Sharing the Joy of Music: A Music Cataloger’s Guide to Training Library Staff with Limited Music Expertise

ABSTRACTCountless academic libraries are unable to commit staff time to handle the multiple workflows required by a music library, such as ordering, procurement, and cataloging. Music librarians often rely on support from staff in other departments with limited musical backgrounds. Drawing from resources offered by the central library, a University of Tennessee music cataloger created guidelines for training non-musical library staff in identifying various musical formats. The training was meant to improve the workflow of music materials from acquisitions, cataloging, and processing departments. The training focused on illustrating the differences between a variety of commonly found musical score formats. The goal was to increase staff effectiveness and reduce errors in ordering and processing music materials. Ultimately, the training enabled library staff to identify best options and apply sound judgment when fulfilling order requests. These guidelines included illustrations with examples of different formats with cover images, title pages, music notation pages, and a brief bibliographic description of MARC fields 100, 245, 240, 250 and 300. By evaluating bibliographic records from WorldCat and showing physical examples of various musical manifestations, non-musical library staff were able to contribute more effectively to the operations of the music library. Furthermore, during the process of training and following up with staff, it became clear that the need for basic music training was greater than initially perceived and that numerous other units within the library needed this training. This paper offers guidelines for music library training from both the University of Tennessee and the music library literature.KEYWORDS: Music library traininglibrary staff cross-trainingmusic formatsmusic catalogingmusic acquisitionsmusic processingmusic library systems AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank their supportive families, especially their spouses Jan Rosinski and Miroslav Hristov, for holding down the fort during several evenings, weekends, and holidays, so that the authors would have the time needed to prepare this manuscript.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Liz Hart and Ruth Hellen, “Music for the Terrified,” Fontes Artis Musicae 47, no. 1 (January-March 2000): 22–26.2. Geoffrey Thomason, “Urtexts, URL, and a Trip to the Russian Optician,” Brio: Journal of the United Kingdom Branch of the International Association of Music Libraries 38, no. 2 (2001): 31–40.3. Amelie Roper, “Bridging the Gap: Developing Professional Education for Music Library Staff in the United Kingdom and Ireland,” Fontes Artis Musicae 59, no. 2 (2012): 168–178.4. Ibid, pp.168–9.5. Ibid, p.178.6. Anna Craft, “Onboarding and Training New Electronic Resources Personnel in Libraries: An Overview of Literature and Resources,” Serials Review 47, no. 3–4 (2001): 182–186.7. Valeria Bond Hodge, Acquisitions Unit Manager for the University of Tennessee Libraries, conversation with Wanda Rosinski, Music Cataloger for UT Libraries, Summer 2019.8. Nathalie Hristov and Chris Durman, conversation with Wanda Rosinski, Music Cataloger for UT Libraries, December 2020.9. Valeria Bond Hodge, Acquisitions Unit Manager for the University of Tennessee Libraries, e-mail to Wanda Rosinski, Music Cataloger for UT Libraries, January 26, 2022.