Libraries risk losing music expertise as physical media returns

Dedicated music collections and the specialists who guide people through them are disappearing from libraries, even as interest in physical audio media grows, Aurora Ruus wrote in Sirp in an article republished by ERR.

Music lovers and the wider music sector face a paradox: physical audio media are making a comeback, not only in the United States or among K-pop fans, but also in Estonia among people interested in both newer and older domestic and foreign music.

Record shops and markets are appearing again, while more people are becoming interested in owning and collecting physical media. Unlike a bookshop, a record shop may bring together a specialist, enthusiast, curator and music guide in one person. The shop also serves as a meeting place for people with similar interests.

However, not everyone can afford to buy physical media or the equipment needed to play them. Some people may want to hear a recording only once without owning it, while others may be looking for music that is no longer available on the market or online in digital form.

As with books, music lovers can turn to a library, specifically its music department or phonotheque, a collection and service for recorded music. There, as in a carefully curated record shop, the shelves are accompanied by someone who knows the collection thoroughly.

Such a specialist understands music terminology, including terms such as opus and BWV, and knows about keys, orchestration, solo and choral scores, shellac records and vinyl records. They can navigate different periods and genres, work in music’s hybrid information environment, and use metadata to find the right recording from only abstract keywords. They can also help visitors use a turntable or other technical equipment.

Although the existence of a separate phonotheque or music room within a library may be obvious to specialists, less experienced music lovers may not know about them. Even less widely known is that phonotheques and music departments are quietly disappearing as separate structural units from libraries.

This does not necessarily mean that phonotheques and music rooms are being permanently closed, their collections digitised and the physical media discarded, although such changes have occurred elsewhere. Instead, institutional reorganisations are merging phonotheques with other library units or departments.

The record, sheet music and specialist literature collections may remain, but the dedicated physical and symbolic space can disappear, along with specialist staff, their expertise and their human presence. Ruus argues that the loss of valuable people from institutions is the greatest blow, because music culture and its development rely heavily on specialists and enthusiasts.

In other words, the service that has kept these collections alive is disappearing. The physical media may still stand passively on library shelves, but without people and expertise, the phonotheque loses its value as a carrier of cultural thought.