Date:         Tue, 10 May 2005 10:04:13 -0500
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         Karl Miller <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Cataloging sound recordings
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On Mon, 9 May 2005, Eugene DeAnna wrote:

> I've been following this thread with interest. I just want to point out
that at the Library of Congress, we acquire, on average, 60 - 75,000 sound
recordings per year. This includes published and unpublished material on
virtually every format imaginable, current and obsolete. Cataloging staff
working on audio averages out to about 12-15 catalogers and 10 technicians
over the course of a year.

Based upon that rate of acquisition, assuming there is no increase in those
numbers, you will acquire 1.9 Million sound recordings (the number currently
cataloged in OCLC) in a little over 25 years.

MARC is 40 years old. True, it was not universally adopted at its
inception, but it seems to me that it would suggest that even with all
of the OCLC members supplying copy, it could take say 35 years to catalog
what LC acquires over a 25 year period, leaving one ten years behind.
Also, we are not factoring in the backlogs.

> Taking this approach for current pop and childrens music for
example, allows us to allocate staff time to create full, original-input
records for, say, Stokowski BSO performances recorded by the Voice of
America that only we may have,

As an aside, speaking of Stokowski and the BSO, check out koussevitzky.com
While the VOA copies are likely to be in great sound, I have, in my
personal collection just about all of the Stokowski BSO
broadcasts...second and third generation copies mostly.

I responded to the mention of the Stokowski because there is a wealth of
material that is held in private hands. Off the top of my head, I am
reminded of many inhouse tapes I have of the New York Philharmonic. These
were made at a time when they were not broadcasting and/or recording
their concerts...things like Roy Harris conducting his 11th Symphony...I
made a copy for our archive and it has been cataloged, but you get the
idea. If a system was user friendly, and FREE, not only could it reduce the
cost for an institution to prepare records, but it might invite the private
collector to input their personal holdings. Might there be false entries,
sure, but then there could also be revelations.  As to monitoring the "honesty" of
entries...well, while it isn't always successful, ebay lets you rate the vendor.

Consider also the potential of a simple system which could be used by a
staff of volunteers.

I often wonder what other treasures are hidden out there, even in
institutional collections. Would you like to hear Janis Joplin singing
before her voice got raspy? Years ago I made a transfer of her singing at a
local club here in Austin. Her voice was pure and clear. The recordings are
in the University's Center for American History. As far as I know, there is
no bib record for those recordings.

Over the years I have encountered composer's recordings of their
works in their closets. I have tried to copy as much of that as I could
find, even before I had any association with a library. Others have as well.
I would wager there are at least as many non commercial recordings worth
keeping (at best a subjective notion) in private hands as can be found in
institutional collections.

Even in the area of commercial recordings, one can look at the Canfield
guides and find many commercial recordings that are not listed in OCLC...

I think of the historically important recordings held in the libraries of
music departments. Very little of this material is cataloged, let alone
preserved. Some institutions like Indiana University are making a serious
effort to address these concerns, yet, as far as I know, most are not. I
would guess it is a question of priorities/money...time and, I would wager, the
complexity of the preparation of the bibliographic record...and of course,
the preservation issues. From my own experience, acquiring and cataloging
a recording by the conductor de jour is considered a higher priority over
the preservation of a recording in their music department's archive that
might be unique.

I recall an NEH grant of some 25+ years ago, to preserve and
catalog the holdings of the Eastman School of Music recording lab. As far
as I know, what cataloging was done is not on OCLC. Personally I found it
fascinating to think that there are performances of things like one of the
student Symphonies written by David Diamond. I found out by asking them. I
should add that, as far as I know, even with that substantial grant, with
highly qualified people working on it implementation,  very
little of that collection has been reformatted...performances going back to
the early 1930s, nor, as far as I know, are there any MARC records for
those items.

How much of this backlog can be attributed to the process of cataloging.
If there is a way to simplify restoration, I am unaware of it, yet I see
student employees doing that sort of work, with little, if any training in
the technology, and studying instead of listening while they are
transferring. Twenty minutes of drop out from the deposit of some oxide
on a tape head might easily be missed...yet the process of cataloging
(within the context of the more accepted cataloging modalities) is seen to
require immense concentration and a high level of skill and training. Yet
both activities require concentration and skill sets, yet it would seem
that perhaps, at this point in time, only cataloging is considered as
requiring an appropriate level of employment...even if there could be ways
to simplify that process. For that matter, I believe that some thought
coud be given to simplifying the process of reformatting.


Why not a simple, expandable, free, system for cataloging. The lack
of authority work will inhibit searching, and perhaps the loading of the
Rigler Deutsch in RLIN was considered by many to be a catastrophic move.
However, it just seems to me that placing a greater emphasis on searching,
versus control, is the only answer to the backlog in cataloging.

Are such a notions totally unrealistic? If so, I would wonder for what
reasons.

Karl