By Geri Laudati
Students enrolled in any of ten music history or appreciation courses this fall may do their course related listening and score study through the world wide web.
The project, funded in large part by a grant from DoIT, permits students to listen to recordings and to view scores from computer lab and office locations on campus, and from home. It was designed to accommodate those students for whom Music Library hours were insufficient and to replace the multiple station listening facility in use at Mills since 1974.
After successful pilot programs during the May intersession and summer semesters, the project went into full production for the fall semester. Peg Brown, newly appointed as Access and Digital Services Librarian, and student assistant Morgan Luker, worked tirelessly to create sound and image files and course web pages. Steve Daggett and the GLS Automation Department installed the Music Library server and will endeavor to keep it stable.
While we have experienced the inevitable problems associated with implementation of any new service of this scope, we are particularly pleased with the quality of campus access to reserves, which was our original goal. Students who choose to access the course reserves from home have had mixed success due to conditions out of our control, namely the speed at which large musical selections can be delivered via modem. We are optimistic that the new modem pool to be installed by campus this fall may resolve this problem.
You can see and hear the Electronic Reserves at the Mills Music Library's web site. For additional information or to discuss the possibility of including one of your courses, please contact Peg Brown.