Re: [ARSCLIST] Cataloguing still :-)--was: Cataloguing again--ARSC responsibility?

[Mike Richter <mrichter@xxxxxxx>]

Karl Miller wrote:

> Which of course outlines some very basic challenges to libraries. Assuming
> they still care about providing free access to the public, how will they
> do that in the digital information environment, especially as they seem to
> be trying to become publishers by digitizing holdings. I really don't
> understand what library administrators see as the future of libraries.

One approach is in an article I wrote for The Record Collector; it may 
appear in the next issue. The argument is that what is needed is an 
audio catalogue - a cross-indexed collection of audio files. They are 
prepared for amateur appreciation with fidelity limited to that needed 
to appreciate style and content.

I've published several CD-ROMs with that philosophy including two on 
voice categories (Italian baritones, Germanic tenors) and one on the 
complete recordings of a major Italian baritone, Titta Ruffo.

The heart of the program is the indexing. For example, to be able to 
hear the range of work by a singer; different interpretations of the 
same title by various singers; changes of interpretation over the decades.

Keeping fidelity low not only provides more music in fewer megabytes, it 
also means that competition with commercial release is minimized, 
important since many titles are available in a wide variety of 
transfers. Those transfers vary so widely - notably when from Pearl and 
Nimbus Prima Voce - that it is hard to believe the same original was 
used. The audio catalogue (or, as I have been calling it, the Audio 
Encyclopedia) makes no judgement in its offering but aids the listener 
in identifying the titles to be sought in higher quality.

Mike
--
mrichter@xxxxxxx
http://www.mrichter.com/