NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 23 number 3 - Spring 2003

Music on Electronic Reserve at the NCSU Libraries

By Keith Morgan, Digital Library Initiatives

Until recently, any student who took a college or university course in music appreciation had much the same classroom requirements. Lectures would be accompanied by the playing of recorded music, and students would read and reflect on the assigned music. To review music first played in class, or to hear other musical compositions assigned as supplementary listening, the general method was to go to a library facility, either an audiovisual lab or reserves area, to listen to the music on headphones.

Technology has changed this aspect of study. Since the mid-1990s, the NCSU Libraries has offered Electronic Reserve Service for print, image, and textual materials. In February 2000 Department of Music professors Alison Arnold and Randolph Foy asked the Libraries whether providing access to musical compositions online was possible. After consultation among library staff from Public Services, the Scholarly Communication Center, and the Digital Library Initiatives Department, members of Digital Library Initiatives quickly moved to create a prototype service allowing students to access assigned musical files through the same digital system used for other print and electronic reserves.

From the Course Reserves Web page (http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/rbr/), students may enter either the course number or the name of their instructor. They are presented with a menu of reserve materials assigned to their course. From the variety of course reserve materials, generally journal articles, the student can also choose the option "Listen Online." Clicking on this link displays a page of various musical selections. Clicking on a selection begins to play the music. The files are provided in RealAudio format. To play the music, students must have RealPlayer software on their computers to begin the process of "streaming" the media to their computers. Streaming media plays as it downloads. The computer starts by buffering or storing up some of the file in advance and then plays the buffered material even as it continues to download the file from the network. The Libraries selected the RealAudio format because the player is freely available and works on all computer operating systems and because streaming audio does not give the listener a permanent copy of the file. Without the ability to reproduce or further disseminate the work, this online performance of a work for educational purposes is analogous to traditional classroom performances as allowed by copyright law.

The electronic-music reserves pages can display a composer's name and a link to a selection, as in the example below:

Debussy

Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faun

Or, the instructor can provide a brief annotation to the selection, as in this example:

• Kerala, South India (1' 48")
• Nambudiri Brahmin priests recite Sanskrit hymns from the Rig Veda, the most sacred of Hindu texts dating from the 1st millennium BC. Syllables are recited on three adjacent pitches: high, middle, and low.

So far, 596 students in several different music courses have used the electronic-music reserve service. Foy, director of Orchestral Activities at NC State, comments that with electronic access to music, "students are able to complete the listening assignments for music history and literature in a convenient manner that also cuts the expense of course materials. Test results show that they do indeed use the service, and they see it as much more convenient than having to go to the Media Center." Indeed, in all end-of-semester surveys completed by students in these classes, the advantages of being able to listen to their assignments at home or in their dorm rooms have been consistently noted. The Libraries' electronic-music reserve service is an excellent example of the library's ongoing collaboration with faculty in the digital environment, aimed at giving students easy access to learning resources in all formats.