HSML Holiday Happenings

Well, actually this is a holiday competition, but that doesn't start with an H, right?

This is a story with photos, so sit back and enjoy...

Once upon a time we had a couple of creative student employees, H David:

And Amanda:

It all started rather innocently with a hat...on, well, this is it (it says "squeeze for service:):

We have this tradition of squeezing creatures for service (in case nobody is in sight at the desk - someone comes running when we hear the creature, most of the time) and we realized that for a while the sign has said squeeze the frog, when, in fact, it was a lizard.

Here is the old sign (a lovely work of art in and of itself, not sure whose, tho...notice the tongue ;-):

Anyway, H David created the hat above to serve as the "sign" and then that inspired Amanda to create this hat:

Hint: this is where the holidayness came in.

Both of these hats are impressive works of art and craft and I thought I'd do a little post on Facebook with them together like this:

A lovely pair, don't you think?  But... THEN... the plot thickens!! There is more!

Amanda added to the Reserve Squirrel Witch....an appropriate mode of transport:

Zoom! Now the witch has a broom!!! She is flying!!!

Way to up the ante.

So H David knew he had to enhance the lizard...and this is what he did!

He totally revamped the hat and added a magic wand and, voila! A Lizard Wizard!

(the pumpkin is a side story, but pertinent in a holidayish way)

SO, the verdict is that in this little HSML competition, it is a TIE. And it is also anticipatory of one of our favorite holidays...here they are together again (kinda) with the pumpkin:

And thank you, Amanda and H David!!

Now do we need a sign that says "Squeeze the Wizard Lizard?" Or is it a Lizard Wizard? We are pondering life's persistent questions here at the HSML!

Super Duper Student Employees! Celebrating their wonderfulness!!

In the Harold Schiffman Music Library we have been lucky to have some wonderful student employees. Check out the cool Pokemon cards that Evan O'Neal created for a display to celebrate his colleagues (and himself) this spring. Order is random...ish...

"Haydn Seek" the Second

We interrupt the approaching snowpocalypse for a musical mystery!

Time for another exciting "Haydn Seek" from Stacey Krim of the UNCG Special Collections, Cello Music Collection! You may remember that we shared one of these last semester and discovered...with the help of Zoltan Szabo (visiting cellist from Australia in residence last December) that the previous piece was NOT classical and perhaps a pedagogical tool used by Fritz Magg. 

Below find a quartet "Scherzo Divertissement" that...well...is a mystery.

See photos from the exhibit in the Harold Schiffman Music Library and scans of the piece below. Let the guessing (I mean educated speculation) begin! Contact Stacey - srkrim@uncg.edu - if you have ideas. Thanks (and thank you, Stacey)! Be safe out there, y'all!

New Semester, New Interface on Alexander Street Press

Happy New Semester! To celebrate our fresh new semester we're rolling out the fresh new look for Alexander Street Press (ASP).

Alexander Street Press has updated their interface. We are in the process of moving all of our links to the new links. The searching will still work either way, but if you want to use the new interface, just go to the Music Research Guide here: http://uncg.libguides.com/mus and go to the Audio/Video Recordings tab. Or just go straight to this page: http://search.alexanderstreet.com.libproxy.uncg.edu/music-performing-arts 

It is pretty user friendly, but just in case, here is a handy page of tutorials (on searching, making playlists and creating clips) made by Alexander Stree Press to help you with adjusting to the new interface: http://alexanderstreet.com/support-center/resources/alexander-street-press-video-tutorials

More information:

Here’s what you can experience in the first release:

•       Powerful faceted browsing capabilities: Browse content with “smart facets” that change as you search, allowing you quickly to find exactly what you’re looking for. It’s as if the interface knows what you’re asking.

•       A new video player and toolbar that lets you bookmark your place in a video, choose between multiple layouts; and bit-rate streaming that automatically adjusts to the highest quality file the user’s bandwidth can support. This is all in addition to the functionality you expect in Alexander Street video: thumbnails, visual table of contents, and clip and playlist creation.

•       A waveform view on our audio player pages that lets you view the music being played and create, annotate, and share audio clips.

•       Discipline- and genre-based landing pages with featured content and editorially-curated playlists.

•       The ability to translate every page, liner note, and transcript into dozens of languages using Google Translate.

•       Tools for exporting citations in MLA, Chicago, and APA formats.

And here’s what will be available on the new interface over the next year:

•       A dedicated smartphone app, in addition to the “send to mobile” tool you’re already using.

•       Outbound discovery—your Alexander Street content will link out to select Internet archives, greatly expanding the content available to your users at no charge, and all semantically indexed to make it cross-searchable with the other Alexander Street content.

•       Fully text-searchable liner notes displayed along select albums.

•       Most content within the music video products will have searchable, scrolling transcripts alongside the videos.

•       Dedicated learning object apps that let you:

◦       Develop online quizzes

◦       Create digital study guides

◦       Build timelines

Also, be aware that in our transitional time it might say “access denied,” the track might still play, so be sure to try listening before you give up. I’m sure that will be resolved soon. And let me know (sbdorsey@uncg.edu) if you have frustrations and we’ll get you connected asap! Thank you for your patience!