Specialised Information Service for Musicology (musiconn)

In February 2014, the project "Fachinformationsdienst (FID) Musikwissenschaft" ("Specialised Information Service for Musicology") started at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and initially scheduled for a duration of three years.

In addition to subsidising the acquisition of conventional media (books, journals and printed sheet music) and e-media, also the further development of the Virtual Library of Musicology (ViFaMusik) of the FID is supported. Among other things, it is intended to develop the ViFaMusik search function in the direction of a European music catalogue by integrating further data sources, to add further content and additional functionalities to the new ViFaMusik document server and to further develop the RISM OPAC.

A more extensive account of the tasks in the FID Musicology can be found in the following journal article:
Diet, Jürgen; Nägele, Reiner: Der Fachinformationsdienst Musikwissenschaft und die neue Rolle der ViFaMusik.
In: Bibliothek Forschung und Praxis 38 (2014) 1, p. 56-61.

There are close ties between the expert community of musicologists and the FID Musicology. The FID board of advisers established in the spring of 2014 ensures this among other things.

Further information about the FID Musicology can also be found in the musiconn blog:
FID article in the musiconn blog

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) and the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden; SLUB) have started the second phase of the "Fachinformationsdienst Musikwissenschaft" (FID Musikwissenschaft, "Specialised Information Service for Musicology"), a three-year project subsidised by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with around EUR 1.5 million. The objective of the project is to make relevant information services for cutting-edge research in musicology available professionally in Germany.

In the course of the coming three years, the BSB and the SLUB will further expand the already existing services of the FID, adding new, innovative services. The two libraries will jointly develop further the International Inventory of Musical Sources (RISM), which will be expanded by detailed descriptions of printed works from the field of music in addition to music manuscripts. The BSB will further expand the information portal "Virtuelle Fachbibliothek Musikwissenschaft" ("Virtual Library of Musicology", www.vifamusik.de), ensure the long-term archiving of websites relevant for musicology and take on the challenges of optical music recognition (OMR). Comprehensive collection building for the subject of musicology will be continued in the tried and tested form by the BSB in the fields of conventional and electronic media as well. At the SLUB, a database will be developed for collecting performance documents, such as concert programmes, posters, etc., which will offer new perspectives for the academic discussion of the German and international concert business. The new range of services will also encompass a specialised repository in which musicological literature will be made available under open access conditions.

The continuing exchange with the specialist community will be ensured by an advisory committee consisting of 13 members from relevant institutions and associations. In addition to papers at conferences and journal articles, road shows are planned to raise potential users' awareness of the new service offer of the FID Musicology, where the project partners will visit musicological institutes to report about the services of the FID.

In January 2018 the trademark "musiconn – Für vernetzte Musikwissenschaft" ("musiconn – Musicology connected") was introduced for all services developed in the past, present and future within the scope of the FID Musicology at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich and at the Saxon State and University Library in Dresden.

Complete press release  (PDF, 75 KB)

The objective of this project phase of 12 months is the further development of central work packages of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) and of the Saxon Regional Library – State and University Library Dresden (SLUB) from the second funding phase of the FID Musicology. Conventional collection expansion and the licensing of e-media (BSB) will be pursued continuously. The web archiving of Internet resources (BSB) and the provision of literature made available in the open access format via musiconn.publish (SLUB) will be further extended as well.

During the current funding phase, in addition a conceptual further development and pilot cataloguing of prints and of works authority data will take place in cooperation with the Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM, SLUB). The RISM-OPAC will be technically further developed as well (BSB).

With musiconn.performance, a new research and recording tool for musical performance events will be launched (SLUB) in 2020, and the holdings of OMR-recorded sheet-music prints in the web application musiconn.scoresearch will be expanded (BSB).

Moreover, the Specialised Information Service for Musicology pursues public-relations work and is in close contact with the musicological expert community via the FID board of advisers.

Further information on the project:
https://www.musiconn.de/

The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek (BSB) and the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Dresden; SLUB) have started the fourth phase of the Fachinformationsdienst (FID) Musikwissenschaft (Specialised Information Service for Musicology), a project subsidised by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2014 and now extended by a further three years. The funding volume of the 4th phase amounts to around EUR 2 million. The objective of the project is to make relevant information services for cutting-edge research in musicology available in Germany. In the course of the coming three years, the BSB and the SLUB will further expand their already established services, adding new, innovative services.

The acquisition of literature relevant in the field and of scholarly resources plays a central role here and encompasses both printed and electronic forms of publication, as well as the licensing of e-media. The classical acquisition profile is flanked by a wide variety of digital services for the discipline. Under the joint label musiconn. Musicology connected already well-known formats are continuously expanded and optimised. The provision and technical further development of the online catalogue of the Répertoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM-OPAC) at the BSB forms part of this. Including over 1.2 million music sources, this research tool represents the most relevant database of its kind on a worldwide level.

Thanks to the Dresden online repository musiconn.publish, the FID Musicology has also become an established name in the field of publishing and open access, offering researchers an option to publish their work free of costs and with a long-term preservation guarantee. This service will be expanded continuously during the coming years, which is also applicable to the database for musical performance events musiconn.performance at the SLUB and the web application musiconn.scoresearch hosted at the BSB, which can be used to search melodies on the basis of optical note recognition.

Existing services, such as the web-archiving of Internet resources or the provision of a thesis registration office will likewise continue to be managed by the FID in the coming funding phase. The set-up of a digital record library, musiconn.audio, at the SLUB, will break completely new ground in addition.

During the new funding phase, the FID will continue to give high priority to the ongoing exchange with the expert community. With the blog musiconn.kontrovers, operated by the BSB, a format is continued for constructively discussing current issues in the field. A board of representatives from a wide spectrum of musicological institutions and an international Advisory Board additionally ensure continuous feedback to the FID with respect to its work, and give new impulses for further developments which are oriented on the demands of scholarship.

All services and further information can be retrieved via the project's portal www.musiconn.de.
https://www.musiconn.de/