Library of CongressAsk a Librarian (October 7, 2004)
The Recorded Sound Section of the Library of Congress maintains a collection of nearly 2,500,000 recordings, with receipts averaging from 75,000 to 100,000 items in recent years. Historically, a large portion of the colleciton remained uncataloged, but could be accessed through inventories and the careful ordering of commercial recordings by label name and issue number on the shelves. A major effort to reduce the arrearage starting in the 1990's has led to a great increase in the number of processed sound recordings in the Library's catalog and a database, now available on the Web, known as SONIC (Sound ONline Inventory and Catalog). What follows is an estimate of the percentage of certain categories of material to be found in SONIC, the percentage available in the Library's main catalog (the Integrated Library System or ILS), and the pecentage available by contacting the Section's reference staff. Please note that field recordings made by the Library are excluded from this matrix and researchers interested in this material should contact the Folklife Reading Room.
| Type of Recording | % in ILS | % in SONIC
|
%
Available by contacting Reference Staff |
| Pre-1948 commercial recordings | 1 | 50 | 49 |
| Unreleased broadcast recordings | 1 | 80 | 19 |
| Commercially released broadcast recordings | 33 | 33 | 33 |
| Performers private collections | 40 | 50 | 10 |
| Audio cassette and CD-R copyright deposits | 5 | 95 | |
| 45 rpm discs | 1 | 99 | |
| LPs | 50 | 50 | |
| Newport Jazz Festival (unpublished) | 100 | ||
| Newport Jazz Festival (commercial) | 100 | ||
| Library of Congress Music Division Concerts | 100 | ||
| Type of Recording | % in ILS | % in SONIC | %
Available by contacting Reference Staff |
|
| Radio programs | 5 | 70 | 25 | |
| Notable individuals | 33 | 43 | 23 | |
| Significant historical events | 33 | 33 | 33 | |
| NBC Radio | 90 | 10 | ||
| WOR AM Radio (Mutual) | 100 | |||
| BBC | 100 | |||
| National Public Radio | 100 | |||
| Armed Forces Radio and Television Service | 2 | 15 | 83 | |
| Literary readings | 70 | 20 | 10 | |
| WWII Marine Corps combat recordings | 100 | |||
Recorded Sound Reference
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(October 7, 2004)