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Re: [ARSCLIST] ARC
Has anyone given The Archive of Contemporary Music's site:
http://www.arcmusic.org/begin.html ?
A good place to start.
I have dealt with Bob George for more than a decade as a seeker of
information, a colleague, a donor of hundreds of my cast off CD jewel
boxes and, most recently, a dues paying member of the ARChive. I find
the collection that he has amassed truly won'drous and his approach to
giving access totally off center, but perfectly suited to what he has
and the organization's miniscule staff (him and one or two employees and
the occasional intern/volunteer). I was involved in arranging a recent
tour of the ARChive for members of our local music librarian's
association and I got the impression that pretty much everyone (mostly
card-carrying MLS professionals) was amazed at the treasures that he
presides over and there was general recognition that attempting
full-fledged MARC cataloging so that their holding can be shared would
be a serious impediment, given the realities of the organization. I am
professionally, as an employee of one of the major players (NYPL) in the
bibliographic online utility sphere, aware of the advantages of doing
with the pack, but Bob George has done some pretty valuable work outside
of the grid.
I gather that he has some fairly advanced negotiations with Columbia
University that may give his enterprise a new home and insure its
existence beyond his active involvement. This may change the ground
rules at some point, but would be a good thing in the long run.
I suggest looking into the ARChive firsthand; the website is great but
doesn't give you the same feel as a visit.
By the way, they are having their semi-annual sale of excess LPs and CDs
next week (collector's alert, if you are in the vicinity)
Peter Hirsch