bankston suarez final report

8/8/2019 Bankston Suarez Final Report

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S U A B A N M U S I C

M U S E U M :

A J A Z Z

C O L L E C T I O N

I N L S 5 2 0

F A L L 2 0 1 0

Sarah Bankston

&

Armando Suarez

Image taken from http://adeepergroove.podbean.com/2009/11/01/jocs-touch-of-jaz


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Project background This past spring Donald Hart, the well-known business tycoon and amateur musicologist,

donated his entire jazz collection, roughly 4,000 items, to our institute, the Suaban MusicMuseum. Were thrilled to receive this rich and varied collection. Harts jazz interests are far-

reaching, and his wish is to open up his collection to researchers and enthusiasts alike, in order tobring about a greater understanding of and appreciation for jazz, both as musical genre andcultural movement.

The Collection

This collection is physical in nature, with a major undertaking in process to digitize it in itsentirety. While the entire collection pertains to jazz in the 20 th century, there are some specialrelationships within the collection. Some of the items are related in that they were owned by aparticular musician or come from a particular region. There are also larger relationships createdby the items belonging to a particular subgenre of jazz.

This collection consists of a variety of mixed media:

I. Audio Recordings (vinyl, cassettes, and CD)II. Video Recordings (reel-to-reel, VHS, laserdisc, DVD)

III. PhotographsIV. Literature (letters, interviews, journal articles, newspaper clippings, books, etc.)V. Sheet music

VI. Souvenirs

VII. InstrumentsVIII. Paraphernalia (guitar picks, reeds, drum sticks, etc.)

IX. Posters

The Users Possible users interested in the collection include:

I. Musicologists II. Faculty and students in music departments

III. Scholars IV. Jazz aficionados V. Musicians

Users needs will vary depending on their particular interests, including research andeducational purposes, historical background, or just merely personal interest. Whilepeople with a personal interest may be satisfied with the scantest of information about theitems, the researchers will want to have as much information as is available.


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Reflecting upon our collection

The exercise of creating a content sample has given us an opportunity to move ourconsideration away from the purely abstract to focus on something a little more tangible. Theprocess of peer-review, the instructor feedback, and our own ruminations have revealed severalchallenges and opportunities as we approach the organization of our jazz collection.

The first challenge we face with this collection will be reining it in. That is, our collectionis something weve imagined entirely, so the sky has been the limit until now. We need toconsider some time parameters that perhaps our wealthy collector was only interested in jazzfrom a certain time period or was no longer interested in collecting past the early 1980s. In thiscontent sample weve attempted to account for the number of items in order to give ourselvessome sense of scale.

After exploring the collection in a little more depth, it is becoming apparent that somecategories we created in our scenario are perhaps not so clear-cut. For example, we have listedseparate categories for instruments and paraphernalia, but as we examined the bulk of theparaphernalia we realized that they are mostly instrument accessories and perhaps may besubsumed by that category.

As a result of peer-review, we realized that our ambition to digitize everything will becomplicated by the reality of copyright laws. Since were not experts in this field, well need toconsult with the museums lawyers to make sure we do not violate any existing copyrights. Al-though, some of the items have entered the public domain, other items are protected by privacyand publicity copyrights. Regarding the latter, notification of these rights will have to be stated in

each of the applicable items for the users information. Furthermore, limitations on listening andviewing time will have to be enforced by the use of small samples.

One of the technical challenges of the collection is due to the evident deterioration foundin numerous audio and video recordings. The conversion to digital form will have to beundertaken by a recording engineer specializing in restoration. Although a large percentage willdefinitely be salvageable, theres the understanding that a small percentage are in such badconditionand since the restoration requires numerous stepsthat after just one play they willbegin to deteriorate even further.

The last major challenge weve uncovered so far (which really is an opportunity toinnovate) is that our collection is so varied and the different items necessitate differentclassifications, tags, etc. Its a little overwhelming to think of creating one coherent system thatwill deftly organize all the materials we are bringing to it. In addition to this, the recent classreadings, along with instructor feedback, has us considering user needs in a different light. Whileits easy to say that the collection will be used for research purposes, we havent identified yetwhat sort of research musicologists would do with such a collection. Perhaps some outreachbetween the museum and local and national music departments will need to be considered so we


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Format The classificatory system here would also be hierarchical, but depending on theselection there may not be a more detailed level. For example, audio, film, books, andphotographs may all be listed under the Format facet, but if a user selects photographs theywont be given a more detailed level since there isnt much variation among photograph formats.However, if they choose audio, they will be given the more detailed choices of LP, CD,streaming online, etc. Again, this is a facet that will appeal to all users of our collection since itsmore basic description of the collection that will help them navigate within the collection.

Style/Genre The classificatory system behind this will be hierarchical. Since our collectionranges in format, this facet needs to encompass the language of these different formats.Examples of the Style/Genre facet are cool jazz & bebop (when classifying music); fiction,poetry & nonfiction (when classifying books); and documentary & live concert (when classifyingfilm). This is a particularly tricky facet to conceptualize, and it may be that as we continue todevelop our system we will discover a cleaner way to classify this information. At any rate, theStyle/Genre facet will be of particular use to musicologists who are researching particularsubgenres of jazz or for internal users such as exhibit curators trying to cull items from aparticular genre for a show.

Instrument The classificatory system with Instrument will be hierarchical. This facet willencompass the type of instruments used in a particular work or by a particular musician. Someof the top level categories will be brass, percussion, woodwind, and strings, and once selected, agreater degree of specificity will be displayed. For example, if woodwind is selected, the userwill then be given a choice of clarinet, saxophone, oboe, etc. Even within some of these therewill be another level, such as alto clarinet. While this facet will be appealing to anyone using ourcollection, musicians will find this browsing option particularly helpful as they search for piecesto perform. Furthermore, this facet might aid scholars doing comparative research concerningthe use of a particular instrument within a certain movement of jazz.

Period The classificatory system behind this facet will use a timeline. Users can selectspecific decades or use a slider feature to narrow to specific time periods. This will be helpfulfor users who are new to jazz to begin understanding different eras within the genre. Researchersmay use the Period facet to dispute the origins and development of particular subgenres.

Facets as Applied to Our Content Sample Item #1: Kind of Blue Miles Davis (Compact Disc)

Agent: Musician Miles Davis Geographical Location: United States New York City Format: Audio CD Style/Genre: Audio Modal Jazz Instrument: Brass Trumpet


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Period: 1950 - 1959

Item #2: Sketches of Spain Miles Davis (LP Album)

Agent: Musician Miles Davis Geographical Location: United States New York City Format: Audio LP Style/Genre: Audio ?(Spanish folk, Flamenco, Blues) Instrument: Brass Trumpet Period: 1960 1969

Item #3: Coming Through Slaugher Michael Ondaatje (book)

Agent: Writer Michael Ondaatje Geographical Location: United States New Orleans Format: Book Hardcover Style/Genre: Book Historical Fiction Instrument: Brass Cornet (this is what the main character plays) Period: 1970 1979 (if we choose to go with year published); 1900 1909 (if we go with

period depicted in the book)

Item #4: Round Midnight Bertrand Tavernier (film)

Agent: Director Bertrand Tavernier

Geographical Location: France Paris Format: Film DVD Style/Genre: Film Drama Instrument: Woodwind Saxophone Tenor Saxophone (this is what the main

character plays) Period: 1980 1989 (if we choose to go with year released); 1950 1959 (if we go with

period depicted in the film)

Item #5: Dexter Gordon Herman Leonard (photograph) `

Agent: Photographer Herman Leonard

Geographical Location: United States New York City Format: Photograph Black & White Style/Genre: Photograph Instrument: Woodwind Saxophone (this is what the Gordon is

playing) Period: 1940 1949


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Results 1 - 5 of 421. Miles Davis: Biography

5. Miles and Miles and Miles

3. Miles: An Retrospective

4. The Birth of the Cool: Miles Davis Early Years

2. Kind of Blue? A Miles Davis Reader

Your Search Term:

-miles davis

Limited By:

Format: Book (remove)

Period: 1980-1990(remove)

Audience:AficionadosFaculty/Students MusiciansScholars

Geographical Loca-tion:

New York Paris

New Orleans(more)

Style/Genre:Fiction

Historical Fiction(more)

JazzCool JazzModal Jazz(more)

Subject:Art

BiographyHistoryMusic(more)

Period:1980 - 19851986 - 1989

Refine Your Search

Your Current Search


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People

Musicians (683)Writers (256)Directors (57)Photographers (24)Producers (98)Illustrators (49)

Flamenco-style Faceted Browsing

Audience

Faculty/Students (506)Musicians (450)Aficionados (379)Scholars (510)

Style/Genre

MusicBlues (159)Jazz (976)

BooksFiction (346)History (259)Music (541)Philosophy (127)

DVD/VideoConcert (278)

Documentary (153)Feature Film (99)

Period

1900 - 1909 (14)1910 - 1919 (116)1920 - 1929 (326)1930 - 1939 (259)1940 - 1949 (108)1950 - 1959 (211)

1960 - 1969 (197)1970 - 1979 (204)1980 - 1989 (398)1990 - 1999 (421)2000 - 2009 (352)2010 - 2019 (50)

Source physical description

Music (790)Books (575)Print Materials (127)DVD/Video (246)Journals (90)3D Objects (72)

GeographicalLocation

North America (1050)Central & South

America (789)Africa (458)Europe (237)Asia (205)

Search by keywords, title, author. Search

With this interface, the user is presented with a search box along with several facet fields.The user can choose to enter search terms or click on one of the linked items in the facetfields. If the user hovers over the facet title (see the example in the Source field), theyllget a brief description of what that facet entails.

When the user selects a faceted-item, they will be taken to a results page that has aRefine Your Search area on the left -hand side that will allow them to drill down further into the faceted hierarchy (an example of such an hierarchy is on the following page).


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So if the user selected Musician under the People category, the results page may look something like this:

Refine Your Search:

Your Current Search:People: Musicians

1. Kind of Blue (Audio - Vinyl) by Miles Davis (trumpeter)

2. Bird (Film - DVD)directed by Clint Eastwood

3. Dexter Gordon (Photograph)

photographed by Herman Leonard

4. A Love Supreme (Audio - CD) by John Coltrane (saxophonist)

5. Shack-man (Audio - CD) by Medeski, Martin, & Wood (trio)

People > Musicians

Trumpeters (167)Saxophonists (209)Drummers (158)Vocalists (90)Clarinetists (108)Pianists (113)(more)

Source Music (790)

Books (575)Print Materials (127)DVD/Video (246)Journals (90)

GeographicalLocation

An example of the People hierarchy


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Digital-based Faceted Browsing (based on LUNA)

With this interface, the user sees a front page where they see thumbnails of every-thing scanned into the collection. They can choose to enter a search term, browse

page by page, or use the facets on the left-hand side of the page.

There is also an Advanced Search option which allows users to either choose op-tions from all facet fields or select specific fields in order to create a Boolean-typesearch.

Once the user reaches the results page, they can continue to refine using the facetson the left-hand side of the page. The facets are grouped under the simple headingsof Who, What, When, and Where. For example, if the user selected, Musicfrom Search the Collection by Source the Front Page, they would see the follow-ing results page:

Browse All 1 of 2 3 4 5 .. 532 533 > | 12 of 5087

Search by keywords, title, author. SearchSearch theCollection bySource

MusicBooksJournalsPhotographsPrintsDVD/Video3D Objects

_______________

Other Options

PeoplePeriodGeographicalLocationStyle/GenreAudience

Advanced Search


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Browse All 1 of 2 3 4 5 .. 357 358 > | 6 of 907

Search by keywords, title, author. SearchWho

TrumpeterSaxophonistPianist(more)

_______________

What

Vinyl RecordsAudio CassetteCompact Disc(more)

_______________

Where

North AmericaSouth AmericaAsia(more)

_______________

When

1900 - 19091910 - 1919(more)

Advanced Search


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Metadata Specification One of the definable characteristics of cultural heritage institutions is the diversity of their

collections. Such materials may include sound and audio recordings, photographs, text, 3Dobjects, and digitized items. Therefore, making these resources accessible requires a metadata

schema containing an appropriate semantic structure. Although, in reality no single schemacould satisfy all the complexities and requirements of a heterogeneous collection, we havedecided to choose the Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES) format, since it comescloser to meeting the required specifications to accurately describe the resources in our collectionin order to facilitate their access. Some of the reasons for the selection of this particularmetadata schema are:

Interoperability Simplicity/usability

Widely recognized metadata standard Extensibility

Interoperability is highly significant as a basis for interchange of information amongstvarious domains. One of the goals of the museum is to facilitate access to the collection, thusbeing able to share and work collaboratively with other cultural institutions is imperative. Thisbeing the case, DCMES uses a broad level of common element sets which a number of analyseshave proven to be widely used amongst various cultural repositories. i

Simplicity is also a significant advantage of DCMES, as it not only easily accessible by a

variety of users, but it requires less specialized training for the individuals that will ultimately beresponsible for its use. It is simple and easy to use, and since the magnitude of this project willrequire extensive staff time, interns or part-time staff could be hired to perform many of thesimpler cataloguing duties. Additionally, DCMES is widely used by a large number of culturalinstitutions to describe their resources, and it is often regarded as an adequate compromisebetween complex metadata structures and simpler formats, with the capability to transport theembedded semantic metadata into online formats such as XML, RDF, and HTML. ii

Basically, DCMES uses a set of 15 broad elements that are easily applicable to describe avariety of information resources, and they can be expanded with other descriptors as needed to

meet the specific requirements of the collection. Since the value applied to the elements issubject to the use of related terms to describe the same resource, as well as personal preferencesin the use of language, an authority control will be required to ensure consistency. By usingcontrolled vocabularies, we can facilitate the users to accurately retrieve desired information. iii Since no one single tool is exhaustive enough to cover all the terminology in our collection, wehave decided to make use of various tools of controlled authority taking into consideration thespecific content of our collection. The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT) is intended for use


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by a variety of users, and its widely utilized in various cultural institutions to improve access toinformation in art, architecture, and material culture. iv Other applicable tools include the CCOCommons: Cataloging Cultural Objects, Categories for the Description of Works of Art(CDWA), and Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH). Elements that are mandatory willbe noted as such in their descriptions, with optional elements being used as needed:

Creator : This element describes the creator of the content of the particular resource, and

may include names, organizations, and services. They will be listed according to Library

of Congress standards. If there is ambiguity as to the actual responsibility of the content,

the organization name will be listed under the Publisher element, and Creator will be

used for individuals. If available, this element will be mandatory.

Example: Davis, Miles. The creator of the LP, Sketches of Spain .Selmer. Manufacturer of saxophones.

Contributor : If another entity is responsible for making significant contributions, butsecondary in nature to the content of the resource, it will be described within this

element. Although this element is optional, it should be described if available.

Example: Troupe, Quincy who contributed, as the editor, to the publication, Miles: The Autobiography .

Date: This element has two manifestations: Date Original and Date Digital. Date

Original will represent the date the original item was created or modified (example:

release date) while Date Digital will represent the date the item was digitized. This is a

mandatory element, and it will use the W3C Date & Time Format.Example: W3C format is YYYY or YYYY-MM or YYYY-MM-DD (to allow forvarying levels of available data). Coming Through Slaughter , a book published in1976, would have a Date Original entry that displays as 1976; if it was digitizedfor our collection in May 2009, it would have a Date Digital entry that displays as2009-05. The film Bird which was released on September 30, 1988 would have aDate Original entry that displays as 1988-09-30; if it was digitized and uploadedas a streaming film on July 5, 2010, it would have a Date Digital entry thatdisplays as 2010-07-05.

Description: The description field contains information about the content of theresource, and may include among others, an abstract, free-text, or a detailed graphic

description of the resource. The description element is significantly important as a rich

potential for relevant subject matter, therefore, its imperative to use indexable terms, and

therefore this element will be mandatory.


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Example: Smoky, backlit black & white photograph of jazz saxophonist DexterGordon holding the saxophone in his lap, while smoking a cigarette. Adescription of the photograph by Herman Leonard.

Format: This element presents the digital or physical medium of the item. This is a

mandatory element, and it will use the MIME Media Types as a controlled vocabulary forthe digital objects and an internally developed controlled vocabulary to describe the

physical carrier of the resource. v

Example: A digitized recording of Miles Davis So What would have a Formatentry that displays Audio-mp3. A physical copy of Miles Davis Kind of Blue would have a Format entry that displays Audio-CD. Note that CD is thepreferred term over options like Compact Disc.

Language: This element describes the language of the item. Language is a mandatory

element when applicable. Photographs, for example, would not be required to include this

element. The Language element will make use of the ISO 639.2 controlled vocabulary, as

seen in the CDPs Best Practices. vi

Example: An audio recording in French would have a Language element thatdisplayed fre.

Publisher: The Publisher element as defined by Dublin Core is the entity responsible

for making the resource available. vii If the item is digitized, the Publisher field will

display the institution where it was digitized. This is not to be confused with the person

who actually did the digitizationthat information would fall under Contributor. The

Publisher can be universities, presses, record labels, or any other publishing/distributing

organization.

Example: For John Coltranes album A Love Supreme, the Publisher would beImpulse! A digitized photograph of John Coltrane (which was digitized by ourinstitution) would display Suaban Music Museum as the Publisher (and theindividual who scanned the photo would be listed under Contributor).

Rights: This element is mandatory, as it provides the rights held over the particular

resource, typically covering copyright laws and intellectual property rights. It can be

expressed in either a textual note or a URL pointing to a certain statement of these rights.

Example: Physical rights are retained by XXX. Copyright is retained inaccordance with U. S. copyright laws. viii

Subject: This value signifies the type of content of the resource, and it is a good practice

to use terms from a previously decided controlled vocabulary to reduced language

ambiguity. This element is also mandatory.


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Example: Ondaatje, Michael, 1943-, taken from LCSH.Phonograph records preferred term as described in AAT.

Title: The Title element is mandatory and will provide the name of the item. If the item

doesnt have an established title, a descriptive title may be applied by the Suaban Music

Museum.Example: Shack-Man, title of a Medeski, Martin, & Wood album

Dexter Gordon, title supplied by Suaban to an untitled photograph Type: DCMI defines Type as the nature or genre of the resource. ix Type is a

mandatory element, and it will employ the DCMI Type Vocabulary for a controlled

vocabulary to prevent genre categories from becoming unwieldy.

Example: sound for a sound recording of Billie Holiday singing StrangeFruit

The choice was made to use the Dublin Core metadata schema based on a variety of factors thatwill facilitate the access and retrieval of our particular jazz collection. As mentioned, some of these factors include its interoperability, simplicity, extensibility, and wide acceptance andsuccess within numerous cultural institutions.

Implementation of Metadata Plan Now that our metadata plan has been identified, the next step is to develop the processes and

systems to complete the project. To do this, we must understand the roles of the people involvedand identify how they will interact with the systems that have been put in place. Varioustechnicians will be responsible for the documentation, administration and digitization of

metadata information:

An information architect will be hired as a consultant on a per-hour basis of about

$60.00/hr x for the initial setup of the needed systems. This will encompass a period of

observation of already existing systems, interviews with staff and patrons, design of the

system, and an implementation/testing/training period.

Museum professionals (non-MLIS degree holders)a Curator, an Assistant Curator, and

a Registrarwill orient the IA to the museums systems, organize staff and patrons for

focus groups, and give any needed input and access to the IA. They will, of course, learnthe system, but will not be primarily responsible for entering the metadata.

Professional librarians (with MLIS degrees) will be hired to maintain the system and

input metadata. This group consists of three permanent full-time staff; a

Cataloger/Metadata Librarian II, a Cataloger Librarian I, and a Digital Specialist


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Librarian. At the outset they will work with the IA to design and understand the system.

The Digital Specialist will also work with digitization projects.

Students, particularly graduate students performing unpaid internships/field experience

for credit, will work in assisting the librarians on various digitization and cataloging

projects. Initially we envision two such internships/field experience positions. Part-time

temporary employees will be hired on a need-basis.

Outsourced/contractors will be utilized on a minimal basis, primarily for the original push

to digitize as much of the new collection as possible. Since the institutions facilities and

capabilities are limited, outsourcing some of the process will provide the advantage of a

reduced monetary investment in technical infrastructure and staff expertise. xi

Other people involved in the metadata workflow include two Information Technology

full-time staff members responsible for the maintenance and analysis of the systems

tools, and distribution of the metadata internally and externally. These IT professionals

are already full-time staff at the museum, and this new project is encompassed within

their normal job duties.

As far as workflow is concerned, the IA will be hired for an 8-week contract with thepossibility of extension should the original implementation take longer than expected.Observation and focus groups will take up the first two weeks, then about 4 weeks for design,and the final two weeks for implementation/training/testing. The museum professionals will beinvolved with the project throughout its entirety, facilitating the process and coordinating staff and patrons. The IT professionals will be involved with the IA from week 3 until the end of theimplantation to ensure the new system will work with already-existing systems.

While this is happening, the museum professionals, the Digital Specialist, and two graduatestudents will be working to begin to digitize the collection. During the last two weeks of theIAs contracted period, these staff members will begin to learn the new system, testing it andproviding feedback.

Once everything is in place, the professional librarians and graduate students will work

together to get the collection online. The graduate students, directed by the Digital specialist,will primarily digitize documents and provide the files to the catalogers who will then input themetadata in the system. Some metadata will arrive with the digitized document, provided by thegraduate student: Digital Technician, Digital Publisher, Digital Date, Format, Type, Language,and Permissions. The Title, Creator, Subject, and Description may also already be available.Anything not provided already will be input by the catalogers. As the graduate students learn the


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Digital Technician: Sarah Bankston Digital Publisher: Suaban Music MuseumDigital Date: 2010 Permissions: Physical rights are retained by Suaban Music Museum. Copyright is retained in

accordance with U. S. copyright laws.

Sample Record #2

Title: Coming Through Slaughter Creator: Michael Ondaatje Publisher: House of Anansi Release Date: 1976 Subject: Book

Fiction

Historical Fiction

InstrumentsBrass

Cornet

United StatesLouisiana

New Orleans

Resource Type: TextFormat: Text-paper, Original; Text-html, DigitalLanguage: English

Description: Set at the beginning of the 20 th century, this novel is a fictional account of the lifeof Buddy Bolden, a New Orleans jazz musician. Winner of the 1976 Books in Canada FirstNovel award. Note: only the first chapter is digitized.

Digital Technician: Armando Suarez Digital Publisher: Suaban Music MuseumDigital Date: 2010 Permissions: Physical rights are retained by Suaban Music Museum. Copyright is retained inaccordance with U. S. copyright laws.

Tools:

As previously mentioned, we have identified Dublin Core for our metadata format, and XML asthe desired encoding scheme. In order to provide end-user access and effectively share ourcollection online, we will use CONTENTdm. Some of the inherent benefits of using thissoftware in our organization include: xii


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Cost-effective No need for extensive technical skills; easy to use and set-up Active global user community Open, extensive, and interoperable Efficient streamline of workflow, with built-in editing tools and controlled vocabularies

for ease in cataloging process

Supports numerous metadata standards, including Dublin Core Support of complex media

Costs of the Project

The estimated cost of the 8-week project is $85,300. Once the system is in place, assigned full-

time staff will continue working on project without neglecting their ongoing daily duties. On theother hand, selected graduate students and interns will work primarily with the donated jazzcollection. Based on the number of items, we expect to have the bulk of the collection fullyprocessed in less than a year. The initial 8-week funding for this project is broken down asfollows:

Information Architect: $19,200 (based on a 40-hour work week and the project only lasting 8weeks)

Museum Professionals xiii : $22,500 (combined figure of all three staff members salaries for the8-week period)

Professional Librarians xiv : $18,600 (combined figure of all three staff members salaries for the8-week period)

Graduate Students: $ 0 (unpaid field-experiences)

Database and Media Servers xv: $15,000

CONTENTdm License xvi : $10,000


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bankston suarez final report

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