ACM DL99 - August 12, 1999 VARIATIONS A Digital Music Library System at Indiana University Jon W. Dunn Constance A. Mayer

ACM DL99 - August 12, 1999

VARIATIONSA Digital Music Library System at

Indiana University

Jon W. Dunn

Constance A. Mayer


VARIATIONS: Introduction• Digital library of music sound recordings

• Developed in conjunction with design of a new physical music library facility; access currently limited to that facility

• Used daily by large student population– New way of providing access to a basic music

library function (listening reserves)

• Online since 1996


Outline of talk

• Background

• Access scenarios

• Technical implementation

• User experiences

• Conclusions, future work


Context• Other audio-based music library efforts

– JUKEBOX (EC), PATRON (Surrey, UK)– E-Reserves: Berkeley, Wisconsin, Columbia, UCSD,

Virginia, ...

• Other music library projects– Sheet music: Johns Hopkins, Duke, LC, Berkeley,

UNC-CH– Encoding: CCARH - Stanford– Notation search/analysis: NZDL, HUMDRUM, ...


Context

• Indiana University School of Music– Largest in US: 1600 students, 140 faculty– strong academic and performance programs

• Cook Music Library– Collection in top 5 in US

• 320,000 cataloged print items

• 130,000 cataloged sound recordings

– Very high usage, circulation


Background

• Burroughs and Fenske, 1990

• VARIATIONS Name– Theme and Variations– Variety of information formats for music

• Networked access for the music student or scholar to sound recordings, scores, textual materials, video recordings


Focus on audio

• High demand portion of collection– Circulation of over 5500/month from closed

stacks

• Fragile formats

• Lack of previous work; uniqueness


Focus on audio reserves• Half of sound recording use from reserves• Problems with existing practices

– Cassette tape dubs, analog distribution systems

• Concentrated use of a few items at any given time• Pilot online in April 1996, more in Fall

– Currently: 5500 titles, 6600 hours of audio– Opera, songs, instrumental music, jazz, rock, world

music


Access scenarios

• Course reserve

• Catalog


VARIATIONS Player


Why use existing catalog?

• Physical items already MARC-cataloged in NOTIS online catalog system

• Users familiar with search strategies

• Search method independent of whether item is available physically or electronically


Disadvantages of using catalog

• Varying levels of detail in individual records; arrangement of information sometimes confusing

• Search strategies often confusing to the novice

• Lack of functionality in Web/Z39.50 interface in NOTIS


Technical implementation

• Strategies– Integrate rather than develop– Use off-the-shelf hardware and software– Sustainability– Single technology vendor for emerging

technologies (IBM)


Audio capture

• Performed in-house• Variety of source formats

– LP, reel-to-reel, cassette, DAT, CD

• Hardware: PC, sound card, CD-ROM drive• Software: Sound Forge, Disc-to-Disk• Format: WAV, 44.1 kHz 16-bit stereo• Track timings and names recorded by

technician


Processing

• CD-quality WAV files compressed to MPEG-1 layer 2 (near CD-quality)– 1.4 Mbps 384 kbps

• Track timing information stored in “metadata file”


Information architecture

MARC bib. recordAAT9025

Metadata fileAAT9025

Sound fileAAT9025A

Sound fileAAT9025B

Sound fileAAT9025C


Metadata

• Descriptive– MARC record (composer, title, performer,

subject headings, …)

• Structural– Metadata file (track names and timings)

• Administrative– Metadata file (date digitized, file format,

equipment used, copyright notice, …)


MARC RecordBM FMT M RT j BL m T/C DT 01/28/91 R/DT 10/08/98 STAT nm E/L DCF a D/S D SRC d PLACE nyu LANG MOD T/AUD REPRO D/CODE p DT/1 1987 DT/2 1986 F/COMP mu SCORE n A/MAT ehi L/TEXT 007 GMD s SMD d O/R ? SP f SND s GRV n DIM g WID n TAPE n TYPE m MAT l CUT n R/CH e C/ST d

024/1:1 : |a 7559791442 028/1:03: |a 79144-2 |b Elektra Nonesuch 028/2:00: |a 9 79144-2 |b Elektra Nonesuch 033/1:0 : |a 198611-- |b 4364 |c S5 035/1: : |a (OCoLC)ocm19236651 040: : |a YUU |c YUU |d CPL |d OCL |d IUL 045:1 : |b d1985 |b d1973 |b d19800103 047: : |a df |a hy 048/1: : |a oa 099/1: : |a CD |a .A214 |a Ge 100:10: |a Adams, John, |d 1947- 240:10: |a Orchestra music. |k Selections 245:14: |a The Chairman dances : |b foxtrot for orchestra ; Christian zeal andactivity ; Two fanfares for orchestra ; Common tones in simple time |h <soundrecording> / |c John Adams. 260:0 : |a New York, N.Y. : |b Elektra Nonesuch, |c p1987. 300/1: : |a 1 sound disc : |b digital ; |c 4 3/4 in. 306: : |a 001227 |a 001000 |a 000411 |a 000413 |a 002037 500/1: : |a Elektra Nonesuch: 79144-2 (on container: 9 79144-2). 500/2: : |a The 2nd work based on the hymn Onward Christian soldiers.


MARC Record511/3:0 : |a San Francisco Symphony ; Edo de Waart, conductor. 518/4: : |a Recorded Nov. 1986, at Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco. 500/5: : |a Compact disc. 500/6: : |a Durations: 12:27; 10:00; 4:11; 4:13; 20:37. 500/7: : |a Program notes by Michael Steinberg (<8> p.) inserted in container. 505/8:2 : |a Two fanfares for orchestra. Tromba lontana ; Short ride in a fastmachine. 650/1: 0: |a Orchestral music. 600/2:10: |a Mao, Tse-tung, |d 1893-1976 |x Songs and music. 650/3: 0: |a Fox trots. 650/4: 0: |a Hymns |x Instrumental settings. 650/5: 0: |a Fanfares. 650/6: 0: |a Dance orchestra music. 700/1:10: |a Waart, Edo de. |4 cnd 700/2:12: |a Adams, John, |d 1947- |t Chairman dances. 700/3:12: |a Adams, John, |d 1947- |t American standard. |p Christian zeal andactivity. 700/4:12: |a Adams, John, |d 1947- |t Tromba lontana. 700/5:12: |a Adams, John, |d 1947- |t Short ride in a fast machine. 710/7:20: |a San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. |4 prf 740/8:01: |a Christian zeal and activity. 740/9:01: |a Common tones in simple time. 740/10:01: |a Tromba lontana. 740/11:01: |a Short ride in a fast machine. 856/1:7 : |u http://www.music.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/var/access?ABE7278 |2 http


Metadata file# ABE7278A CWB 1-12-95

Author=Adams, John, 1947-Title=<Orchestra music. Selections>Equipment=D2DMediaType=Audio

[Track 1]TrackTitle=Adams, The Chairman Dances (Foxtrot for Orchestra)Offset=0

[Track 2]TrackTitle=Adams, Christian Zeal and ActivityOffset=750774

[Track 3]WorkTitle=Adams, Two Fanfares for OrchestraTrackTitle=Tromba lontanaOffset=1362601

[Track 4]TrackTitle=Short Ride in a Fast MachineOffset=1619040

...


Content storage

• Two levels:– Archive server

• IBM RS/6000 server, 3494 automated tape library, two 3590 drives (5 TB capacity)

• IBM ADSM storage management software

– Playback server• IBM RS/6000 server, 130GB disk

• Multimedia Server for AIX (initially): NFS

• IBM VideoCharger (now): RTP/RTSP streaming

VideoCharger

Playback server

Player

Web server

Client

Browser

Content access

Archive server(ADSM)

VRS

VideoCharger

Playback server

Player

Web server

Client

Browser

Content access


Performance

• May 1, 1998 - May 1, 1999:– Playback server cache hit rate: 83%– Mean time for retrieval of file from archive:

3 minutes


Client• Hardware

– Pentium PC, sound card (ideally a good one!)– ATM or Switched Ethernet

• Software– Standard web browser– MPEG decoder (e.g. MS DirectShow)– VARIATIONS Player helper application

• Visual C++, VideoCharger or QuickTime 4 API for streaming access


User reaction

• Usage statistics

• Feedback via web form, informal comments by students and faculty and observations by library staff


Usage statistics

Reserve Sound RecordingCirculation

General Collection SoundRecording Circulation

VARIATIONS PlayerLaunches

July-Dec. 1995 16000 16875 0Jan.-June 1996 18782 12345 6028July-Dec. 1996 7289 14882 53719Jan.-June 1997 9024 13663 55905July-Dec. 1997 4241 15087 80144Jan.-June 1998 4722 13395 81941July-Dec. 1998 4797 13235 89690Jan.-June 1999 3843 11232 101696


Usage statistics

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

July-Dec.1995

Jan.-June1996

July-Dec.1996

Jan.-June1997

July-Dec.1997

Jan.-June1998

July-Dec.1998

Jan.-June1999

Reserve SoundRecording Circulation

General CollectionSound RecordingCirculation

VARIATIONS PlayerLaunches


Usage statistics

• Average use per day: ~400 player launches, over 6000/day during exams


Feedback

• Most common: problem reports on specific files or computers

• Desire for expanded access


Future work

• Expand data formats:– Liner note images, score images, score notation

files, MIDI files, video– Score image pilot currently in progress

• Integration of content-based search tools

• Standards for music metadata

• Access to content by applications


Future work

• Expand access– Other locations on campus

• faculty offices, computer labs, dorm rooms, etc.

– Off-campus– Other institutions - Internet2

• Resource sharing, distributed collections, ILL


Future work

• Intellectual property– Fair use and other copyright exceptions– Licensing– Complexity of music copyright

• Multiple rights holders and collectives

– Technical facilities for complying with exceptions or license terms


More information

• VARIATIONS home page– http://www.music.indiana.edu/variations/

• E-mail:– Jon Dunn: [email protected]– Connie Mayer: [email protected]

Documents

ACM DL99 - August 12, 1999 VARIATIONS A Digital Music Library System at Indiana University Jon W. Dunn Constance A. Mayer