Backstage – Discovering Performing Arts Resources
Claire Hudson
Theatre Museum, London (United Kingdom)
Les collections des arts du spectacle et leur traitement
Performing Arts Collections and their Treatment
24ème Congrès International
24st International Conference
Rome, 2-7 septembre 2002
Rome, September 2-7, 2002
Abstract
The Backstage Project is a major collaborative intiative which has
united performing arts libraries in the UK, with the objective of making research
materials more easily accessible to the research community.
The project was initiated in 1999 when a group of UK libraries discussed the potential for
developing a national database to serve the performing arts subject area. Shortly after
this, a group of 11 universities was successful in its bid for funding from the Research
Support Libraries Programme. The Theatre Museum has been involved from the beginning of
the project, although it did not receive funding to enable its more active participation
in the scheme until 2001.
The project is designed to provide a single point of entry for searching performing arts
collections in the UK. It is aimed at the research community, plus anyone with an interest
in the performing arts.
This improved access will be achieved by:
- Surveying all UK libraries, archives and other organisations which hold any relevant
material and compiling an online directory of research holdings in the performing arts.
- Encouraging these organisations to submit collection level descriptions for all their
special collections, thus providing researchers with a means of locating relevant
material. The project has implemented a new national standard for creating collection
level descriptions which will ensure the use of a consistent structure across all
participating organisations. Terminology too is controlled, thus facilitating searching of
the database by the end user.
- Converting the catalogues of existing specialist performing arts collections into
electronic format, in order to develop a national performing arts database, allowing
cross-searching at item level. The Item Level Catalogue will be based on the ISAD(G)
international standard for archival description.
- Developing a Web to Z39.50 gateway as a single point of entry for searching both item
and collection databases
- Developing a national structure using recognised standards to form the basis of future
work.
The project will be completed in the Autumn of 2002, and the user
search facilities will be available on www.backstage.ac.uk from June 2002. Backstage has
provided an excellent opportunity for libraries from different sectors (national, public
and academic libraries) to work together to produce a service of real benefit to the
research community.
The paper will look at the organisation of the project, its problems and achievements, and
will address the future development of the Backstage initiative.
Claire Hudson, c.hudson@vam.ac.uk
Theatre Museum, 1E Tavistock Street, London WC2E 7PR
Tel: 00 44 207 943 4720
Fax: 00 44 207 943 4777
24th Congress
URL:
http://www.sibmas.org/congresses/sibmas2002/Rome10.htm
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