Briefs / Feuilletons

"Music Archives and Composer's Legacy in the Collections of Polish Libraries", Warsaw, 1–2 December 2016

A two-day programme at the conference "Music Archives and Composer's Legacy in the Collections of Polish Libraries" was rich in presentations, panel discussions, and interactive dialogues. The conference was held at the University of Warsaw Library on 1–2 December 2016. It was organised by the Music Libraries Section of the Polish Librarians Association, the Polish National Branch of IAML, and the Music Department of the University of Warsaw Library. Forty participants from twenty-two libraries attended the conference, including the Music Collection Department of the National Library of Poland, music academies, university libraries, and music departments of university and public libraries.

The aim of the conference was to present the range of issues faced by music librarians and archivists dealing with music manuscripts, letters, documents, posters, and programmes. Our intention was to discuss and share experiences on how to organise the collection, what are the methods of acquisition, cataloguing, and preservation of music archives, and the legacies of composers. During the discussion panels, the participants sought answers to questions for the future and perspectives in the development of music archives.

The conference venue was not chosen by accident. The Archives of Polish Composers was established as a separate part of the Music Department of the University of Warsaw Library, orientated towards the comprehensive documentation of Polish contemporary music sources. The five papers and twelve reports delivered at the conference fell into three sessions. The workshop "What to do with the dress in the archives ...? and many other questions of music librarians", led by Magdalena Borowiec and Alexandra Górka from the Archives of Polish Composers, was devoted to discussing the various stages of musical archives.

The conference was accompanied by a concert dedicated to Andrzej Spóz (Director of the Library, Museum, and Archives of the Stanisław Moniuszko Warsaw Music Society, and Honorary Member of the Music Libraries Section of the Polish Librarians Association), on the occasion of his eightieth birthday.

A detailed conference programme and photo gallery is on the Web site of the Polish National Branch of IAML: www.iaml.pl.

Announcing Muscat, RISM's New Program for Cataloging Musical Sources. The Central Office of Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM) in Frankfurt, Germany released a new program for cataloguing musical sources in November 2016. Muscat, which replaces its predecessor Kallisto, is a platform-independent, Web-based, open source system designed to describe manuscripts (any time period), printed music (generally through the nineteenth century), librettos, and treatises. Access is available to all RISM contributors free of charge.

Muscat was developed jointly by the Central Office and RISM Switzerland and based on a program initially in use by the RISM national groups in Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The program continues to evolve and be adapted to meet RISM's needs. Muscat users can take advantage of the multilingual interface, version control, commenting system, folders, built-in connection to the Virtual International Authority File (VIAF), integrated online catalogue search, and overall intuitive look and feel.

Information entered with Muscat is published in the RISM online catalogue, which is available at no charge at https://opac.rism.info. Data are structured around MARC21 and are available as linked data and linked open data for use in local catalogues or other projects. RISM encourages music librarians to use Muscat to update their holdings, correct mistakes, or describe new sources. New contributors are welcome.

Tutorials and guidelines have been created for Muscat and a training version is available for use in workshops, presentations, and demonstrations. For more information, please visit http://www.rism.info/en/community/muscat.html or contact the Central Office at contact@rism.info.

Jennifer A. Ward
RISM Zentralredaktion
Frankfurt, Germany

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