Erik Ljungqvist, University College of Opera, Stockholm

The aim of the project

The project's aim was to create a well-equipped library and archive for education at bachelor's, master's and research levels within the field of opera.

Until now Operahögskolan i Stockholm (OHS), the University College of Opera, lacked a well equipped library containing a sufficiently large collection of vocal scores for daily use by staff and students as well as books on opera. In recent years therefore the College has been unable to offer teaching based on a repertoire broad enough for opera education of a high quality.

The archive consisted of an miscellaneous collection of audio and video tapes of student showings, concerts and final performances from the 1970's onwards. It was necessary to catalogue these and transfer them to an easily accessible standard system.

The result of the project

Since OHS did not receive the whole of the grant applied for, it was decided to concentrate on building up the library's infrastructure. Priority was given to the purchase of musical scores. The College will now need to apply for funds to acquire a wider collection of books. All material currently held in the library and the archive was thoroughly examined. Books and scores in good condition were kept for the new library, the rest were either offered to staff and students or discarded, depending on their condition. Over many years the College has received donations for the library. A policy for dealing with further potential donations was established as a bi-product of this part of the work. Material belonging to other institutions was returned to its rightful owners.

The examination of the books and music that made up the College's existing collection showed that there were large gaps in different areas of the repertoire.

The number of musical scores has been increased by approximately 82 vocal scores, 112 volumes of lieder and songs, and a small collection of orchestral scores. Most scores are only available as paperbacks and so the cost of binding had to be added to the purchase price. An experienced bookbinder transformed the flimsy paperbacks into strong, easily openable volumes, that fit well on both library shelf and music stand.

The library now also includes a reference section with a collection of vocal scores, successfully meeting the demands of teacher and student, as well as a smaller loan section. In addition there is a duplicate reference section for the use of teachers, kept in a small room next to the studios. In this way both staff and students have constant access to relevant study material.

New and secondhand books on and around the subject of opera were acquired from both Sweden and abroad.

Micromarc, from Bibliotekscentrum in Växjö, was chosen as the computerised library system. It consists of modules for different uses within a library, of which OHS has three: catalogue, circulation, and self-service. Two computers were bought: one is used exclusively for self-service borrowing, the other for the work of the librarian (cataloguing etc.) Two book trolleys were purchased, and the existing library shelving adapted and extended.

All books and the vast majority of musical scores have now been catalogued and equipped with library barcodes etc. They can now be searched for by the College's staff and students in the open access catalogue accessible from the College's homepage. The Swedish SAB classification system is in use both in the catalogue and on the library shelves. The College's staff and students are entrusted with the use of the library 18 hours a day, 7 days a week.

As far as the archive is concerned, the oldest VCR tapes were sent away for transfer onto DVD. Many of the College's collection of VHS tapes of showings and performances up to around 2000 have also now been transferred to DVD. Special equipment was purchased for this purpose and the work can be carried out by the College's own staff.

In preparation for the brochure which was put together for the OHS 40th anniversary in September 2008, the Colleges's entire collection of photographs was ordered by year and production. These will now be put in suitable envelope files. A retired member of staff helped to identify the students in some of the photographs.

Unforseen technical and methodological problems

A security system was part of the the original plan for the library, the idea being to make daily borrowing simpler and safer. Systems with alarm gates were investigated, but later abandoned for both practical and financial reasons. For the time being the library is unmanned: borrowing and return of books takes place on the principle that everyone feel a mutual responsibility for the library. Teachers and students have been taught the structure of the library and how they should use the catalogue to search for, borrow and return material. One teacher at the College is in overall charge of seeing that the library works as it should.

The older VCR and VHS recordings turned out to be of varying quality, and in several cases this is apparent in the transfers. This material was however judged to be of value for possible future research.

Integration with OHS and how the work will be continued

A library consultant was appointed and an librarian employed. The librarian carried out the work in conjunction with the Professor of Musical Studies and the Head of Administration. The College's Production Manager was responsible for the work on the archive.

In the future the College will employ a librarian several hours a month to keep the library in good order, purchase and catalogue new material, and deal with any problems that may possibly emerge.

There is still much to be done on the audio and video tapes in the archive. More of the older VHS tapes will be transferred to DVD and catalogued. The College is now preparing a plan of action for this work.

The quality of what the College has to offer has been greatly improved by the extension and strengthening of its library and archive. This is already apparent in the students' and teachers' increased use of musical scores and books as study material. In the future it may even lead to the development of opera as an art form.

Generation of research topics

Both the library and the archive will be of great use to those wishing to research in the field of opera. When it is fully built up and organised the archive will present an extremely clear picture of the College's activity over the past 40 years. In doing so the archive will also bear witness to an important chapter in Swedish opera history during the latter part of the 20th century, since the majority of the most successful Swedish opera singers were taught at OHS by many of the country's most outstanding opera pedagogues.

Availability of information about the result of the project

As mentioned above, the catalogue can now be searched via the College's homepage. Students are given information about the structure of the library and taught how the catalogue should be used. Each new intake of students will take part in a special course of library training.