PERFORMING
ARTS INFORMATION PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES
The
quest for performing arts information standards
United
States projects and initiatives
European
projects and initiatives
Australian
projects and initiatives
AUSTRALIAN PROJECTS AND INITIATIVES
In Australia, work has been
largely confined to database efforts within collecting institutions and other
organisations, although the National Library of Australia and Australian
Museums Online both operate union catalogues or distributed database services
which lead to performing arts information and materials in Australian
libraries and museums. Collaborative projects like the National Networked
Facility for Research in Australian Music and Keep Dancing have consolidated
research interests in the field of music and dance.
Australia Council
The Council
has initiated a number of projects in recent decades: These include:
Directory of Arts Libraries and Resource
Collections in Australia. edited by Sue Maddress [North Sydney: Australia
Council, 1983]. Published as the result of a recommendation made at a national seminar
on arts information in Australia, organised by the Museums, Arts and
Humanities Group. Now out
of date, but may serve as some sort of model for an electronic gateway and
tool for identifying potential resources.
Artsdoc. An electronic database of
arts names and topics linked to the Australia Council’s press clippings file
in the 1980s and made available commercially on CD ROM by RMIT. Eventually
folded because of low levels of interest and lack of funds for maintenance and
development. Its possible use as the starting point for an authority file is
debateable.
Technology and the arts.
In 1999, the
Council planned to conduct a national survey on the use of technology by arts
organisations. It this is still in the pipeline it may be desirable to
dovetail ATDP’s current and/or future survey work with the Australia
Council’s agenda.
Sydney Opera House
Dennis Wolanski Library of the Performing Arts.
Developed an integrated
database/imaging system using Altarama’s Data*Library system and Watermark
Document Management system. The project, implemented prior to the closure of
the library in 1997, involved the creation of imaging procedures, data entry
guidelines and other documentation for describing a full range of
bibliographic and non-bibliographic resources [eg event descriptions].
The Wolanski Foundation
Established following the
closure of the Dennis Wolanski Library to facilitate management, presentation
and appreciation of the performing arts through research, publishing and
industry support programs. Its research interests include exploring strategic
performing arts management issues such as the role and potential of
professional associations and non-government organisations and the development
of standards and information tools.
Other specialist
performing arts libraries and museum.
Separate surveys on
automation in Australian and NSW collections were conducted by Paul Bentley in
1996 and 1998. These sought information on practices in such organisations as
the Adelaide Festival Centre, Queensland Performing Arts Museum and Gladys
Moncrieff Library of the Performing Arts and the Victorian Arts Centre
Performing Arts Museum, as well as general libraries with performing arts
interests. Since the ATDP will assemble current information on collections,
software, hardware and practices in these institutions, the earlier surveys
are of academic interests only.
Artslink
With funding
from the Australia Council, Artslink launched a website in 1998 to provide
access to information on about 20,000 organisations in the Australian
Performing Arts Directory and other sources. The site closed in 1999, but
appears to be again under construction. Artslink acquired the collection of the
International Theatre Institute Australian Centre in the early 1990s.
National Networked Facility for Resources in
Australian Music
A network of music libraries and other
organisations including the Australian National University, Monash University,
Australian Music Centre, La Trobe University, National Library of Australia
and ScreenSound Australia. Its website provides an annotated guide to music
collections, archives, libraries and museums, people, publications and
resources such as ephemera, film and moving images, manuscripts, newspapers,
oral history, pictures, printed material, sound recordings and unpublished
material
Keep Dancing
A
joint venture of the ScreenSound Australia, the National Library of Australia
and Ausdance. Funded by the Australia Council, the Project aims to locate,
preserve and make accessible film and video examples of the work of some of
Australia's leading choreographers and to link moving images with related
dance resources in other media, especially extensive dance material held by
the National Library of Australia.
OTHER RELEVANT
AUSTRALIAN BODIES AND
INITIATIVES
Department of
Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and Cultural Ministers
Council.
Has broad responsibility for
Government policy and strategy on culture and technology, particularly through
the New Technologies Working Party. The National Culture-Leisure Industry
Statistical Framework, published by the Cultural Ministers Council to improve
industry statistics and analysis, may be relevant in developing categories and
codes for event information.
COMDIG
Provides an expert group
forum to explore issues on metadata and database interoperability
issues; encourage interagency collaboration on project
development; plan cross-agency implementation models for online access
to cultural content; implement common core standards across COMDIG member
databases where possible; act as a steering committee for developing cultural
sector projects; provide expert
advice on pertinent issues to industry and other government steering
committees and working parties; and liaise with relevant national and
international organisations.
A joint venture, supported by
the Australian Government's Cooperative Research Centres Program and over 24
participating organisations, which undertakes research, develops software, and
provides training and professional consulting services, particularly in
relation to workflow, CORBA, Java, XML, distributed object middleware,
Internet systems, knowledge management, metadata, collaborative computing,
groupware, security and network infrastructure. Lead organisation for the
Metaweb project.
-
DSTC Website: http://www.dstc.edu.au.
-
Australian MetaWeb
Project:
http://www.dstc.edu.au/Research/Projects/metaweb/
-
Other
information: Distributed searching across cultural resources
using Z39.50 and SQL: a powerful combination / Sanya M Finnegan, Linda J.
Bird and Robert M Colomb, Available from the Information Online and On Disc
website at: <http://www.csu.edu.au/special/online99>
Australian Museums Online
Apart from AMOL’s experience in developing a distributed database of museum
objects, options being considered for the future operation of the organisation
may have relevance to the long-term sustainability of the ATDP.
-
Website: <http:www.amol.org.au>
-
Report
details: Dench McLean Pty Ltd. Assessment of the options for
the future operation of the AMOL project: Discusses the pros and cons of
managing Australian Museums Online as a cooperative, association, joint
venture, partnership pr trust. April 2000. [Available from AMOL website]
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