BCC01/MTP/2

Music Thesaurus Project Advisory Task Force

and

Music Thesaurus Project Form/Genre Terminology Working Group
2001 Annual Report

            Task Force Members: Mark McKnight (chair), Harriette Hemmasi, Jerry McBride, J. Bradford Young, Sharon McKinley (LC Representative)

            Working Group Members: Harriette Hemmasi (chair), Ralph Hartsock, Jerry McBride, J. Bradford Young

            The Task Force is charged to advise and support the work of the Music Thesaurus Project (MTP). The Form/Genre Working Group was formed to assist the director of the Music Thesaurus Project, Harriette Hemmasi, in identifying and researching form/genre terms in LC music headings for inclusion in the music thesaurus. The groups held two joint meetings in New York. During the business meeting the Working Group discussed details of their project to identify form/genre terms extracted from Music Subject Headings Compiled from Library of Congress Subject Headings. Members had divided this list among themselves and created worksheets for each heading. During the meeting they presented problems they had encountered, such as trying to determine bound terms, qualifiers, and headings that consist of medium of performance. Some very definite possibilities for practical application of this project were mentioned by Harriette Hemmasi. It was decided that the Working Group could complete its work in the coming year and then be discharged, whereupon the next phase of the Music Thesaurus Project would then be begun. 

The open meeting drew a large and interested audience. Ms. Hemmasi related an outline of the group’s charge and an update on the work of the group to date. She also announced that she would be participating in the Indiana University Digital Music Library Project and that a music thesaurus would conceivably serve an important function in effective retrieval for music in a web-based environment. Web-based thesaurus software has now been developed, and Ms. Hemmasi plans to test the applicability of this software to music terms. 

Finally, following the sad and untimely death of Task Force member Phillip De Sellem last year, the Library of Congress has appointed as its representative to the group Sharon McKinley. We look forward to her participation in the group.

Submitted by Mark McKnight

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Last updated June 15, 2002