RISM at IAML, Part 2: What's New in 2016

Monday, August 15, 2016

A month ago we were basking in the warm Italian sun and feasting upon the many presentations that were given as part of the IAML Congress in Rome. Recently we gave you an update on the progress of our new cataloging program, Muscat (and was kindly translated into Spanish by our colleagues at Papeles de Música). A couple other sessions held by RISM might also interest you, which we recap here.

On July 5 RISM organized a workshop called “The Ins and Outs of the RISM OPAC” – which, due to an unexpected loss of the internet connection, was not very workshop-like. But we improvised. “RISM Like a Pro” by Jennifer Ward (slides online) was full of insider tips and tricks that would be of interest to anyone (such as librarians) who has to teach the online catalog to others (such as students or faculty members). Take a look at the slides to discover a trick or two!

The session included two contributions by RISM working group members. Zuzana Petrášková from RISM Czech Republic talked about interacting with researchers at the National Library in Prague and how that can lead to insight about the state of sources in the country and what work still needs to be done for RISM. Finally, Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi (Ufficio Ricerca Fondi Musicali and Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico) gave us the good news that an agreement between ICCU, IAML Italy, and RISM was ready to be signed by the new director of ICCU (Simonetta Buttò), the president of IAML Italia (Tiziana Grande), and the president of RISM (Wolf-Dieter Seiffert). The agreement handles the exchange of data between RISM and ICCU. Massimo’s presentation then showed several solutions that can be solved together concerning data transfer.

July 7 was the traditional RISM open session. To start the session, Klaus presented an update on what RISM has been working on this past year (slides online). Highlights include:

• Future data imports are planned in cooperation with RISM France, ICCU Musica, the National Library of Spain, and the Austrian National Library.

• The online catalog will undergo a minor update later this fall when Muscat is released. We also hope to better integrate our own authority files as well as those created by resources such as VIAF.

• Series B continues to grow, and Die Triosonate: Catalogue Raisonné der gedruckten Quellen (edited by Ludwig Finscher, Laurenz Lütteken and Inga Mai Groote, assisted by Cristina Urchueguía, Gabriela Freiburghaus and Nicola Schneider), will be published this year by Henle as a book and database.

• Results from the online RISM survey were published.

• RISM continues to collaborate with the Working Group on the Access to Music Archives to expand and update the RISM Series C directory of music repositories. Guidelines have been written and test data was imported into a database.

The rest of the session, as well as much of the Advisory Council session, was devoted to Muscat. In the Advisory Council session, which was attended by members of the RISM working groups along with a couple other interested parties, the council and the RISM Central Office agreed upon the following:

• Every group/contributor will have access to the final Muscat version one month before the switch to Muscat (probably mid-September to mid-October). During this time, Kallisto will still be the only cataloging system; data entered into Muscat during this time will be lost. There will be no period in which both systems will run parallel. Kallisto will end at a specified time and Muscat will be working after that within probably a few days (over the weekend).

• The Central Office understands that all contributors need to plan ahead and will therefore inform everyone of the exact dates as soon as possible. They will also invite all contributors to test the current Muscat version starting now.

• It is also important for all groups to check whether the migration of the old data has been successful. Any issues have to be reported to the Central Office.

• When the final Muscat version is available the guidelines and tutorials will also be made accessible by the Central Office. They also plan to offer workshops for individuals from the different groups who then will be able to teach Muscat to their local staff.

• Jürgen Diet reminded everyone that the Bavarian State Library, which is still responsible for the RISM online catalog, needs enough time to plan for the implementation of the data import from Muscat.​

There is quite a lot to look forward to later this year! Watch this space for updates on these projects.

Thanks to Armin Brinzing for the notes about the Advisory Council session.

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Category: Events

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