in May 2015. Conferees were shown the process of the massive digitization collaboration project between Indiana University and the Memnon Corporation of Brussels, which required a whole new building with three power sources for the building, the equipment, and the recording playback equipment.

This fiftieth Conference returned to the place of the first annual conference of the group in 1967. This first conference occurred after several 1965 steering meetings initiated by Kurtz Myer, director of the Detroit Public Library Music Department, Frank Davis, curator for the Communications Section at the Ford Museum, and me. An exploratory meeting was held with audio experts and archivists at the Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan after the Detroit ALA 1965 conference. The group met again in early 1966 at Syracuse University at the invitation of Walter Welch, director for the SU Audio Archives and author of From Tinfoil to Stereo, and the group was founded.[1]  Now with a name, ARSC met again in 1966 at the Library of Congress to decide on bylaws for incorporation.

Originally one of the questions to solve was, “Record, Record, Who’s got the Record?” Many libraries were struggling with that question from patrons. Solutions to finding recordings came slowly, but a bulletin and journal were started, and a directory of collectors and collections was produced early, offering some help as finding aids. Since, ARSC has given out grants for more research and publications, including the production of several membership directories.

While the focus seems now to be on preserving much of what was actually going on before 1965 and now, what happened in the ’60s fifty years ago, the questions still remains. Can we document enough to set up databases common to all collections which could then be searched to find what is needed, whether for more research, more writing, transcribing music lost in paper shuffles or just for a particular celebration of life for an individual library patron?

For now, ARSC, the American contingent of the International Association for Sound Archives are in collaborative efforts to build the largest searchable international collection of bibliographies of discographies of recorded sound. More information can be found here.

References

[1] Paul T. Jackson, “Record, Record, Who’s got the Record?” American Record Guide, April (1966): 676–678.

The post Record, Record, Who’s Got the Record? first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

Some libraries included Recorded Sound programs, where music buffs would come together at libraries to share their recordings, listen to some rare treats of opera and soloists, and discuss and critique the music or the recording. Since then there have been many free concerts at night, music during courtyard lunches, and more.

More recently at the Music Library Association meeting in Cincinnati, Ohio, public librarians Laurie Bailey (San Diego Public Library) and Steve Kemple (Public Library of Cincinnati & Hamilton County) presented some newer ideas for music in the public library.

One San Diego program, “Jammin’ @ the Library,” offers beginning guitar instructions through a partnership of San Diego State University and Taylor Guitars. Cincinnati Library’s “Little Bits Synthesizer Orchestra” invited participants to assemble unique synthesizers using Korg Little Bits Synth modules and concluded with a performance of the sounds made with their creation. Group instrument lessons have been offered as well, helping patrons enjoy the music found at libraries.

Some of these music programs are documented now on the Internet. A March School Library Journal article contains information about several sing-along events at libraries. Orange County Library lists a number of interesting programs and concerts. Jacksonville Public Library concerts, Music @ Main, have included world premieres of more than a dozen newly-composed works in a variety of vocal, choral, and instrumental styles. Printed program guides accompany each performance, providing information about the compositions and the performers, as well as selective listings of related reading and listening materials available from the library’s superlative collection of music resources.

As people, musicians, and libraries experiment with new ways to draw people in so they can appreciate and understand creative endeavors art and music, we continue to look for ways to engage our public.

The Knight News Challenge accelerates media innovation by funding breakthrough ideas in news and information. Winners receive a share of three million dollars in funding—and support from Knight’s network of influential peers and advisers to help advance their ideas. Innovators from all industries and countries are invited to participate. A recent Knight News Challenge was, “How might we leverage libraries as a platform to build more knowledgeable communities?” There were forty-four participants and 675 ideas, and forty-six ideas were evaluated. Only twenty-one participants won. Although none of the winners were in music programs, it seems every public library could and should have taken part in the challenge to promote their own music (and other) programs. The newest challenge is found here.

Like a writer and their book, one needs to draw the reader into the story. Helping to build those stories can be libraries with innovative and creative music, art, and writing programs. Go ahead, like the NYPL, have a debate between Shakespeare and Mozart.

The post Music in the Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.

The Uniondale Library is a safe, well-utilized institution in the community and Kendrick-Samuel knew that music would bring teen patrons in the doors. Through funding from the Best Buy Community Foundation, Margaret E. Edwards Trust, and a Uniondale School District 21^st Century Learning grant. Kendrick-Samuel made “young adult services” music to the Uniondale Library’s teens’ ears.

The program initially was offered as a two-part workshop led by vocalist and music teacher, Michelle Taylor Bryant. Bryant drew on her first hand experiences at Carnegie Hall and the Long Island Conservatory of Music. She offered students vocal coaching and most of all, lots of encouragement and positive praise. Bryant put together a curriculum that included getting the kids up and singing as a group plus offering tools and techniques to improve individual and group singing. She also developed students’  music appreciation—increasing their sensitivity to the power of a song, its impact on a listener, and how a song’s message can be communicated by a singer’s individual rendition. All of this culminated in a small group of the Dewey Decibels performing as an all-female group, “The Jolies,” in the library’s annual talent show. It was a hit.

When it looked like Bryant’s broken ankle would shut the show down the following year, Uniondale native Twyla Sommersell, an academic designer/editor at McGraw-Hill School Education specializing in music, stepped in. Sommersell added a few more workshops and partnered students as performers and directors, creating an interesting dimension. Students performed and the audience provided carefully guided constructive criticism. The library had assembled its own rendition of “The Voice”—and soon there was huge interest (that is, a large number of boys joined the group).

Sommersell’s goal was for “students… to perform in some way or another, promoting confidence.” Kendrick-Samuel’s goal: to get students into the library and off the streets. Both women realized their dream—when the group stood and performed its rendition of Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me” at the annual talent show. Students were empowered through music and through the library.

The Dewey Decibels are now a permanent part of the Uniondale Library Young Adult Services programming, one that everyone can’t wait to hear. Syntychia Kendrick-Samuel said, “Sure, it was great to see kids get up on stage…or see painfully shy kids perform for the first time, but the best thing about it was seeing how the library could make a difference. That’s why I became a librarian. This is the kind of thing that makes it all worth it.”

The post Dewey Decibels: Teens Creating Music at Their Library first appeared on Public Libraries Online.