The revision of historical music prints at the LBZ / Pfälzische Landesbibliothek in Speyer

Daniel Fromme

Thursday, October 23, 2025

The following guest post is by Daniel Fromme (Landesbibliothekszentrum Rheinland-Pfalz (LBZ)). He presents a project that we highly recommend others emulate:

A significant music collection of the Landesbibliothekszentrum Rheinland-Pfalz (LBZ) – kept at its Speyer branch, the Pfälzische Landesbibliothek (D-SPlb) – includes modern sheet music editions as well as ca. 500 historical music prints from the 18th and early 19th centuries. In order to update and improve their descriptions, a comprehensive revision of these holdings was begun in 2020. The initial goal was simply to add to the RISM database more detailed information (such as the precise shelf mark) for each exemplar. During the process, however, it became apparent that not only most of the shelf marks were missing from RISM, but in 138 cases also the indication that D-SPlb owned an exemplar, while 59 printed editions had not yet been registered in RISM at all. Furthermore, given that many of the descriptions had been based on data imported from an earlier printed RISM catalog, the bibliographic descriptions themselves were often in need of improvement. Among other things, complete diplomatic titles could now be added on the basis of autopsy, the instrumentation for each piece was also specified, and all hints at the publisher and the date of publication were doublechecked. In addition, whenever music incipits had been missing altogether, at least one was added for the first piece. Finally, 277 works included in collections were newly cataloged.

At the same time, the RISM references in the LBZ catalog data were also cleaned up and standardized (for example, by adding the respective RISM IDs). And since the revision required a close look at each print anyway, the exemplars received acid-free folders and insert strips with barcodes, while each came also to be marked as rare. Whenever necessary, further conservation or restoration measures were also taken. Last but not least, a record was made of which volumes were not yet available in digital form, so that these could be scanned gradually for the Rhineland-Palatinate digitization portal “dilibri” – naturally with appropriate links added to the relevant RISM record as well.

By combining data cleansing for the larger RISM community with improved preservation, usability, and digitization for the holding institution, this project has certainly generated added value for all parties involved, and so it is warmly recommended as a model to follow. You can find more information about the project here (pp. 27-29).

Image: Printed music edition from 1804 (RISM A/I C 3073, RISM ID no. 990010490 - RISM Catalog | RISM Online) with acid-free folder, red rare-book label, and insert strip. (Image used with kind permission of LBZ/Fromme).

Catégorie: Collections de bibliothèques