Grove Music Online is now the cornerstone of Oxford Music Online

Grove Music Online has been the leading online resource for music research since its inception in 2001, a glorious compendium of music scholarship offering the full texts of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition (2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd Edition (2001), as well as all subsequent updates and emendations. Including 50,000 signed articles and 28,000 biographies contributed by over 6,000 scholars from around the world, Grove Music Online is the unsurpassed authority on all aspects of music.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell, has been widely acclaimed as an indispensable resource and a classic reference. For the 2001 Second Edition, every one of the first edition's 22,500 articles was reviewed and revised, with thousands of articles expanded. Previously neglected or under-represented areas were examined, explored, and explained. Movements and topics once deemed too controversial or too far from the mainstream were added along with extensive, authoritative contributions on non-Western music.
The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Second Edition, edited by Barry Kernfeld, is the largest, most comprehensive and accurate reference work on jazz ever published, putting the world of jazz at your fingertips. With articles on every aspect of the field, from jazz groups, composers and arrangers to instruments, terms, record labels and venues, it is the ideal companion for scholars and enthusiasts in this rapidly growing field.
The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie, is unsurpassed in its scope and quality, with contributions from over 1,300 of the world's leading critics and scholars. A remarkable 11,000 articles, all fully cross-referenced, create a work that has become established as the essential opera reference. Indeed, every aspect of this varied art form is covered: composers, conductors, directors, performers, librettists, literary sources, cities and countries, operatic historians, and opera genres and terminology.

Now the cornerstone of Oxford Music Online, a subscription to Grove Music Online also includes The Oxford Companion to Music (2002), which offers more than 8,000 articles on composers, performers, conductors, individual works, instruments and notation, forms and genres; The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Second Edition, Revised (2006) will similarly supplement Grove's more extensive coverage with content geared toward undergraduates and general users. In addition, a robust, new linking program features improved and expanded links to sound examples via partnerships with Classical Music Library and DRAM, as well as links to the RILM database of music bibliography. Grove Music Online articles also feature biographical linking to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography for mutual subscribers to both, and a host of tools and resources, including timelines and topical guides.

Library Adds Early American Books to Catalog

During the winter break, Baron-Forness Library added over 36,000 records to PILOT, the library’s online catalog, for its collection of the microform version of “Early American Imprints, First Series (Evans) 1639-1800.” This collection contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America over a 160-year period. For decades, the collection has served as the definitive resource of information about every aspect of life in 17th- and 18th-century America, from agriculture and auctions through foreign affairs, diplomacy, literature, music, religion, the Revolutionary War, slavery, temperance, witchcraft and just about any other topic imaginable. Until now, however, they were difficult to identify and locate because they did not appear in PILOT.

Now, the Evans books will turn up in the results of a search in PILOT along with other library materials. To see examples of some of the titles available, perform a keyword search in PILOT for “British taxes” or for “Congress Philadelphia.” Records for the Evans books should appear at or near the top of the results. Because the Evans collection includes classic works from many fields, it should be especially useful to students taking courses in the history or literature of a discipline.

The books themselves are printed on opaque sheets and shelved in 132 boxes on the first floor of the library, next to the main stairwell. Each box holds several hundred books. Individual titles can be located by their “Evans number” which appears in the call number in PILOT and is printed on the sheet. The sheets require a microprint reader to view, which is located in the Microforms Room on the first floor. The equipment is not difficult to use, but if you have any problems locating or using the reader/printer, feel free to ask a member of the library faculty or staff.

Background

Charles Evans, a librarian and one of the founders of the American Library Association, set out in 1901 to create a comprehensive bibliography of American works, listing not just citations but also holdings at major academic and research libraries. His “American Bibliography,” completed after Evans’s death by Clifford K. Shipton, with a supplement by Roger Bristol, was published in 15 volumes from 1903 to 1970. This bibliography was acquired by university libraries, including Edinboro’s, to provide access to early American published works. Researchers using these bibliographies usually had to travel to the institutions holding the original works listed in them, or hope that they could obtain copies through interlibrary loan.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Readex Microprint Corporation reproduced in microform each of the works listed in Evans’s bibliography. They obtained originals from the libraries listed as holding copies, as well as from formerly-private collections of materials now housed in academic institutions in order to film them. The reproductions were compiled into the “Early American Imprints, First Series (Evans)” collection, which was purchased by the Edinboro University library, thereby providing in-house access to these works.

Indexing of these microform collections was originally provided through printed lists, guides and other finding aids, all of which operated outside of the library’s card catalog. Librarians accepted this system because adding tens of thousands of works to the card catalog was impracticable. Even if an ambitious library had wanted to do so, catalog records of the quality normally used were unavailable for these works.

In 1980, the American Antiquarian Society inaugurated its North American Imprints Program (NAIP). Envisioned in its broadest terms, NAIP's goal is to provide detailed bibliographical descriptions of and sophisticated access to materials published in the United States and Canada through 1876. Initially, the Program focused on books, pamphlets, and broadsides (but not newspapers, periodicals, or engraved matter) printed before 1801, whether held by AAS or by another institution. Since these works correspond closely with those listed by Evans in his “American Bibliography,” NAIP staff, with U.S. Department of Education funding, have created a full catalog of the Readex Microprint Corporation’s “Early American Imprints, First Series (Evans).”

The microform collection was purchased in the 1960s and 1970s, before the library had an online catalog like PILOT. At the time, cataloging major sets required producing printed cards. Typically four to ten cards per title were needed to allow for filing under author, title, and subject, plus one for inventory. The cost of producing, filing and maintaining cards for major sets of microforms, some of which contain tens of thousands of titles, was beyond the library’s capabilities.

With the implementation of online catalogs in the 1980s and 1990s, coupled with the retrospective cataloging of works in the canon of early American publishing, it became possible for the library to purchase a complete set of records for Evans from the American Antiquarian Society, and store them economically in the library’s electronic catalog database. The library obtained funding to pay for the records last year from part of a $50,000 grant from the Library Services and Technology Act awarded through the State Library of Pennsylvania.

Woman's History Month -- JANE AUSTEN: ONCE AND AGAIN

Baron-Forness Library will feature a Jane Austen exhibit commemorating Women’s History Month. The exhibit will run from March 12-31, and will be located on the second floor of the library next to the multimedia computer lab. The exhibit will feature portraits of Jane Austen, focus on the Regency era and investigate the timeless appeal of her writing which is enjoying a resurgence of public interest. Lora Whitney coordinated this exhibit.

Jane Austen’s novels have enjoyed wide popularity since they were originally published in the early 1800’s. There has been renewed public interest in the works of Jane Austen since A&E aired its lavish version of Pride and Prejudice in 1996, starring Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennett and Colin Firth as Fitzwilliam Darcy. Last year PBS aired a series of Jane Austen movies. The 2006 remake of Pride and Prejudice starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden and the 2007 biographical movie Becoming Jane starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy capitalized on the success of other recent Austen movies including two versions of Emma, one starring Gwyneth Paltrow and one starring Kate Beckinsale, and Sense and Sensibility, starring Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson. These movies all sharpened the reading public’s appetite for more Austen-esque books and movies.

This rebirth of interest in the works of Jane Austen spawned a number of novels that are loosely based on the author’s works. Some modern authors have chosen to rewrite Austen’s works from a male character’s viewpoint. These novels often take the form of letters or diary entries. Other writers have chosen to move Austen’s characters forward in time by continuing their stories. Fictionalized accounts of Jane Austen’s life have been written and at least one author has written a series of Jane Austen mysteries, featuring Jane as a sleuth. Some writers have adapted Austen’s plots to contemporary times. A few authors have created heroines who time-travel back to Austen’s era in order to find their own Mr. Darcys. Examples of these Jane Austen read-alikes are featured in the exhibit.

Today travelers can enjoy Jane Austen-themed vacations. There are a number of Jane Austen societies worldwide, including major organizations in North America, Australia, and England and smaller regional groups that sponsor activities such as Regency Balls and picnics. The Edinboro University Women’s Association features a Jane Austen special interest group that meets periodically to investigate the culture, fashions, food, and history of the Regency era. For more information on this local JASIG, contact Eleanor Randall, x2783.

Related links:
www.jasa.net.au/
Jane Austen Society of Australia

http://www.pemberley.com/
The Republic of Pemberley

http://www.wemakehistory.com/
A Regency Era Primer

Mary Elizabeth (Lynch) Gray’s trip to Ireland

Mary Elizabeth (Lynch) Gray’s trip to Ireland
May 1986 -- Library Second floor, next to the computer lab.

In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day, Barry Gray, Technical Services Librarian, has prepared this display of souvenirs and memorabilia from a trip to Ireland he took with his parents, Robert and Mary Gray, and brother William Gray, in May 1986.

The objects in the display are from Mrs. Gray’s personal collection. They include many items hand made in Ireland.

Library 2nd Floor -- Chimera Book 6 -- March 30, 2009

The Chimera Club exhibit was prepared to remind students of the Chimera Book 6 release party to be held March 30, 2009.

Past issues and highlights of Chimera are displayed.

Weaving and Fiber Arts Exhibit in 2nd Floor Gallery in the Library

Weaving and Fiber Arts exhibit is on the 2nd floor gallery at the Baron Forness Library.

The Exhibit is sponsored by the Weaving and Fibers Club (A handful of students interested in promoting the arts in weaving and fiber which are being created on campus).

The art pieces are done by students in the current Weaving and Fiber classes taught in the Edinboro University Art Department. A majority of the pieces are from beginning level students, and a few from intermediate level. The technique is handloom weaving in both tapestry and pattern weave.