music information seeking in library catalogs

Music Information Seeking in Library

CatalogsKabel Stanwicks

The Problem

•Given titles do not always reflect an item’s contents: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Beethoven

•Music is published all over the world: Neun Symphonien

•Prolific composers (e.g., Bach, Mozart)--even more prolific manifestations and expressions

Finding music scores and sound recordings in a library catalog is an extremely difficult task!

The Problem (contd.)

•Which language, which script to search? Tchaikovsky or Ciaikowski or Tsjaikovskij?!?

•English language translations of works published in other languages: The magic flute: an opera in two acts for soli, chorus and orchestra with German and English text

•Or other languages: La flute enchantee : opera en quatre actes / de Mozart ; traduction francais de Nuitter & Beaumont

More Problems

•Ambiguity in names: Waltz by Johann Strauss OR Waltz by Johann Strauss?

•Ambiguity in generic titles: Symphony no. 1

404: [Item] Not Found

Author search for Händel yields no results

Title search for Rite of Spring yields no relevant results

OR....

Traditional OPAC Searches

Too Many Results

Author search for Bach in LC Catalog: Your search retrieved more records than can be

displayed. Only the first 10,000 will be shown.

Title search for Symphony in LC Catalog: Your search retrieved more records than can be

displayed. Only the first 10,000 will be shown.

Traditional OPAC Searches

Titles, Titles, Titles•245: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts

Beethoven (symphony no. 4)

•240: Symphonies, no. 4, op. 60, Bb major

•505: Symphony no. 4 in B-flat major, op. 60 -- "Ah, Perfido!", op. 60 [i.e. op. 65]

•700: Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827. Ah, perfido.

Names, Names, Names

•Strauss, Johann, 1804-1849. OR Strauss, Johann, 1825-1899.

•Händel OR Handel

•Gioachino Rossini OR Gioacchino Rossini

The Information Behavior

Search for known work (composer and title).

Hope to find a manifestation and expression of the work.

Want to walk away with an item.

Behavior vs. IR

FRBR and MusicInformation need expression:

Group 2 Name & Group 1 Work Title

Disambiguate elaborate bibliographic relationships

(Superworks, Bibliographic Families, and Instantiation)

Authority Control is Essential

•Authority Names

•Uniform Titles

Uniform Title• Basic Definition: title selected for cataloging purposes

when a work has appeared under varying titles

• AACR2 Definition

• The particular title by which a work is to be identified for cataloging purposes;

• The particular title used to distinguish the heading for a work from the heading for a different work

• A conventional collective title used to collocate publications of an author, composer, or corporate body containing several works or extracts, etc., from several works, e.g., complete works, several works in a particular literary or musical form.

Authority Control is Essential

•Authority Names

•Uniform Titles

•Name--Uniform Title Heading: FRBRIZATION!

Name--UT Headings Browse

Still too complicated...

•Learning Curve

•Not Intuitive for Users

•Additional reference resources are needed at times (e.g., whole-part relationships)

•Relationships are implicit, not explicit

OPACs & Next Gen• Many OPACs do not offer this kind of browse

• Search and Discovery interfaces largely ignore the need

• Advocacy is needed!

• Simplification is necessary

• Name--Uniform Title Headings Keyword Searching

• Tree Structures that show relationships

• Did you mean...?

Show me the data:Automation/Cleanu

p?•245: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Beethoven (symphony no. 4)

•240: Symphonies, no. 4, op. 60, Bb major

•505: Symphony no. 4 in B-flat major, op. 60 -- "Ah, Perfido!", op. 60 [i.e. op. 65]

•700: Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770-1827. Ah, perfido.

The Future of Music Searching if we abandon A-UT

& FRBR:

404: [Music] Not Found

So What?

Studies in Instantiation

•McNellis (1985): 26% of textual works

•Papakhian (1985): 61% of works in music library

•Smiraglia (1989): 90% of musical works

•Vellucci (1998): 97% of musical works

Studies in Instantiation

•Smiraglia (2007): Best-selling books

•More studies needed: print, e-book, audio book, film based on book: Stanwicks (20XX)?

Instantiation is everywhere

•No longer music phenomenon

•Bibliographic families will always be larger in music

•Textual works are appearing in multiplicity of expressions and manifestations now

Implications•Study music information behavior

•Develop music information behavior models

•Need better understanding of instantiation’s reach

•Inform IR design to attain sophistication and meet user needs in relation to superworks

Goal:Input – Process –

Output