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In 2022, US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faced public scrutiny over the background music used in official videos promoting their political agenda. Press articles and social media users claimed that the library (or 'stock') music heard in the videos consisted of so-called 'soundalikes', and questioned whether this choice was a public endorsement of problematic individuals or groups connected with the tracks in question: namely, conspiracy-theory movement QAnon, and convicted rock singer Gary Glitter. This article explores how library music is used strategically in these videos, highlighting the urgency of inquiring into its fundamental role in the construction and dissemination of political messages in media today, with moral and ethical implications that remain underresearched. Departing from these cases, the article also examines how library music, a once unseen musical practice, is now reaching the foreground of public attention, gaining unprecedented visibility due partly to its use in politically motivated videos. This allows us to rethink longstanding notions of library music as something that lacks a public existence, and to focus instead on what happens when it gains media coverage – prompting misunderstandings that reveal how unfamiliar the wider public is with the workings of this industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the presentations delivered during the American Library Association (ALA) Core Metadata Interest Group's session on metadata in shared digital libraries. Topics include maintaining a shared controlled vocabulary in the Chicago Collections, challenges in creating and sharing date metadata, and developing a metadata application profile for a digital music library to support research and interoperability.

Theme libraries have emerged as a new service model to meet the demand from the public for a diverse service with resources that are both inclusive and specialized. The "a library within a library" is currently the main practice model of theme libraries. Influenced by that concept, the recently constructed and opened Suzhou Second Library includes a number of theme libraries, such as "Suzhou Literature Library," "Music Library," and "Design Library." The establishment of these theme libraries within the Suzhou Second Library allows the library to build special community-focused collections that are culturally rich, to collaborate with local cultural organizations to create quality public programs that highlight the collections, and to actively engage the public with special events and exhibits surrounded by multimedia, digital special effects. These programmatic efforts have greatly improved public's awareness of the valuable resources held at the library and thus increased the effectiveness of this new service model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wartime work of the BBC is widely remembered, but the focus on the live broadcasting of news across Britain and occupied Europe which characterises most previous studies overlooks the extensive production of transcription recordings for both allied and neutral countries during the conflict. Transcription programmes, along with other neglected fields such as library music, have left more robust archival traces than the more celebrated and 'ephemeral' live programming, thereby challenging the continued centrality of 'liveness' to scholarly understandings of radio as a medium. This article looks at the programmes produced by the BBC's London Transcription Service (LTS) through the case study of an unstudied collection of wartime discs which are preserved at the Czech Radio Archive in Prague. These programmes, produced by international teams for a truly global audience, offer further insights into the wartime 'projection of Britain' and show how the specificities of transcription were used to ensure audiences received an impression of Britain and the Allied cause that was carefully tailored to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Packard Humanities Institute has released a new edition of Johann Christian Bach's operas and dramatic works, available in both printed and digital formats. The University of Iowa's Rita Benton Music Library has received a grant to digitize and preserve early recordings of Czech music. The RISM Editorial Center is seeking updates to its Series C, the Directory of Music Research Libraries. The Leon Fleisher papers at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University are now open for research, documenting Fleisher's career as a concert pianist and educator. The Music Library Association awarded the Diversity Scholarship to support candidates from underrepresented groups pursuing a master's degree in library and information science. The text also provides information about various awards and grants given by the Music Library Association, as well as highlights from the journal Notes. [Extracted from the article]

The height of the COVID-19 public health emergency saw libraries conducting collection audits of their materials, including their print music collections. The trend in contemporary public libraries in the United States is one which emphasizes generalization in its workforce regarding domain specialty knowledge and skills. This has necessitated an influx in inquiries delivered to the Music Library Association’s Public Libraries Committee on the topic of print music collection development from public library staff who lack the necessary training and experience. In response, the Public Libraries Committee created a document focusing on best practices in print music collection development that recommends 250 print music titles for public library acquisition. Selecting Printed Music in Public Libraries was produced using strategies similar to focus group research methods and addresses a novel dilemma found in public libraries – library workers tasked with managing music collections without the knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively do so. This article is framed as a case study and offers an overview of the development of the Public Libraries Committee’s (PLC) document, Selecting Printed Music in Public Libraries. Additionally, this article describes the content included within the PLC’s document and offers recommendations for how to improve it moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reasonable music feature library construction methods are of great significance to the realization of accurate music retrieval. In view of the limitations of current music multimedia retrieval, a ranking learning model is introduced in this paper, constructing corresponding models by fusing local and global indexes, constructing and mapping the attributes and characteristics of music multimedia using feature matrix to clean the data; looking on the global search, nodes are used to search, aiming to improve the efficiency of music multimedia retrieval and measurement quality model construction. The results show that the ranking learning model can effectively support the construction of music multimedia retrieval and measurement quality model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing war of aggression by Russia in Ukraine has brought international attention to the conflation of Ukrainian and Russian cultures and identities. Such conflation exists in various forms, at its most dangerous in weaponized distortions of history and pretexts for violence. These two distinct cultures can also be misunderstood unintentionally in ways that appear harmless, even in music libraries. Cataloging the Ukrainian music materials contained within the Margarita Mazo Collection at Indiana University has necessitated an examination of the historical relationships between Ukraine and Russia in general and the influence of the Soviet Union on music publications in particular. Best practices for catalogers, such as appropriate use of controlled vocabularies and accurate transcription of text, are expanded upon to promote understanding and appreciation of Ukrainian music and to ensure access to users who search in the Ukrainian language – perhaps the users for whom these materials are most vital. Librarians must be critical and well-informed to understand Soviet publications of Ukrainian music, intrinsic to which are state control, censorship, and the manipulation of cultural expression for ideological purposes. Here lies a crucial opportunity for reparative cataloging, in which music catalogers can provide authentic representation in bibliographic and authority records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The staff of the Anne Potter Wilson Library at Vanderbilt University has faced the challenge of providing digital scores to our users since 2016. This article describes procedures developed for acquiring, cataloguing, storing, seeking out usage permissions, and making accessible digital scores. Our collections of scores, whether print or electronic, have traditionally focused on contemporary works and more recently, scores of underrepresented composers. The only way to be responsive to the needs of our users in the Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University has been to establish a workflow for purchasing self-published scores for our collections, often only available in digital format. It takes more time and effort to locate, purchase, seek out appropriate licensing permissions, and make accessible digital scores, but if we, as music information professionals, are to continue our efforts in advocating for new music and encouraging our users to explore the repertoire of diverse composers, then we must find solutions in our libraries. This article is a description of our digital scores acquisition and cataloguing workflow, and how it has evolved over a seven-year period. Alma Digital, a hosting and access tool for digital files, is described as one way a library can provide access to digital scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the music library profession. It acknowledges the presence of racism, sexism, and microaggressions in the workplace and professional conferences. The author emphasizes the need for recruitment and the development of systems that support diversity, equity, and inclusion as librarians from underrepresented communities enter the field. The article also mentions other essays in the volume that cover topics such as training, hiring, faculty status, and collection management. Overall, the article calls for action to address the lack of diversity in librarianship. [Extracted from the article]

This study compares the performances of the resource type facets and format facets in Primo and WorldCat Discovery respectively. Through looking at librarians' perceived understanding of selected facets, the information retrieval mechanisms employed, and the search results yielded, the author reveals gaps between users' perception and the information actually retrieved. The goals are to see how successful Primo and WorldCat Discovery are in making themselves a one-stop shop for music information, and to determine whether the resource type or format facets in these tools facilitate information discovery. The findings also prompt librarians to reflect on what can be done to enhance information discovery through the teaching of information literacy and through collaboration with information and systems providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An edited transcript of a roundtable presentation held on Thursday, June 9, 2022, at the Canadian Association of Music Libraries (CAML) 2022 virtual conference. Through a series of six questions chosen to fit in a one-hour format, music librarians from three Canadian universities discussed their experiences with the acquisition of e-score databases. Topics included motivation for acquisition, selection criteria, marketing strategies, patron responses, resource issues, and impact on print collections. This article is offered to a broad audience of library professionals in the belief that topics discussed will be applicable to collection development in subject areas apart from music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses two biographies of composers. The first biography is about Percy Aldridge Grainger, an Australian-born British-US composer, pianist, and polemicist. The author of the biography, Teresa Balough, provides a comprehensive overview of Grainger's life and work, focusing on the positive aspects and his contributions to music. The second biography is about Vagn Holmboe, a Danish composer who was active in the second half of the 20th century. The author, Thomas Michelsen, highlights Holmboe's significance as a composer in Scandinavia and his influence on the music scene in Denmark. [Extracted from the article]

The industry of library music (pre-existing pieces that can be licensed for use in media) has grown considerably in the past two decades with its transition to a digital medium. A rising number of composers rely on this music as a source of income, along with audiovisual creators who increasingly use it in their productions. This expansion has accentuated a fundamental aspect of library music: the creation of large quantities of tracks at breakneck speed. Parallel to this, the video editors and videographers who form library music's main client base experience tight production deadlines where the choice of music is often left as an afterthought. This article explores the implications of the sped-up creation and use of library music in the current online media landscape. Although the interactions of composers and videographers with this music are often fraught with concerns of limited time, their attitudes towards this acceleration vary considerably: for instance, composers describe their fast-paced work in widely different ways, viewing it as a constraint, or, on the contrary, as a positive and freeing aspect. That being said, the sense of urgency shared by these agents has wide-ranging impacts on every step of the 'life' of a library track, from its composition and presentation to its selection and synchronisation with images. As composers attempt to appeal to hurried videographers browsing libraries, these, in turn, resort to this music as an invaluable strategy to retain their audience's attention. Furthermore, sonic stereotypes that are prevalent in library music are valued as communication shortcuts in audiovisuals where messages must be conveyed through instantly recognisable musical formulas. In addition to broader impacts on the workings of library music, this widespread perception of 'lacking time' is also a vital factor that shapes its sonic characteristics themselves, making library music truly a matter of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a large inventory of Veeh-Harps and music cases, the Reutlingen City Library can offer people with and without assistance needs opportunities to make music together and to network. Full-time and voluntary multipliers attend seminars to use the instrument in their work. Instruments and music cases can be borrowed from individuals as well as from social institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the historiographical challenges and importance of photoplay music from the silent film era. Topics include the scarcity of original handwritten scores, the proliferation and significance of stock photoplay music collections, and the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach. It reports that many original scores are lost, it mentions the prominence of Italian film score composer Giuseppe Becce's Kinothek, and it highlights the need for new historiographical methods.

The Local/Independent Music Initiative of Texas (LIMIT), an ongoing project to collect, preserve, and disseminate music from Texas, meeting a need in the Denton music community. The University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries possess the necessary skills and resources to preserve local music history, including pertinent recordings and archival materials. This study discusses innovative ways of connecting with potential donors through outreach and programming, initially supported by a grant-funded project. The project team actively participated in the local music community, organizing events and attending others, seeking out music for the collection, making connections with potential donors, and championing LIMIT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the Aaron Cohen Collection of Japanese Madame Butterfly Materials at the Music Library, University of South Carolina. Topics include the collection's contents, the collaboration between Aaron Cohen and Kunio Hara in acquiring the materials, and insights into the life and career of Tamaki Miura, a Japanese soprano associated with Madame Butterfly.

The article is a review of the book "Careers in Music Libraries IV" edited by Misti Shaw and Susannah Cleveland. The book is part of a series that explores the field of music librarianship and provides advice and guidance for professionals in the field. The review highlights several essays in the book, including topics such as technical services in libraries, careers in music archives and special collections, and diversity in music librarianship. The reviewer praises the volume for its comprehensive coverage and recommends it as an essential resource for music library professionals. [Extracted from the article]

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The terraced concert hall offers a wide range of design options. Yet the knowledge barrier within a design team makes it difficult to effectively deliver a design that satisfies both the needs of creativity and acoustics. The study aims to explore the integration of generative parametric design collaboration workflow into the design of terraced concert halls and apply the cumulative results of the pilot study to the Taipei Music and Library Centre design competition. We propose an enhanced collaborating model between architects and acoustic consultants, integrating geometric design with acoustic verification in concert hall design. This cooperating model embraces and integrates three key steps: defining basic parameters and reference geometries, efficiently generating and composing geometric elements, and conducting geometric and acoustic statistical assessments. This design strategy enables integration of diverse viewpoints, covering both the acoustics within the hall and the space integration with the surroundings. The outcome is a terraced concert hall with an acoustic performance comparable to traditional shoebox-shaped halls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]