03/25/13
Updates have been posted to: Candidate Music Genre/Form Terms for Discussion [PDF, 1.5 MB]
02/21/13
Updated lists have been posted for the following lists of music terms:
- Candidate Music Genre/Form Terms for Discussion [PDF, 1.5 MB]
- Genre/Form Terms Agreed On by the Library of Congress and the Music Library Association [PDF, 335 KB]
- Medium of Performance for Music: Working List of Terminology [PDF, 957 KB]
- Draft Authorized Vocabulary for Medium of Performance Statements in Bibliographic Records as Agreed On by the Library of Congress and the Music Library Association [PDF, 398 KB]
03/23/12
The Library of Congress, in cooperation with the Music Library Association, has begun to develop a new thesaurus of terms representing vocabulary for the medium of performance of musical works. The vocabulary is intended to be used, at least initially, for two bibliographic purposes: (1) to retrieve music by its medium of performance in library catalogs, as is now done by the controlled vocabulary, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH); (2) to record the element “medium of performance” of musical works, as represented in individual music resources cataloged according to RDA: Resource Description and Access (RDA). More information on this joint project may be found here.
02/14/12
An updated version of Candidate Music Genre/form Terms for Discussion has been posted. Information on this update can be found here. There is also an updated version of Genre/Form Terms Agreed on by the Library of Congress and the Music Library Association as in Scope for Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT) found here (latest version) [PDF, 330 KB].
Information on an updated version of Medium of Performance for Music: Working List of Terminology can be found here. In addition, there is a new list containing medium of performance terms that the Library of Congress and the Music Library Association recommend for inclusion in a new vocabulary of medium of performance terms that is being developed as a successor to use of Library of Congress Subject Headings for retrieval of music by medium of performance. A fuller description of the medium of performance project appears in the introduction to that new list found here (latest version) [PDF, 392 KB].
02/17/11
An updated version of Candidate Music Genre/Form Terms for Discussion has been posted. A new list has been also posted, Genre/Form Terms Agreed on by the Library of Congress and the Music Library Association as in Scope for Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT) (latest version) [PDF, 330 KB]. It has been extracted from the Candidate Music Genre/Form Terms for Discussion in order to bring together for easier consultation those terms intended to be added to LCGFT at the time genre/form records in the field of music begin to be created. The list will be updated periodically.
07/02/10
In November 2008, the Library of Congress Acquisitions and Bibliographic Access Directorate approved a Timeline and Plan for the Next Five Library of Congress Genre/Form Projects. In accordance with that timeline and its subsequent modifications, the Policy and Standards Division (PSD) is developing a genre/form thesaurus, Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCFGT). For the music component of the thesaurus, PSD is working in cooperation with music staff in other LC divisions that have music materials, including the American Folklife Center, the Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division, and the Music Division, and with other interested groups, in particular the Music Genre/Form Task Force of the Subject Access Subcommittee of the Music Library Association’s Bibliographic Control Committee.
There are thousands of headings in the area of music that are currently coded as topical subject headings (MARC 21 tag 150) that are actually terms for what musical works are: forms, genres, types, styles, etc. As such, these terms would more accurately be encoded in tag 155, the field defined for genre/form terms. However, it is apparent that merely creating genre/form authority records using headings as they currently exist would not be the best way to serve the user. Reasons to change these headings include the complexity of the existing heading structure and the fact that the present structure conflates genre/form terms with medium of performance. We believe there are better means to use our controlled vocabulary to promote discovery of musical works.
In conjunction with the genre/form thesaurus, PSD recognizes that for musical works there also needs to be a companion vocabulary of medium of performance terms, so that users will be able to search directly by medium of performance as well as by form, style, or genre. So PSD has compiled two lists derived from current Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). The first contains candidate genre/form terms. It is intended to cover terms of the genre/form type that are assigned to musical works. This list provides virtually all of the source vocabulary for establishing the semantic relationships among the genre/form terms and the syntax of the headings that will embody the terms as they will appear in LCGFT. The second list, also based on LCSH, is a working list of terms representing medium of performance, which is an essential component of the information provided in most bibliographic records for musical works.
During the period from March 26, 2009 through July 31, 2009, PSD received assistance from those with an interest in music genre/form headings and in terminology for medium of performance, with special reference to:
- suggestions for additional genre/form and medium of performance terms;
- comments on the development of the thesaurus, including its vocabulary, its eventual syndetic structure, and the resulting MARC 21 authority records for authorized terms;
- comments on technical and implementation issues.
Members of the Music Library Association, as well as others who would like to participate further in the MLA discussion of genre/form issues, should convey their comments to the MLA BCC Genre/Form Task Force, which has set up a wiki to facilitate discussion about the project. The wiki is available at: http://musicgenrepublicforum.pbworks.com/. Discussion via this wiki may include:
- suggestions for additional terms;
- discussion about the specific LCSH vocabulary posted at the Library of Congress genre/form Web site (Candidate Genre/Form Terms for Discussion; Medium of Performance for Music: Working List of Terminology);
- comments on the music genre/form project in general.
Instructions for setting up a pbworks account and leaving comments can be found at: http://musicgenrepublicforum.pbworks.com/How to leave comments and use pbworks.
To comment directly to the Library of Congress Policy and Standards Division about the music genre/form project, please write to Geraldine Ostrove ([email protected]) with a copy to Janis Young ([email protected]).
General questions and comments regarding the genre/form projects may be directed to Janis Young.