Perhaps, Matthew Arnold had a vision of computer users when he wrote: "Change doth unknit the tranquil strength of men." To many people, the rapid rate of change in the "Information Age" can be dizzying and annoying. For computer users, the seemingly endless software revisions, new interfaces, and changing websites can be irritating, to say the least. Just when we've mastered the current version of software, alone comes an update and everything changes.
Such persistent change is often a major source of frustration -- unless you are speaking about Music Index. With a grand sigh of relief, we are pleased to announce that Music Index now has a refreshingly new interface! Gone forever is that horribly misleading version that we all labored through for the past several years.
Music Index, the oldest and most venerable of all the indexes for music materials, has always had excellent content; no abstracts, no full text, just basic bibliographic citations and effective subject headings. It's been the music researcher's meat and potatoes for years, the print version dating from 1949. However, the previous electronic interface was often as much of a hindrance as it was a help in locating information.
Take a look at the new version. You'll feel much better about it. See the link on the Mills website at www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/Music/rescoll/indexes.htm or view it through the "Journal, Magazine, Newspapers" link from the UW Libraries website, www.library.wisc.edu.
Speaking of changing interfaces, the OCLC FirstSearch has a new look. This interface is used to access both WorldCat and RILM. Here we go again.
As always, Music Library staff are very willing to help you cope with this ever-changing electronic landscape. We will help you learn to use any electronic or print resource in the library's collections. There are many workshops offered for this purpose or we can work with you individually.