Music in the Devotional Lives of the Birgittine Brothers and Sisters at Vadstena Abbey (c. 1373 – c. 1545)

This dissertation examines the unique musical culture of Vadstena Abbey, the Swedish double monastic house (both brothers and sisters) of the Birgittine Order, and uses traditions associated with this culture to begin filling several holes in medieval musicology, medieval studies, and studies of gender in the Middle Ages. I present new details about the chant traditions of a late-medieval, double monastic order, discussing the relationships among music, saints, symbolism, and gender identities. I answer questions about how the Birgittines took symbolic identities for saints and constructed liturgies to elaborate on this symbolism, and how gender identities were created and sustained by women and men in a cloister. Careful detective work with processionals and choir directories has revealed a rich and vibrant world of Birgittine liturgical practice that resounded in the spaces of Vadstena Abbey church throughout the late fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. This dissertation is divided into three parts: Chapter 1 presents an overview of the central foci for this dissertation: gendered organization of Vadstena Abbey as a double monastery, the different texts that explain Birgittine liturgical practices (not only Birgitta’s revelations, but also the customaries, ordinals, and a devotional treatise), and the four women central to Birgittine devotional practice (the Virgin Mary, St. Anne (mother of Mary), St. Birgitta, and Katarina (Birgitta’s daughter, venerated locally in Sweden but not officially canonized, also first abbess of Vadstena Abbey). Part 2 comprises Chapters 2 and 3, which deal with specific parts of devotional life, namely the architecture of the abbey church and liturgical manuscript production (studied with paleographic and codicological lenses), and their relationship to the liturgy and social organization at Vadstena. Part 3 comprises Chapters 4 and 5, which feature examinations of specific Birgittine feast day liturgies. Chapter 4 is a case study about the multisensory devotional landscape of Stabat Virgo dolorosa, the Swedish office for the Compassion of Mary. Chapter 5 is a survey of processions; processional chants for the Virgin Mary, St. Anne, St. Birgitta, and Katarina serve as the musical objects of study. Together, Chapters 4 and 5 examine devotional networks created by the Birgittine brothers and sisters at Vadstena Abbey

Acquisition, Cataloging and Discovery of Streaming Video

Michelle Urberg, Kelley McGrath, and Morag Stewart presented on the outcomes of their OLAC research grant project. Their project aims to improve access and discovery of streaming video content by improving cataloging practices and vendor education, as well as accounting for what various discovery layers and catalogs require for batch ingestion of MARC records and holdings data. Their presentation focused on a preliminary summary of results from two surveys on streaming media, one oriented around acquisitions and cataloging and the other one around discovery, to learn more about what would improve discovery/findability of streaming media by end users

An international, multistakeholder survey about metadata awareness, knowledge, and use in scholarly communications

The Metadata 2020 initiative is an ongoing effort to bring various scholarly communications stakeholder groups together to promote principles and standards of practice to improve the quality of metadata. To understand the perspectives and practices regarding metadata of the main stakeholder groups (librarians, publishers, researchers, and repository managers), we conducted a survey during summer 2019. The survey content was generated by representatives from the stakeholder groups. A link to an online survey (17 or 18 questions depending on the group) was distributed through multiple social media, listserv, and blog outlets. Responses were anonymous, with an optional entry for names and email addresses for those who were willing to be contacted later. Complete responses (N = 211; 87 librarians, 27 publishers, 48 repository managers, and 49 researchers) representing 23 countries on four continents were analyzed and summarized for thematic content and ranking of awareness and practices. Across the stakeholder groups, the level of awareness and usage of metadata methods and practices was highly variable. Clear gaps across the groups point to the need for consolidation of schema and practices, as well as broad educational efforts to increase knowledge and implementation of metadata in scholarly communications

Lightning Talks and Research Grant Entire Program Video

This video contains multiple presentations from the Lightning Talks and the OLAC Research Grant presentation. Lightning Talks include: Rowena Griem: Locally Hosted Streaming Video Project at Yale University Library (time approx. 00:14:30), Kyla Jemison: Looking at Metadata in Digital Sheet Music Platforms (time approx. 00:24:20), Nicole Lewis: Online Exhibits: A Call for Cataloging Guidelines (time approx. 00:31:53), Amanda Mack: Challenges Cataloging Local News: The KTLA Tom Bradley Project (time approx. 00:39:41), and Adrian Williams: Cataloging Streaming Video at UK Libraries (time approx. 00:47:16). OLAC Research Grant presentation speakers are Michelle Urberg, Kelley McGrath and Morag Stewart, and the presentation is titled Acquisition, Cataloging and Discovery of Streaming Video. This presentation begins at time approx. 01:06:05

Metadata 2020 Workathon Proceedings - Sept 2019

Metadata 2020 have been thinking about how to spend the time during 2020 to ensure that our efforts result in the greatest impact possible. In reviewing our midpoint outputs, we recognized that a key piece that often is missing in the Scholarly Communications Metadata discussion is the change management activities necessary to ensure sustained action toward richer metadata. We feel that effective work here is essential to spur investment and evolved and widespread improved perspectives for metadata. On September 18-19, 2019, we held a Workathon workshop with key contributors to Metadata 2020 to discuss strategies and tactics for catalyzing this action. This paper provides the results of these discussio