In recent years there has been a huge growth in areas where world music studies have engaged with fields outside of music, such as ecology, health, and criminal justice. In this proposal we offer a panel of presenters discussing research into these “hybrid” fields of musical studies, with a focus on new challenges for music libraries to support this research. Alec McLane (Former Music Librarian and Director of the World Music Archives, Wesleyan University): General introduction to the panel: Why are these emerging topics relevant at this particular time? Why are they more commonly associated with world music studies or ethnomusicology? To what extent do they indicate potential fields of study that would require their own research infrastructure and the support of library resources? Phil Vandermeer (Head of the Music Library, Adjunct Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill): Musicology and ethnomusicology have always engaged with issues of sound and ecology, but music scholars are joining an interdisciplinary community of researchers in engaging with sound and the environment. Music librarians need to understand the research parameters, disciplinary boundaries, and varied types of literature in this field inside and outside the music library. Liza Vick (Head, Otto E. Albrecht Music Library and Eugene Ormandy Music and Media Center, University of Pennsylvania): Ethnomusicologist Carol Muller at the University of Pennsylvania started venturing into arts and trauma therapy research recently, organizing a conference and related research and teaching. Penn’s music librarian and nursing librarian collaborated to support this emerging interest with purchases of library materials. Andy McGraw (Associate Professor of Music, University of Richmond): I have facilitated a digital music studio in the Richmond, Virginia, city jail since 2013. We have been unable to find an institution interested in the collection that can both handle a large, online, digital archive, and offer an ethical rights and access structure. Many residents in the program believe that the problems of mass incarceration in America cannot be meaningfully addressed if those “on the outside” do not hear about the experiences of those “on the inside.” How can professional librarians and archivists help them get the word out? Dave Lewis (Sound Archivist, Music Library and Bill Schurk Sound Archives, Bowling Green State University): Drawing on research around country music responses to the opioid crisis and ethnographic work on HIV/AIDS campaigns in the Caribbean, this presentation examines the many ways that musical sound and public health intersect and the multiple and sometimes conflicting meanings those intersections create.
