Google Books Copyright Lawsuit Settlement

A settlement has been reached between The Authors Guild and Google over the Google Books project, involving the scanning of books in research libraries. My colleague, Lynne Thomas, posted comments on her blog about this. See "Big news about Google Books."

Hard Times for Professional Music Organizations

According to Daniel J. Wakin's story, "Bracing for Bad Days, Operas and Orchestras Batten Down Hatches," in today's New York Times, professional music organizations are cutting back in response to our current financial crisis.

Olivier Messiaen Centennial Exhibit

If you are in the Music Library, please feel free to check out our exhibit on Olivier Messiaen. December 10, 2008, will mark the 100th birthday of the French composer. He enjoyed a reputation during his life as one of the major composers of the Twentieth Century, and this reputation continues.

If you would like to read more about Olivier Messiaen, please consult the article in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, available online:

Paul Griffiths. "Messiaen, Olivier." In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/18497 (accessed October 17, 2008).

You may also search for articles about Messiaen in the International Index to Music Periodicals, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, or The Music Index. Finally, our collection of books on Messiaen can be found by searching the NIU Library catalog for “messiaen, olivier” as a subject.

European journal rankings

My colleague, Jim Millhorn, alerted me to this list of humanities journals ranked by the European Science Foundation's European Reference Index for the Humanities. Music and Musicology is included as one of the categories.

Jim read about this in today's article "New Ratings of Humanities Journals Do More Than Rank — They Rankle" by Jennifer Howard in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Diversity in orchestras

The Sphinx Organization is actively promoting the recruitment of a more diverse personnel body in major orchestras. You can read about it in an article in the Chicago Tribune by John von Rhein: "Sphinx looks to change makeup of U.S. orchestras."

Thanks to Kirstin Dougan at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for posting a link to it on the blog "Notes from the Music and Performing Arts Library."

Naxos Music Library Trial

The Naxos Music Library trial will run through October 31. Please let me know what you think of the site!

Naxos Music Library Trial

If you are connected to our campus network and would like to try out Naxos Music Library, you can access the trial here: http://wpocso.naxosmusiclibrary.com/.

If we were to subscribe to this service, it would greatly extend the scope and reach of our sound recording collection. If you would like to comment on it, please send me an e-mail at mduffyiv_at_niu.edu.

Go to the Naxos Music Library Web site, if you would like to read more about it.

Interesting article on the state of classical music

I found this article by Leon Botstein in today's Wall Street Journal on the current state of classical music performance, linked from the Naxos Blog:

The Unsung Success of Live Classical Music.

I appreciate how Botstein challenges the idea that classical music is in decline. He presents several counterpoints to this idea that would make good reading for anyone aspiring to a career in classical music.

NPR's All Things Considered: interesting musical instruments

Here is an entertaining story of some unusual musical instruments as reported by Andrea Seabrook of NPR's All Things Considered: Homework: Odd Musical Instruments.

Good article on staying current

My colleague at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kirstin Dougan, wrote an informative article on staying current with news and developments in higher education, libraries, music and arts, and technology. I recommend it to anyone who would like some tips on where to begin.

Here is the citation:

Dougan, Kirstin. "Keeping Score (Keeping Up and Keeping Track)." Music Reference Services Quarterly 11, no. 2 (2008): 131-42.