The latest on our partner libraries, MUSICat, and Rabble
Check out Edmonton's blog post on their technical progress. As they say:
"This project is committed to open source development. Once the site is built, Rabble will open up all of the code we have developed together on GitHub making it accessible to all and keeping the public in digital public space."
At Rabble, we're super excited to begin a partnership with the Edmonton Public Library on the development of their digital local music project. The library has big plans for this project, which will include a crowd-sourced historical archive in addition to a collection of albums by contemporary musicians in Edmonton.
The library's goal is to celebrate Edmonton's musicians as well as the community that supports them. The project came out of a larger thought experiment at the library to imagine what a digital public space means and could be. Creating a public online space for the community - and supporting Edmonton's musicians in the process - resonates with the library's community-led philosophy which aims to "strengthen neighborhoods and communities by creating connections and understanding needs."
At Rabble, we're looking forward to working with librarians, developers, musicians, and other community leaders in Edmonton to build tools that realize the library's goals for their project. Stay tuned for more information as we head toward a spring 2015 launch!
Photo: A small concert at EPL by forester401 on flickr. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
In her latest blog post at the Library as Incubator Project, Kelly Hiser talks licensing, collection development policy, and technical details. The above photo of the super-happy (or, in the case of librarian Guy Hankel, super-cool) Yahara team was taken by Carolyn Fath from the Isthmus.
Our CEO, Kelly Hiser, gives an overview of YaharaMusic.org in her ongoing series of blog posts for the Library as Incubator Project. Kelly talks about her experience working on the project, creating a site the fosters active fandom, and growing a diverse collection that reflects the musical variety on offer in Madison.
Xconomy reporter Jeff Engel sez:
The Rabble is forming at a time when public libraries are dealing with people’s media consumption habits changing from paper books and plastic CDs to e-books and digital music. Austin doesn’t think those societal shifts signal the end of libraries. Instead, they’re evolving to add new services, while also getting back to their roots as a “community hub,” he says.
