Members: Beth Flood, chair (2006), Janet Bradford (2009), Stacy Allison-Cassin (2006), Patty Falk (2007), Ralph Hartsock (2008), Marty Jenkins (2008), Brooke Lippy (2008), Nancy Lorimer (2009), Geraldine Ostrove (LC Representative), Carlos Peña (2009), Karen Peters (2009), Hermine Vermeij (2008), John Wagstaff (2006). 

Music Genre/Form Project 

Over the past year, the Subject Access Subcommittee (SAS) has worked with representatives from the Library of Congress to determine a timeline and workflow for the music genre/form project. In December, the Library of Congress released the document Timeline and Plan for the Next Five Library of Congress Genre/Form Projects (http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/genretimeline.pdf)  which set out an ambitious timeline for genre/form projects in music and four other disciplines (cartography, law, religion, and literature).  The SAS considered this document and a proposal from LC requesting collaboration from BCC and MLA and suggesting a course of action.  BCC responded with a counter-proposal following the annual MLA meeting, and work on the project began in earnest in March.  

The SAS members and guests at the SAS business meeting in Chicago discussed the benefits and drawbacks of a more faceted approach to music genre/form terms, and it appears the music genre/form project is moving in that general direction.  Those present also recommended the inclusion of medium of performance as another category that is essential to music access.  LC responded by adding this category to the project, though the final disposition of these terms is yet undetermined. 

In March, the MLA-BCC Music Genre/Form Task Force was formed, including several members of the SAS and members of other BCC subcommittees.  The task force created a wiki for its own work, as well as a public wiki for gathering comments and terms from MLA and others interested in music genre/form/medium access.  The public wiki may be found at: http://musicgenrepublicforum.pbworks.com/ 

It is expected that the SAS will be heavily involved in reviewing and commenting on LC’s genre, form and medium lists and in the evolving discussions on the public wiki.

SACO Music Funnel and World Music Subjects Wiki 

The other two SAS projects, the SACO Music Funnel and a wiki compiling resources for world music subject access, are still on the table, though not being actively pursued at the moment. 

Submitted by Beth Flood

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Last updated August 18, 2009