Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses

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End date: 2023 × Start date: 2020 × Subject: archives × Subject: music ×

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    Keeping Score: Understanding the Complexities of Metadata in Australian Music Collections
    Triscari, Caleb Joseph ( 2023)
    There is an ongoing global conversation focused on improving access to music held in collections. This conversation centres on adequate metadata description, discoverability of material, and interoperability among collections. It also includes a focus on Universal Bibliographic Control, a process in which a sole record for a resource is used by all institutions around the world that hold that resource in their collections. Additionally, there is debate around the feasibility of a universal standard that could be used to record all necessary metadata of a piece of music material. Such an approach is taken to make collections more accessible and interoperable. This dissertation considers the unique combinations of standards and practices that Australian institutions employ to manage the metadata of their music collections, a topic which has, to date, been largely neglected. For this study, staff from five collecting institutions were interviewed. Staff were asked which standards they use to manage the metadata of their music collections, their experience working with those standards, and the communities their collections serve. They were also asked questions around their collections’ discoverability and interoperability. The findings show that each institution drew from a unique variety of standards, thesauri and other resources to describe the music material held in their collection. They show that each institution’s choice of standards is informed by their operational priorities, encompassing the interests and needs of their collections’ users. Standards and practices are also informed by the music material their collections hold, including material that is distinctive to Australia, such as that pertaining to First Nations Australians. These findings hold significance for future consideration of how to improve access to music held in collections. Specifically, consideration of standards and practices used in Australia, and how these have been developed in response to particular user communities and material, is significant in any efforts towards universal bibliographic control or future standards.