I created metadata today!
When I took Search and Discovery (my very first library and info science (LIS)) class last summer, the experienced students seemed to always be talking about "metadata" and arguing with each other about whether it was valuable or not. It sounded like a very complicated, very technical thing.
We've gotten enough LPs and their album covers digitized that I can start loading them into CONTENTdm, which is the software that organizes the Iowa Digital Library and displays it on the web.
Part of loading CONTENTdm is creating metadata.
I've been learning CONTENTdm and then going through the tedious process of getting all the rights and approvals set up to be able to use it. (Actually, *I* didn't have to do that, Keo did. But it took several days.)
Anyway, I loaded an album into CONTENTdm, and set up the metadata. It was fun!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Copyright, Revisited
At the start of the semester, it seemed so simple: we would send permission request letters to all the record companies, they would give up permission to post selections from the records on the internet, and we would post the music.
Of course, it was never that simple, because many of the record companies no longer exist.
And I was worried about rights to the compositions... did we need to get permission from the composers / publishers / copyright holders of the selections that were performed on the records, as well as from the record companies themselves? I brought it up. The answer (as I understood it) was "you're welcome to look into that, but we don't think it's a problem." I looked, but didn't find anything.
We sent letters out to as many of the record companies as I could find, and most of them replied giving us permission! Yes!
But now everybody's rethinking this. Perhaps we shouldn't put all the music out on the internet where anyone can hear it -- maybe that's not legal. Maybe we should limit access in some way -- allow only U of Iowa personnel to use the collection, perhaps, or allow it to be accessed only from workstations that are physically in the music library.
Or perhaps we should limit the amount of information that can be heard -- play only 30 seconds of a selection, perhaps. Or maybe putting disclaimers in the "Rights" field would be enough.
I'm thinking that we should treat different selections in different ways -- recordings for which we own the copyright, and maybe recordings that we have permission to post, can go on the internet with no restrictions, but everything else can have some sort of access restriction. And everything would get the disclaimer in the Rights field.
I don't know yet if that's physically possible -- whether ContentDM (the software that organizes the collection) will allow parts of it to be public, and parts to be private. We might need to make two different collections, like "Iowa Sounds - Public" and "Iowa Sounds - Limited Access", or something.
I've been researching these and related issues. My tentative conclusion is that we really need legal advice.
I also think that the Fair Use provisions of copyright law really ought to be expanded. But the session I went to on copyright issues at the ILA convention was given by a lawyer who says he expects the music industry lobbyists to keep hammering at Congress until fair use is eliminated.
I'm afraid he's right. And I really, really hope he's not.
Meanwhile, I think the idea of having all these Iowa-related recordings available on the library web site is very cool, and I hope the legal issues can get worked out so that it's allowed.
Of course, it was never that simple, because many of the record companies no longer exist.
And I was worried about rights to the compositions... did we need to get permission from the composers / publishers / copyright holders of the selections that were performed on the records, as well as from the record companies themselves? I brought it up. The answer (as I understood it) was "you're welcome to look into that, but we don't think it's a problem." I looked, but didn't find anything.
We sent letters out to as many of the record companies as I could find, and most of them replied giving us permission! Yes!
But now everybody's rethinking this. Perhaps we shouldn't put all the music out on the internet where anyone can hear it -- maybe that's not legal. Maybe we should limit access in some way -- allow only U of Iowa personnel to use the collection, perhaps, or allow it to be accessed only from workstations that are physically in the music library.
Or perhaps we should limit the amount of information that can be heard -- play only 30 seconds of a selection, perhaps. Or maybe putting disclaimers in the "Rights" field would be enough.
I'm thinking that we should treat different selections in different ways -- recordings for which we own the copyright, and maybe recordings that we have permission to post, can go on the internet with no restrictions, but everything else can have some sort of access restriction. And everything would get the disclaimer in the Rights field.
I don't know yet if that's physically possible -- whether ContentDM (the software that organizes the collection) will allow parts of it to be public, and parts to be private. We might need to make two different collections, like "Iowa Sounds - Public" and "Iowa Sounds - Limited Access", or something.
I've been researching these and related issues. My tentative conclusion is that we really need legal advice.
I also think that the Fair Use provisions of copyright law really ought to be expanded. But the session I went to on copyright issues at the ILA convention was given by a lawyer who says he expects the music industry lobbyists to keep hammering at Congress until fair use is eliminated.
I'm afraid he's right. And I really, really hope he's not.
Meanwhile, I think the idea of having all these Iowa-related recordings available on the library web site is very cool, and I hope the legal issues can get worked out so that it's allowed.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
ILA Conference
I spent Wednesday through Friday at the Iowa Library Association conference in Dubuque. It was lots of fun, and very worthwhile.
My favorite day was Wednesday, which was pre-conference workshops, the grand opening of the vendor exhibits area, and the president's reception.
I took the Book Repair workshop, and I loved it. We learned to:
* fix the spine of a book with loose hinges
* repair a torn page
* make a pocket to store inserts (such as maps) in the back of the book
* "tip in" an extra page, like an errata sheet, or a page that has fallen out of the book
* sew a pamphlet into a permanent binding
* replace a torn spine on a book
I really enjoyed the hands-on work. It felt more like scrapbooking and paper crafts than like library and information science. And even though I really like the challenge of digital library applications, actually handling and working with books made a nice change of pace.
But as much as I liked the hands-on work, I also liked the opportunity it gave to talk with people. Working side-by-side with someone allows conversations to grow in way that isn't as likely during lecture-type sessions or designated social time.
Most people in the workshop were either public librarians, or school librarians. Lots of chit-chat gave me a perspective that's different from the academic libraries that we tend to focus on in classes.
I talked with two different male teacher-librarians, one middle school and one high school, and they both told me how great working in school libraries is, and encouraged me to consider it when I graduate. Well, it's not my "plan A", but it's worth considering. And it was interesting hearing their perspectives.
But the most interesting person I talked to was a retired librarian from Mount Mercy. She heard me telling one of the teacher-librarians about being a digital library fellow, and wanted to know what that means. So I told her about Iowa Sounds. She thought it sounded like a great project.
And then she told me about how she and her husband recently digitized their personal LP collection. They used essentially the same set-up I'm working with -- turntable connected to computer with Audacity software -- and did exactly what I'm doing -- recording sides, splitting into tracks, then compressing to mp3 files.
And then, they transferred all their mp3 files to their iPods, so they can take all their music with them wherever they go. They play their iPods through their car stereo.
It was cool hearing about somebody who has actually done what I'm learning to do. It was helpful that she told me Audacity is a free download software -- it means I can plan on using it after I graduate from SLIS, no matter where I end up. And it was REALLY cool hearing a traditional-looking 70-something woman talk about listening to her music on her iPod!
Who says that digital is the province of the young?
It's late, and I need to head to bed. I'll write more about the conference another day.
My favorite day was Wednesday, which was pre-conference workshops, the grand opening of the vendor exhibits area, and the president's reception.
I took the Book Repair workshop, and I loved it. We learned to:
* fix the spine of a book with loose hinges
* repair a torn page
* make a pocket to store inserts (such as maps) in the back of the book
* "tip in" an extra page, like an errata sheet, or a page that has fallen out of the book
* sew a pamphlet into a permanent binding
* replace a torn spine on a book
I really enjoyed the hands-on work. It felt more like scrapbooking and paper crafts than like library and information science. And even though I really like the challenge of digital library applications, actually handling and working with books made a nice change of pace.
But as much as I liked the hands-on work, I also liked the opportunity it gave to talk with people. Working side-by-side with someone allows conversations to grow in way that isn't as likely during lecture-type sessions or designated social time.
Most people in the workshop were either public librarians, or school librarians. Lots of chit-chat gave me a perspective that's different from the academic libraries that we tend to focus on in classes.
I talked with two different male teacher-librarians, one middle school and one high school, and they both told me how great working in school libraries is, and encouraged me to consider it when I graduate. Well, it's not my "plan A", but it's worth considering. And it was interesting hearing their perspectives.
But the most interesting person I talked to was a retired librarian from Mount Mercy. She heard me telling one of the teacher-librarians about being a digital library fellow, and wanted to know what that means. So I told her about Iowa Sounds. She thought it sounded like a great project.
And then she told me about how she and her husband recently digitized their personal LP collection. They used essentially the same set-up I'm working with -- turntable connected to computer with Audacity software -- and did exactly what I'm doing -- recording sides, splitting into tracks, then compressing to mp3 files.
And then, they transferred all their mp3 files to their iPods, so they can take all their music with them wherever they go. They play their iPods through their car stereo.
It was cool hearing about somebody who has actually done what I'm learning to do. It was helpful that she told me Audacity is a free download software -- it means I can plan on using it after I graduate from SLIS, no matter where I end up. And it was REALLY cool hearing a traditional-looking 70-something woman talk about listening to her music on her iPod!
Who says that digital is the province of the young?
It's late, and I need to head to bed. I'll write more about the conference another day.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Splitting Tracks
As I posted at the end of September, I spent a lot of time in the Information Arcade, creating .WAV files for each full side of a stack of records.
Once that was done, I spent a couple of weeks working in the project room, splitting sides into tracks. This is more interesting than just recording... I have to think about the music, and figure out where one piece ends and another begins (that's not always as easy as it sounds). And it requires precision so that all the cuts are made cleanly.
I'm going to be gone for a few days to the ILA conference. Next week, I'll be getting started with some other phases of the project.
Once that was done, I spent a couple of weeks working in the project room, splitting sides into tracks. This is more interesting than just recording... I have to think about the music, and figure out where one piece ends and another begins (that's not always as easy as it sounds). And it requires precision so that all the cuts are made cleanly.
I'm going to be gone for a few days to the ILA conference. Next week, I'll be getting started with some other phases of the project.
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