I am pleased to announce that the changes to the OLAC Bylaws specified on the online ballot have passed. An official electronic ballot was sent to each current personal member. The deadline for casting votes was October 5, 2007. All 10 amendments to the OLAC Bylaws have been approved.

The position of OLAC Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator has become a full member of the Executive Board. I want to welcome Debbie Benrubi, OLAC Outreach/Advocacy Coordinator, to the Executive Board.

The Bylaws, which have been modified to distinguish between elected and appointed offices, now further clarify the term limits for appointed offices.

The Bylaws have been modified to include any form of standard, reliable balloting, including electronic.

Thanks to everyone who voted on the amendments!

In September 2007, the Library of Congress implemented the distribution of Genre authority records (x55 tags) and these records have been available for searching and/or browsing via the Connexion Cient (2.0) or Browser.

As explained in the September announcement, the x55 tagged authority records are also indexed in the LCSH index. An example of a newly added Genre authority record is sh2007025004 (ARN 7519072), Fiction films. Although the Genre index labels are not present in the authority searching or browsing dropdown lists in Client 1.7x, the genre indexes can be accessed via the command line. The index label for the genre index is "ge". An example of a search from the command line is: ge: films; an example of a browse search is sca ge: films.

Following the successful Connexion installation on December 9, 2007, catalogers who use the Connexion Browser can apply the "control" function for genre headings tagged 655, second indicator zero (0).

The ability to control these genre headings (tagged 655, second indicator 0) will be available in the 2.10 release of the Connexion Client, tentatively scheduled for release in late December 2007.

• If a heading is not tagged as a 655, second indicator 0, but the text matches an established heading in a genre authority record (i.e., Buddy films), a multi-control window will open rather than automatically changing the tag and controlling the heading.
• Likewise, if a heading is tagged as a 655, second indicator 0, but the text matches an established subject and/or name headings represented by one or multiple authority records (i.e., Baskets $z Ohio), a multi-control window will open rather than automatically changing the tag and controlling the heading.
• Genre headings tagged as 655, second indicator 0 will be included in a "Control All" command. If the tag/text of a correctly tagged genre heading matches an established genre authority record, the heading will be automatically controlled.

Reminder: At this time, SACO participants still have to wait to propose new headings.

Beginning later in December 2007, OCLC will begin loading additional records for popular music sound recordings distributed by the Library of Congress. LC staff derives much of the data from the All Media Guide, verifying titles and standard numbers. Contents notes are also verified to be accurate with what is on the label, but may not conform strictly to the rules. The records generally lack added entries, subject headings, and LC classification numbers. Also, the records frequently lack main and added entries for performers, although a 5XX field for performers is usually present. Therefore, searching in the name indexes will seldom retrieve these records, and keyword searches for names will be more effective. Title searches will also often be a useful strategy. The records will have Encoding Level value '3' and a note that says "Brief record".

OCLC processing will attempt to match LC's records to records already input into WorldCat. If a match is found, some data from the LC record, such as LCCN, will be merged into the WorldCat record. The LC record will not replace the WorldCat record. Records that do not find a match will be added to WorldCat.

Because the records have Encoding Level '3', OCLC catalogers are able to modify and upgrade them. OCLC encourages other catalogers to do so as well. When upgrading the record to a higher encoding level, please delete the "Brief record" note. When one of these records is upgraded to an Encoding Level 'K' or 'I', institutions will receive a minimal-level upgrade credit.

I have revised my RDF title-manifestation and manifestation records using Martha Yee's Cataloging Rules, based on feedback from several people who know a lot more about this stuff than I do. Rather than send them to the list each time I revise them now, I decided to put them on my website where people can look at them if they are interested. The records are available at: <http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/~rd13/rdf/>

As before, comments (and criticisms) are welcome. Feel free to copy and use however you want to.

The 42nd annual Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) Conference will be held in Palo Alto, California, March 26-29, 2008. Stanford University will host the event, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Stanford Archive of Recorded Sound.

The conference hotel is the Creekside Inn, located one mile from the Stanford campus and two miles from downtown Palo Alto. During the conference, single, double, and triple rooms are specially priced at $130 per night. To receive the discounted rate, rooms must be reserved by March 9, 2008. Reservations can be made at 800-492-7335 or <res@creekside-inn.com>. Please refer to group code "ARSC" when booking. For more information about the hotel, situated on three-and-a-half beautifully landscaped acres, visit: <http://www.arsc-audio.org/conference/hotel.html> or <http://www.creekside-inn.com/index.php>.

The conference will offer a vast array of appealing presentations. Some samples of sessions in the planning stages (and, therefore, subject to change) are:

• Archival issues and new tools for collection assessment. Reporting repositories include the Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford University, Columbia University, Yale University, the New York Public Library, the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives of Recorded Sound, and the University of North Texas Music Library
• "A Primer on Analog Playback" - presented by the Technical Committee
• A panel discussion by Ampex pioneers, about the history of magnetic sound recording technology in the Silicon Valley
• "Preservation, Access, and Copyright" - including a talk by the author of the congressionally-mandated "Study on the Current State of Recorded Sound Preservation"
• Numerous talks focusing on classical, jazz, and popular artists and repertoire.
• Ethnographic and ethnomusicological recordings
• An examination of the beginnings of and reactions to recorded sound in the 19th century, including a recreation of an 1878 tinfoil phonograph exhibition. During this session, ARSC's new First Sounds Committee will speak about its initiative "to make humanity’s early audio legacy accessible to all people, for all time"

ARSC's Education and Training Committee will present "Don't Stop the Music: A Workshop on Grant Funding for Audio Preservation" on March 26, 2008, at Stanford University's Campbell Recital Hall. Archivists, librarians, and collection managers--anyone who works with or manages archival sound recordings--will gain information about identifying grant-making institutions, meeting intake requirements, and exploring possible partnerships with other institutions. The workshop will feature speakers from The GRAMMY Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Institution.

Make plans to join friends and colleagues in Palo Alto. More details about the 2008 ARSC Conference can be found at: <http://www.arsc-audio.org/conference/>.

The Ninth International Conference on Music Information Retrieval will take place September 14-18, 2008 (Sunday through Thursday), in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since its inception in 2000, ISMIR has rapidly become the premier venue for the multidisciplinary field of accessing, analyzing, and managing large collections and archives of music information. The expansion of the music information retrieval (MIR) community reflects the enormous challenges and opportunities presented by the recent and tremendous growth in available music and music-related data. ISMIR provides a forum for the exchange of ideas between representatives of academia, industry, entertainment, and education, including researchers, developers, educators, librarians, students, and professional users, who contribute to this broadly interdisciplinary domain. Alongside presentations of original theoretical research and practical work, ISMIR provides introductory and in-depth tutorials, and a venue for the showcase of current MIR-related products and systems.

For a full description of the Conference and the guidelines for submitting papers, please see the full "Call for Participation" document at: <http://ismir2008.ismir.net/cfp>.

We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia!