IMMP
report
Submitted by Rashidah Z. Hakeem
Wednesday,
February 7, 2001
1. MARC
·
California Sheet Music Project
http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~mkduggan/neh.html
The California Sheet
Music Project is a multimedia World Wide Web presentation of some 2,000 pieces
of sheet music published in California between 1852 and 1900, together with
related materials such as programs, songsheets, advertisements, and
photographs. Scanned color images of full text of the entire corpus in a Web
environment encourages browsing and comparison and allows
printing for study and performance free of copyright restraints.
Background Documentation
Equipment used for the
project included a tabloid-size scanner, large enough for sheet music, and 9
gigabytes of disk storage for the laptop to store scanned image files to carry
back to the UCBerkeley campus for transfer to the UNIX web server.
Personnel included
Principal Investigator (project designer and content manager); Bibliographic
Consultants (music catalogers); and information professionals for programming
and scanning. A total of eleven
California libraries, archives, and museums participated in the project with
funding and guidelines provided through the California State Library.
Bibliographic Documentation
Full MARC cataloging (through
existing catalogue systems available in the UC Berkeley Library, either on-site
or from digitized images) allows searching by the myriad names associated with
the music as well as subject headings enriched for coverage of California
culture.
Information Retrieval
The Cheshire II project is developing a
next-generation online catalog and full-text information retrieval system using
advanced IR techniques. It represents a significant advance over the simple
left-to-right matching of subject headings used in first generation online
catalogs, and the Boolean keyword matching used in second generation online
catalogs. The Cheshire II system was designed to improve subject searching
performance; to support networked access to global information resources using
standardized information retrieval protocols; to overcome search failure and
information overload for topical searching in online catalogs, and to provide a
bridge between the purely bibliographic realm of previous generations of online
catalogs and the rapidly expanding realm of full-text and multimedia
information resources. The system incorporates a client/server architecture
with implementations of current information retrieval standards including
Z39.50 and SGML. This system is being deployed in a working library environment
and its use and acceptance by local library patrons and remote network users is
being evaluated.
Accessibility
SGML translation will allow web searching on all
fields with links for display of images of covers and music, theaters and
performers.
·
Indiana University VARIATIONS Project
http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/
MARC,
administrative metadata
Description
VARIATIONS is a digital library project which
provides access to over 5000 titles of near CD-quality digital audio to users
at computer workstations in the Cook Music Library at Indiana University
Bloomington. VARIATIONS serves both as a useful system for the faculty and
students of the IU School of Music and a testbed for multimedia digital
libraries at Indiana University.
Background Documentation
The VARIATIONS Project is best known for the
distribution of high-quality digital audio from servers and storage systems
having some special characteristics to Intel-based and Macintosh clients. The
evolution of this project from its beginnings in the late 1980's to its initial
operational state today is inextricably connected with the design and
construction of a new School of Music Library at Indiana University and with
the opportunities presented by a new design. It also addresses some pedagogical
and library preservation problems. This article describes the motivation for
the project and its history, its operation and experiences to date, and its
future goals. VARIATIONS is a work in progress and represents several
partnerships within Indiana University and with IBM. (See complete report at: http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/description_june96.html)
Information Retrieval
When a
user wants to locate a
recording of a particular piece of music, access is provided through IUCAT,
Indiana University’s statewide online library catalog system. Almost all recordings,
which reside physically in the Music Library, are already represented by
standard USMARC bibliographic records in IUCAT. Rather than creating a new
database with its own search capabilities, we chose to repurpose this already
familiar database. Searches produce a call number which may be used to retrieve
the physical recording from the shelf, or a World Wide Web URL for the item if
it is available online. (See complete report at:
http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/VARIATIONS-DL99.pdf)
New Digital Project
Indiana University announced plans Sept. 20,
2000 to create a groundbreaking digital library to support research and
education in the field of music.
The Indiana University Digital Music Library project aims to
establish a digital music library testbed system containing music in a variety
of formats, involving research and development in the areas of system
architecture, metadata standards, component-based application architecture, and
network services. Activities will include testing and evaluating commercial
technologies, primarily for multimedia and storage management; developing
custom software solutions for the needs of the music library community;
integrating commercial and custom software products; and testing and evaluating
prototype systems for music instruction and library services, locally at
Indiana University, and at a number of satellite sites, in the U.S. and
overseas.
This
system will be used as a foundation for digital library research in the areas
of instruction, usability, human-computer interaction, and intellectual
property rights. The project will seek to move digital libraries into a new
phase beyond creating, organizing and disseminating digital objects to the
immersion of digital content in the education and research processes.
The
DML will provide access to a collection of music in several formats from a
range of musical styles and types. The collection will include sound recordings
of musical performances; images of published scores; encoded score notation
files; MIDI format files for audio playback; historical, biographical, and
critical essays; and active links that connect a musical work in one format to
a representation in a different format.
Background Documentation
Some of the research questions will focus on the
needs and expectations of users; optimal design for usability; and the
protection of intellectual property rights in a distributed environment.
Faculty
researchers on the project have a variety of academic backgrounds, including
computer science, information science, law and music. The project is an
outgrowth of IU's Digital Library Program, a university-wide collaboration of
the IU Libraries, the Office of the Vice President for Information Technology,
and academic researchers led by the School of Library and Information Science.
IU is one
of 23 members of the Digital Library Federation, a consortium of research
libraries that are transforming themselves and their institutional roles by
exploiting network and digital technologies.
Information
Retrieval and Access
As
a digital library system, the DML will provide integrated multimedia library
services including search, retrieval and synchronized playback of recorded
music, MIDI files and encoded music notation files; navigation within
individual recordings or other music representations; access control,
authentication, and metadata for rights management. The DML will also provide a
framework for developing software that integrates the collections of the DML
into applications for teaching and research in the field of music.
·
Digital Repository for Audio-Visual
Preservation
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/avprhome.html
Description
The Library of Congress audio-visual prototyping
project is developing a small-scale digital repository for audio and video in
1999-2001. The project is a collaborative activity that will prototype new
approaches for the storage and maintenance of digitally reformatted and
"born-digital" recorded sound and moving image collections and
experiment with new ways to present them to researchers. The project will
advance the Library's understanding of
audio-visual digital reformatting, born-digital content, and of the
preservation of digital information. The prototype will interoperate with other
Library systems, employ an approach for using persistent names, and develop a
repository design suitable for the new National Audio-Visual Conservation
Center in Culpepper, Virginia, scheduled to open in 2003.
The Prototyping Project is building a prototype,
not a final working system. The underlying concepts in the designs are meant to
provide a context for the planning process to be undertaken in the Project. The
prototype will test potential approaches for the preservation of recorded sound
and moving image collections.
Initially, the project is being carried out by
the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division, supported by the
National Digital Library Program and the Preservation Directorate. Other
contributing units include Information Technology Services and the Automated
Planning and Liaison Office. Planning activities are being supported by the
contractor User Technology Associates (UTA) and the subcontractor QB Inc.
Background Documentation
Project
Documents
Summary of
Phase I and Outline of Plans for Phase II. May 2000
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/frame.html
Requirements
Document for the Repository
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/reqdoc.pdf
Conceptual
Design for the Repository. May 2000
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/concdes/condmenu.html
Background
documents
Documents 1-6 were part of the Request for
Proposal (RFQ) used to select the contractor to support planning, documents
7-11 served as briefing papers after contractor selection, and document 12 was
drafted after planning had begun. All documents by Library of Congress staff.
1.Digital Library
Concepts and Terms. July 1999.
2.The Repository: A System to Manage
Digital Content. July 1999.
3.First and Second Illustrative Diagrams.
July 1999.
4.Preservation Issues. July 1999.
5.Special Considerations for Digital
Audio and Video. July 1999.
6.The Library of Congress Technical
Environment. July 1999.
7.Extent of Materials to be Treated.
October 1999.
8.Audio Technical Issues October 1999.
9.Video Technical Issues October 1999.
10.Persistent Names and Metadata. October
1999.
11.Access and Delivery Issues October
1999.
12.Safeguarding Copyrighted and Other
Restricted Material April 2000.
Metadata
and Related Production Matters
1. Preliminary LC
Audio Visual Technical Metadata. October 1999
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/avmeta.html
2. Illustrative
Presentation of a Recorded Sound Item (Opera Album). October 1999.
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/operabib.html
3. Illustrative Presentation of a Recorded Sound Item
(Popular Music Album). May 2000.
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/present/index.htm
4. Interim File and
Directory Naming System for Recorded Sound Collections. January 2000.
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/names.html
Links to
Related Resources
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mopic/avprot/avrefs.html
Digital
repositories and
related digital library issues
Digital
objects and
related discussion of non-discovery metadata
Non-discovery
metadata schemes and encoding
Preservation
of digital information
(data persistence)
Persistent
names and
handles
Access
management and
rights-related metadata
Library of
Congress technical infrastructure
Professional
digital video formats, compression, and related matters
Selected
references on cataloging (bibliographic records) and related matters
Selected
references on relevant issues in library and archive preservation
The background information cited
in this report represents the major areas addressed by the prototype
project. It is not exhaustive.
American Memory Collections: Original
Format: Sound Recordings is one of the first projects
of the Prototype. Nineteen collections comprise the sound recordings spanning
1870-1999 and include both music and spoken word. Each collection is described
on the search page.
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/S?ammem/collections:@field(FLD003+@band(origf+Sound+Recording)):heading=Original+Format%3a+Sound+Recordings#list
Information Retrieval
Searches that begin from the
American Memory Collections search page or from any Collection Finder search
page include detailed bibliographic records about most items. Within individual collections, additional
options are available for searching or for browsing lists of names, places, or
subjects. Not included in any American
Memory search are the collection Home Pages, background texts and
illustrations.
Each of the nineteen collections is
keyword searchable and can be browsed by performer, audio title, interviewee,
manuscripts, and photographs, depending on the collection's content.
The search engine used on the American Memory database is InQuery, currently licensed from LeadingSide, Inc. InQuery was originally developed by the Center for Intelligent
Information Retrieval based at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Search engines outside of the
Library of Congress may find many American
Memory Home Pages and texts.
However, outside search engines cannot usually find the American Memory
collection items and their descriptive records.
All Media Guide
Project description
Reputedly the world's largest and
most comprehensive entertainment information database for music, videos, DVDs
and video games, All Media Guide offers expert reviews, biographies, ratings,
images, titles, credits, and other descriptive categories.
Database structure
AMG content is available in the form
of relational databases, with each title linked to numerous other records,
providing an unmatched depth and breadth of information. Databases include formal data (titles,
tracks, credits, etc.), original editorial content (reviews, artist biographies, etc.), cover art images and artist
bio photos and thousands of descriptive categories for both in-print titles and
historical out-of-print titles.
All Media Guide's music database
includes popular and classical music. Popular music coverage features albums
and performers in genres ranging from pop, rock, country, jazz and blues, to
world music, underground rock, Latin and electronic music while classical
coverage spans from the medieval to the avant-garde.
Movies and Games databases are also
part of this entertainment web site.
Internet retailers are the customers
who license the content of All Media Guide to drive online sales of music,
videos and video games. The content is seamlessly integrated into their
e-commerce and content web sites to provide consumers with entertainment
product information.
Information retrieval
From the font page, the music
database is searchable by name of artist, performer, album, song, style and
label. A separate button for classical
music opens to a keyword searchable dialog box by composer/performer, work
title/keyword, or album title. The search interface is selected by radio button
in both cases. All movies and all games have comparable dialog boxes.
Navigation
Navigation bars on the front page of
the Allmusic site are labeled
musical maps, musical styles,
musical articles and glossary.
Musical maps is a browser interface
for several popular music genre. Subjects and topics germane to each genre are
listed and cross referenced to additional information within the database(s)
and related links at other sites.
The other browsable interfaces are
musical styles and musical articles. Musical styles interface is arranged by
genre headings with pull down menus listing the various styles within each
genre. The information is cross-referenced with artists, performers, and
albums.
Similarly constructed is the
interface to music articles for each genre.
The text is appropriately hyperlinked to artists, albums or performers.
Each article is signed. Finally, the
site has a glossary that can be searched by a keyword dialog box or browsed
through a subject directory.
·
HARMONICA (Harmonised Access &
Retrieval for Music-Oriented Networked Information Concerted Action)
http://www.svb.nl/project/harmonica/harmonica.html
The HARMONICA project aims to
provide a solid strategic framework for networked access to music and related
multimedia services, including technologies, existing and emerging standards,
exploration of network options and improved interfaces. This will entail fostering consensus between
the broad range of players involved in the field.
The main aim of the HARMONICA
initiative is to improve access through libraries to music collections of
different types, while taking into account the needs of various groups of users
in the evolving world of networked information and multimedia. By bringing
together all interested parties through forums, studies and surveys, the
Concerted Action aims to achieve consensus on the areas and topics to be
developed to the benefit of both users and producers of music.
(The European Commission has been
active in the library area for a number of years. The principal context of
these activities has been the EU's Third and Fourth Framework Programmes for
Research and Technological Development and more specifically, the Telematics
Programmes of which Libraries have been a part. While we are still supporting a
considerable number of projects under the Fourth Framework Programme, we are
already working under the Fifth Framework Programme (1998-2002), where
libraries are principally involved in the Multimedia Content and Tools area of
the User-friendly Information Society Programme [IST Programme]).
Background documentation
http://www.svb.nl/project/harmonica/harm_wp.htm
Catalogues and collections (11 documents):
Working from the perspective of the
music libraries this workpackage sought to identify the key players, and
through these to examine the issues relevant to cataloguing, indexing,
archiving, access.
Users needs and interface
requirements (9 documents):
Working from the perspective of the
library user – what the user expects to be able to get from music libraries and
what users state they need an interface to do. Access here means the full range
of access to catalogue records, scores (in digital form), MIDI files, recorded
music, multimedia and supporting materials. This was carefully linked to the
areas covered by the catalogues and collections group.
Networking and digitisation (9 documents):
The focus of the workpackage was to
advance the knowledge on means to collect, store and organise music information
in digital forms, and make it available for searching, retrieval and processing
via communication networks.
Forums (5 documents):
These meetings focused on various
aspects of the project with representation by many project participants.
The background information cited in
this report represents the major areas addressed by the HARMONICA project. It is not exhaustive.
HARMONICA Phase 2
http://www.kfs.oeaw.ac.at/harm/home.html
Project: PROLIB/HARMONICA 10453 -
Commission of the European Communities -LIBRARIES PROGRAMME
Digital music projects open new and
exciting opportunities for music libraries and sound archives making their
collections more accessible to designated communities as well as to the public.
HARMONICA has been initiated in order to advance the knowledge on means to
collect, store and organise music and music information in digital formats and
make it available for searching, retrieving and processing via communication
networks.
Database Structure
For advanced multimedia systems not
only a bibliographic description will be stored in the database but also
content related information. These database are implemented on top of a
standard DBMS but offer several features that will help
content owners in achieving accurate
and reliable description. The CARAT system by Siemens realised such multimedia
database where the domain can be
specified by the administrator
defining a specific wordlist with predefined set of values. This allows the
information owner to control the vocabulary being used for these descriptors
eliminating problems related to misspelling of descriptors. The database
represents domain specific semantics and utilises these to structure the
logging information into units having specific semantic meaning. It represents
the structure of audio and video objects into a hierarchical structure. It
allows the domain manager to define the various levels in the structure and the
semantics associated with the levels for this specific domain.
Access
XHTML documents are XML conforming.
As such, they are readily viewed, edited, and validated with standard XML
tools.
The Virtual Gramophone : Canadian
Historical Sound Recordings
http://www2.nlc-bnc.ca/gramophone/src/home.htm
Project description
The Virtual Gramophone is devoted to
the first half-century of recorded sound in Canada which began with the release
of the first 78-rpm discs by the
Berliner company of Montreal. It will provide researchers and enthusiasts
with a comprehensive look at the 78-rpm era in Canada.
Database Structure
Each record in the database provides detailed
information about an original recording, such as its title and performer,
relevant dates, and information about the label and disc(30 plus searchable
database fields). Also accompanying selected entries are links to digitally
scanned images of the label, to biographies of Canadian artists featured on the
recordings, and to digital audio reproductions of recordings with Canadian
content. Each side of each sound recording is treated as a separate entry in
the database.
Navigation
The Virtual Gramophone Web site is divided into
six sections: Home, Audio, History, Biographies, Resources and Database. All of
these sections may be accessed from the navigation bars located on the top and
bottom of each page.
Information Retrieval
Both basic and advanced search functions include
keyword, selected field or all fields, phrase and truncation queries. Advanced search dialog boxes allow Boolean
and field limiters queries. Basic and advanced search results are displayed in
groups of 10, 20 or 30 items per page.
Access/Display
For items where there are RealAudio files,
scanned image files of labels and biographies for the performers, icons will
appear at the top and bottom of each item display in addition to the
bibliographic information.
Navigation
The Virtual Gramophone Web site is divided into
six sections: Home, Audio, History, Biographies, Resources and Database. All of
these sections may be accessed from the navigation bars located on the top and
bottom of each page.