MUSIC LIBRARY
ANNUAL REPORT, 1 July 2003–30 June 2004
Prepared by: Robert H. Burger, interim music librarian,
with assistance from
Richard Burbank, catalog coordinator,
William Buss, library technical assistant,
Esther Gillie, digital services coordinator, and
Marlys Scarbrough, operations manager
I. Narrative Summary of the Year's Activities
I.A. Core Processes
I.A.1. Services and Access
Staffing
The library began FY2004 with 13.66 FTE staff (three librarians, eight FTE staff, 1 FTE graduate assistants (endowed), and 1.66 FTE student assistants). In May Richard Griscom, head of the Music Library, left to take a new job at the University of Pennsylvania. As the new, FY2005, started, the search for a new Music Librarian was nearing completion. The Executive Committee appointed Bob Burger, Associate University Librarian for Services, as Interim Head of the Music Library until the new Head is on board.
Reassignment of Esther Gillie to User Services Coordinator position: In August 2003, Griscom submitted a proposal to the Executive Committee to have Esther Gillie reassigned to the User Services Coordinator position, which had become vacant with the passing of Leslie Troutman. Given the budget environment, it was clear that the User Services vacancy would not be approved for a search during FY2004, and Griscom was concerned about maintaining the library's user services during the academic year without a full-time librarian in the position. The Digital Services Coordinator position that Gillie vacated was not approved for funding during FY2004.
Accommodating budget cuts
In order to accommodate a 50% cut in our student-wage budget, we closed the service point on the second floor. (See under "FACILITIES" below for details.) Cataloging staff were scheduled for hours at the circulation desk, public-services staff were assigned extended hours
at the reference and circulation desks, and the time spent at the desks became more patron-intensive. In spite of the reduction in staff, our circulation staff provides a high level of service. The Music Library was the second busiest UIUC library unit in number of renewals performed (surpassed only by Main Stacks), and the third busiest in numbers of charges and discharges (surpassed only by Main Stacks and Undergrad).
Chat reference
Working with Kathleen Kern, Gillie arranged for the Music Library to be the first public-services site outside of the Main Library to participate in chat reference.
Reference refresher sessions
Gillie coordinated "reference refresher" sessions for all of the reference staff during fall semester.
Wireless access point
The Music Library was selected by CITES as the location for the eastern-most wireless access point on campus. The service was made available in fall 2004 and is heavily used.
Changes in audio reserves service
In September 2003, CITES reported ongoing problems with hackers gaining access to the audio-reserves server (edtech3). CITES decided to migrate to a new server running a new version of the operating system and server software. The switch was made on 23 October. Because CITES was not able to install the Bluestem authentication software on the new server, authentication had to be handled by restricting access to the UIUC network, which posed inconveniences to
many students. In order to access listening assignments, students had to either use computers on the campus network or install Virtual Private Network software on their personal computers. In the spring and summer of 2004, persistent problems accessing audio reserves from the public terminals presented difficulties for students. Library staff allowed the use of their personal computers to students who needed to listen in the library. This issue has not been entirely resolved.
Made plans to transfer audio reserves encoding to Undergraduate Library
Gillie and Griscom worked with Mary Laskowski, David Ward, and John Weible to have responsibility for the Music Library's audio reserves service transferred to the centralized e-reserves department in the Undergraduate Library.
Music cataloging
The backlog of
manuscripts and early printed editions of music on microfilm was reduced by
almost 100 films. Work on this project is now on-going and will remain a
cataloging priority. Other highlights of the year included the copy and
original cataloging of the new series Repertoire Explorer, miniature scores of
chamber and orchestral works, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, that are
hard to find. We established a standing order for the series and are current
with cataloging the newest receipts (about 200 scores have been published so
far). A parallel series, Opera Explorer (from the same publisher), is also
up-to-date in the cataloging of new receipts. Many UMI dissertation services
thesis as well as UIUC music doctoral research projects were cataloged.
Starting last summer and continuing throughout the year, a new series of CD-ROMs
containing computer-printable versions of thousands of scores and parts, titled
CD SHEET MUSIC, was cataloged and added to the collection. (A detailed
description is available at
http://www.cdsheetmusic.com/ -- our online catalog will yield information
on the particular discs, contents, composers and works now in our library
collection (42 volumes to date)). A special cataloging project for 25 microfilm
records relating to Nicolas Temperly's Hymn Tune Index scholarship was also
dispatched and completed.
The regular, day-to-day copy and original cataloging continued, but diminished
somewhat when the music cataloging support staff was asked to serve some hours
each week at the circulation desk. This situation will likely continue due to
reductions in the student wage budget. All new receipts for cataloging are
represented in Voyager, however, as our work flow philosophy is to make the
current backlog visible to our users. The music cataloging graduate assistants
usually perform this task by bringing in OCLC copy or creating a short
bibliographic record for every newly-arrived item. This process (the user sees
the message "backlog" in the location of the record where the call number is
normally displayed) enables public service and circulation staff to email the
bibliographic record to music cataloging as a rush-request with notification.
The item is rush-cataloged and is usually delivered in a few hours..
Bibliographic maintenance continued to consume a great deal of time even though
we lowered that priority to make time for service to circulation. Highlights of
our on-going work in this area are the composer's collected works (M3
classification -- we are now at the letter "N"). Clean-up work, such as
correcting headings of all kinds, links, and re-classification, also continued
on a regular basis: These projects included many volumes of works by Ferdinand
Ries, and Charpentier.
Finally, an on-line mess from the days of FBR and DRA that persisted in baffling
users and catalogers alike, titled New Approach to Jazz Improvisation/Jamey
Aebersold Series, was corrected, using full analytics reflecting our score and
compact disc holdings. This project involved 84 analytics; the work was done
simultaneously with de-accessioning the LP recordings and replacing those with
CDs.
Classical Music Library trial subscription
Changes are underway in the music industry that are causing music libraries to rethink the ways they supply recorded sound services to users. Two fee-based recording subscription services have started up during the past year or so, and in February 2004, the library began a
year-long trial subscription to one of them, the Classical Music Library. It is likely that the future of commercial sound recording distribution lies in this technology, and that over time, more of the library's resources will be applied to such subscription services.
Preservation
Stacks assessment project: Gillie worked with Tom Teper, the Preservation Librarian, to collect and record data for a sample taken from the score population. Information concerning publication, circulation, and preservation needs were collected and entered into an Access database for analysis. The findings of the survey, under consideration for publication, indicated a need for additional security measures to be taken as well as a plan to be developed to deal with longterm care and preservation. Initial actions wee taken to address the security issues and to begin deacidification treatment for reference score materials.
NEH Challenge Grant funding for preservation/conservation: The library received $13,600 from the NEH Challenge Grant to follow up on the score preservation assessment survey that Gillie supervised during the summer and fall of 2003. The goal of the project is to provide an item-by-item preservation review of the score collection and to security-strip the estimated 56,000 scores that are currently at risk of theft. Work on the project is scheduled for summer 2004.
Deacidification volumes from reference scores collection: As a result of our having completed the stacks assessment project, the Music Library was able to secure funding from the Preservation Department to have 1,200 volumes from the reference scores collection sent off for de-acidification treatment.
Instantaneous Disc Rehousing project: Gillie supervised graduate assistants in re-jacketing and boxing the collection of instantaneous disks capturing recordings of events at the School of Music. These disks are unique, one of a kind recordings documenting an important part of the history of the School of Music and are irreplaceable. In addition to archivally protecting the disks that were cleaned and inspected for deterioration, the content information is being collated in an Excel spreadsheet to provide online access to materials not currently cataloged in the OPAC. The Music Library was able to provide pertinent information about the collection to the school of Music for inclusion in a grant application for re-formatting.
Partch film preservation: As mentioned in last year's report, the library received $4,000 from
the NEH Challenge Grant to preserve footage from an incomplete documentary on Harry Partch shot by UIUC student Jean Cutler in the late 1960s. Griscom sent off several reels of film and magnetic audio tape to a lab in Pittsburgh in late summer 2003. The footage was transferred to digital files and stored on master tapes as well as DVD and compact discs. Griscom worked at synchronizing the sound and the video with the hope of producing examples of Partch and his students playing his music. The audio and video do not mesh well, though, and if this work is to be completed, it would need to be taken on by a local video lab.
Tom McGeary reviewed the remainder of the documentary footage and transferred the most important portions to separate reels. Unfortunately, Griscom was not able to complete his work on this project before leaving. There are still some funds left in the account, and the remaining footage identified by McGeary can be sent to the lab during the next year.
I.A.2. Collection Development
Budget
For fiscal year 2003/2003, the library received a $2,155 (1.5%) increase to its budget, which totaled $143,456. This amount was distributed as follows:
Budget
Budgeted
Books $29,237
CDs and DVDs $20,000
Scores (firm orders) $26,426
Scores (Harrassowitz approval plan) $11,000
Scores (Pepper approval plan) $6,000
Dissertations $1,370
Monographic continuations $10,250
Continuations $21,013
Periodicals $18,160
TOTAL $143,456
Gift of CDs from WILL: In fall 2003, the library received a gift from WILL-FM of over 500 CDs
that had been de-accessioned from their library. A graduate student searched the CDs against our holdings, and the discs that were not held (and were appropriate for our collection) were added.
Harp collection: In January 2004, the library acquired the personal collection of harpist Edna Phillips Rosenbaum (1908-2003) from her daughter Joan Solaun of Urbana. Edna Phillips Rosenbaum was principal harpist of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1930 to 1946. The collection consists primarily of scores (in manuscript or facsimile) of works for harp and orchestra commissioned by Ms. Rosenbaum. Many of the scores include her markings.
Beethoven manuscript microfiche: The library acquired microfiche copies of significant Beethoven manuscripts through funding from the Friends competition.
Partch score: With the assistance of Tom McGeary, the library acquired the copy of
the score to Harry Partch's "Revelation in the Courthouse Park" that had been used by John Garvey for the premiere of the work. The score had come into the possession of a woman in England and was purchased through an agent acting on her behalf.
I.A.3. Support/Ancillary Activities
Elimination of second-floor service point
In order to accommodate reductions in student wages, the library decided to consolidate its two service points. The second-floor desk was closed in August 2003, and all requests were handled at the first-floor desk. In order for this change to succeed, heavily used materials behind the second-floor desk were transferred downstairs so that staff would not have to make continual trips up the stairs to retrieve materials.
Griscom and Scarbrough worked with Bart Clark and Matt Emmert on a plan to transfer the library's compact disc and reserve collections downstairs, exchanging places with the library's LP collection, which was moved upstairs. The move involved not only the transfer of thousands of shelf feet of materials but the exchange of ranges of shelving to accommodate the smaller size of compact discs and the increased size and weight of LPs.
During the first week following the end of Summer Session II, the library staff (1) transferred to compact-disc collection to temporary shelving erected by Emmert's crew, (2) relocated the second-floor reserve collections to shelving behind the first-floor circulation desk, (3) relocated nearly the entire LP collection to the reserve shelving on the second floor as well as other pockets of free shelving throughout the library, and (4) removed the shelves from the areas in preparation for the university's metal workers to transfer the framework between the two floors. (The metal workers moved the framework for two ranges of CD shelving, which displaced on range of
LP shelving downstairs.) The work of transferring the collections was completed by Chris Pawlicki, David Butler, Pat Lee, Gail Schmall, Scarbrough, and Griscom.
New carpeting and shelving: As a part of the renovation to the public-service areas, the
ten-year-old carpeting was replaced. The reference and circulation areas were redesigned and reconfigured to create a more efficient and user friendly environment by relocating shared equipment such as the staff photocopier and laser printer. Card catalogs were consolidated and unneeded furniture was removed. The location of the tables where bibliographic instruction is provided was changed, providing more comfort and greater visibility. The reference desk was reconfigured to create a less intimidating and more inviting environment. New shelving was installed for the reserve collection behind the circulation desk and for a re-shelving area near the reference collection. We are still awaiting completion of metal work and installation of an emergency door in our CD shelving area.
EXHIBITS
Liszt manuscripts: In conjunction with a meeting of the American Liszt Society at UIUC in
March 2004, the library displayed several manuscripts of Franz Liszt, whose loan was arranged by Prof. William Kinderman through the owner in California.
I.B. Training and Staff Development
Circulation student orientation/training sessions. Scarbrough conducted training sessions for new and returning students in the fall and spring semesters. Training of new students for shelving and stack maintenance tasks was not completed because of service desk demands.
Reference graduate assistants. Gillie trained graduate assistants Diana Eynon, Chad Ballantyne, and Heidi Richter for service at the Information Desk and for virtual reference.
I.C. Innovative Ideas, New Initiatives and Successful/Failed Examples
Variations 2 Project satellite site. We continue to serve as a satellite site for this important project although activity on our part has been minimal. We continue to update as instructed by Indiana.
Chat Reference. The Music Library is partnered with main reference in providing virtual reference service. Reference staff trained under Kathleen Kern, and monitors the online activity and picks up music related questions as they arise during assigned information desk hours.
II. Measurement, Evaluation and Assessment Activities
Stacks preservation assessment for the score collection. Based on the assessment project from FY2003, Gillie identified scores from the reference collection to be deacidified and the several shipments have been processed. Additionally, Gillie and Scarbrough designed and implemented a score stripping and preservation needs assessment project that began in June of 2004. Students have worked through about a third of the circulating score collection to date.
VI. Goals and Planning
VI.A. Last Year's Plans
Facilities
Eliminate second-floor service point. This was completed by the beginning of the Fall Semester, 2003. (See section I.A.3 Elimination of second floor service point.
Public services
Revise handouts. Many of the Music Library handouts have been revised. The maps are awaiting completion of the changes before being updated..
Real-time reference. In spring 2004, Gillie will work with Kathleen Kern on integrating the Music Library into the University Library’s real-time reference project. Completed.
Circulation
Revise circulation manuals. Little progress was made due to additional public service demands.
Plan for future space needs. Volunteers continue to work on identifying LPs that are suitable for transfer to the storage facility. Pawlicki shifted the periodical collection to alleviate tightness in some areas and to accommodate future growth of the active titles. Pawlicki organized and carried out (with some assistance from Butler and Scarbrough) the shifting of nearly 50% of the circulating score collection to make room for newly acquired opera scores as well as future score materials.
OCLC card project. Some progress has been made on this project. Although many database problems have been corrected due to the Mellon project, Scarbrough will continue to supervise follow-up work to confirm that the items are in the collection, and replacement bibliographic records will be created by Music Cataloging staff as needed.
Music Cataloging
Continue to create Voyager records for all materials upon receipt. This will remain a top priority for the department. By continuing to create records for all materials as they are received, our selectors will avoid placing duplicate orders, and by making backlog materials accessible through our online catalog, we can allow patron requests to help establish cataloging priorities.
Preservation
Complete the stacks preservation assessment. Initial assessment project was completed and results are being applied to future endeavors.
Digitization of sheet music. Tom Teper has invited the library to participate in a sheet-music digitization project that will become a part of the Open Archive Initiative. This is still pending action from other institutions and is awaiting a proposal for consideration.
Complete the rejacketing project. The database has been completed. Thee are several discs that have been returned by patrons that will need to be processed.
Special Collections
Sheet music. Staff and a volunteer have been proofing the data and will continue this project. Once completed and we are assured that the database is stable, the sheet music card catalog will be discarded.
Mount Kasura finding aid on the web. Completed.
Collection Development
Purchase compact discs to replace LPs on reserve. No progress was made on tis due to increased demands on time.
VI.B. Next Year's Plans and Goals
Facilities
To address safety issues, spare metal shelving components will be relocated to the rear of the microform reader alcove. Surplus equipment and furnishings will be discarded. A portion of the circulating book collection will be shifted to accommodate the transfer of print dance materials from the Applied Life Studies Library.
Public services
Transfer of Dance materials. It was agreed in July 2004 that print dance materials would be transferred from the Applied Life Studies Library to Music. Item locations will be updated in Voyager, materials will be shipped to Music and incorporated into their collection. Reference materials will need to be reclassed into Library of Congress classification by the fall of 2004. The transfer of these materials will impact our workload in the areas of processing, circulation, information literacy, acquisitions, reserves, and cataloging. The budget line will be transferred from Applied Life Studies to Music.
Enhance the online audio reserves system. The system has migrated from a Linux application to a windows based application that is supported by the Library Systems Office. This new application needs to be streamlined and adapted to users’ needs. Additional access through the undergrad online reserves system will be implemented.
Circulation
Update reserves materials. Course listings and cataloging records for several hundred uncataoged course reserves will need to be revised to reflect new campus course number listings. Staff will continue to identify and target ancillary reserve materials receiving little to no circulation, which would be more useful to students in the circulating stacks. Faculty and grad assistants will be encouraged to utilize electronic reserves to meet class instructional needs.
Music Cataloging
Our primary goal in music cataloging for the next year is to keep current with new receipts by importing into Voyager full bibliographic records or creating short bibliographic records for all new music items as soon as the items are received. This policy and practice makes the entire music backlog visible to our users; the rush-cataloging of items – cataloging on demand – is a constant service.
We plan to reduce the music scores backlog by at least half, by cataloging three scores for every one item of a different material type. Scores now comprise the largest component of the backlog because the previous year’s work focused on completing cataloging of the CDs acquired during the DRA era, new books needed for music reference, and microfilms of music sources. The backlog storage room is now completely full, and we have had to allow spill-over to be shelved temporarily in the music cataloging workroom.
We will continue the retroconversion and re-classification of the composers’ collected works editions in music reference, and also try to work in similar re-cataloging of the remaining circulating MO scores. In addition, we will fix mis-matched bibliographic records from the Mellon project as they come to our attention.
With regard to bibliographic maintenance, we will limit that work to projects that are truly urgent. This category of our work stopped shortly after the passing of Leslie Troutman and, then, the reduction in the student wage budget. It was simply not possible to be current in this category of our work after those events took time (for added selection responsibilities) from the Music Catalog Coordinator, and (for circulation desk duty) from the music cataloging support staff.
Preservation
Identify additional funding to continue deacidification of scores as identified by the previous score assessment project Continue stripping and screening circulating score collection as NEH funds are available.
Design assessment tools for Special Collections. This will be a piece by piece assessment of preservation and placement issues for materials housed in the Special Collections area.
Special Collections
Mount choral reference file database on web. This project remains stalled because of consistency of data in database. Scarbrough hopes that Gillie’s wok with Aart Olsen will finally allow this database of over 26,000 entries to be mounted. Butler will be adding additional pieces to the database and the collection.
Create database of SOM archive tapes index. There is increased interest on the part of alumni, faculty and students in this collection of approximately 3,000 reel-to-reel tapes of School of Music concerts and recitals dating from 1945-1992. Current access is through card files arranged in chronological order by concert date. There is no access by composer, title or performer. A searchable web database would be a useful tool.
Continue to reconcile database problems with Special Collections sheet music cards and continue OCLC card project so that additional card catalogs can be discarded.
Collection Development
Identifying of LPs for high density storage will be continued by volunteers.
Weed ready reference and reference, shifting outdated materials to circulating stacks and acquire more recent editions of important reference sources.
Search and incorporate as appropriate Kerry Heiman’s recent donation of over 500 choral octavos and approximately 200 scores and anthologies.
Order replacements where possible of items languishing as incomplete on the missing part shelves and from Voyager missing reports.