University of Louisville

University of Louisville School of Music

Why did you choose Avalon?

The Dwight Anderson Memorial Music Library supports the curriculum of the University of Louisville School of Music.  As such, we have a number of audio/visual collections in our holdings that we intend to share.  Avalon seems like an appropriate platform for a number of reasons.  First, we are pleased that it is tailored specifically for use with library content. Second, it appears to be sufficiently robust and flexible in providing access to audio/visual materials that we are culling from a variety of formats for digitization and streaming.  Finally, Avalon enables us to establish user authentication that can provide access at different levels, depending upon the content and its intended audience.  For example, some content requires more access restriction while we would like other materials to have open access.

What collections will be managed through Avalon?

Specifically, the initial content load we are preparing is comprised of the online audio reserve collection that instructors have asked us to post for their students.  The collection currently holds approximately 5,000 pieces and is slated to be online at the beginning of the Spring semester, starting January, 2015.  We will be most pleased to share the link(s) to the service once we are in production. 

 

Likewise, the Music Library is the repository for the School of Music recitals (faculty, student, and guest performers) which date to the early 1950’s.  We are in the process of digitizing parts of that collection and plan to have all of the collection available through Avalon in the future.  The collection comprises nearly 5,000 such recordings, with more being added on a continuous basis.  Additionally, we hold a number of School of Music related video recordings currently in analog format that we plan to digitize and post.  Lastly, we are always looking for ways to publicize and share special collections in our holdings.  Avalon may provide us with more options to that end.