Music and culture : the information seeking behaviour and needs of academic ethnomusicologists in New Zealand

Abstract

During the International Symposium on Music Information Retrieval (2003), Anthony Seeger, the keynote speaker, noted that there are many ways to avoid 'ethnocentric' traps. Ethnomusicologists need to access more than just sounds; they need to retrieve musical and cultural data from any different traditions. Seeger (2003) suggested that ethnomusicologically trained librarians are crucial if these needs are to be met. However, many academic institutions are unable to run to such a luxury and there are very few ethnomusicologically trained librarians. Worse, ethnomusicology draws on expertise in several disciplines so its particular needs are often overlooked in collection development. This study investigates the needs and research strategies of ethnomusicologists in New Zealand. Fourteen were interviewed during January-March 2004. The data suggests a number of ways in which librarians and collection development managers can serve the needs of ethnomusicologists in their institutions. These include: sharing multidisciplinary databases among academic institutions, regular newsletters to keep library users up-to-date and training about copyright and ethical practice.