The OCLC Music Toolkit installer has been updated and is now available for download at http://files.library.northwestern.edu/public/Music382/. With this update, 650, 655 and 382 mappings are current through 2022, and work will soon begin on 2023 additions.    Music Toolkit users are encouraged to report questions, suggestions, or unexpected Toolkit behavior using the form at https://goo.gl/forms/P0rbGQfxaGIMtrba2. Your feedback is monitored by the CMC Vocabularies Subcommittee and relayed to programmer Gary Strawn who incorporates changes and additions into the programming and OCLC macro. About the Music Toolkit: The Music Toolkit, developed by Gary Strawn based on specifications provided by the CMC Vocabularies Subcommittee, analyzes bibliographic data and generates corresponding faceted terms from the Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus (LCMPT), Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms (LCGFT), and Library of Congress Demographic Group Terms (LCDGT), as well as other faceted metadata such as dates and geographic place names. The Toolkit output is

The Vocabularies Subcommittee (Cataloging and Metadata Committee, Music Library Association) is pleased to announce the release of Best Practices for Using LCGFT for Music Resources v.1.3 (April 9, 2024). Current MLA best practices as well as superseded versions for historical interest may be found on the MLA Best Practices page. If you have the BPs bookmarked, please make sure your link takes you to the current version. LCGFT V.1.3 Updates In addition to grammatical and style updates, new or expanded sections or examples in version 1.3 of the LCGFT BPs for music resources include: Experimental music and Avant-garde music, and Rap (Music) and Hip-Hop (Music). Guidance for the use of LCGFT terms “Studio recordings” and “Live sound recordings” were revised and expanded. Send Your Suggestions Nearly all of the additions reflect suggestions from practicing catalogers. We encourage submissions to the suggestion box, and we monitor MLA-L, MOUG-L, and other email

The 2024 annual business meeting of the CMC Vocabularies Subcommittee will be held virtually on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 3:30pm – 4:25pm EST. Please see the meeting agenda for details and relevant links. Guests are encouraged to familiarize themselves with reports and documents ahead of time and bring questions or comments to the meeting. The meeting is open to all, and guests may come and go throughout. Access to the meeting is through the Cvent platform, which is the entry point for all sessions of the Music Library Association 2024 Annual Meeting. Registered MLA and MOUG attendees will find the meeting listed in the schedule; other guests must register (free) via the Cvent open meetings portal. CMC is also hosting an open, virtual CMC Q&A session Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 12:00 PM-12:55 PM EST. In this discussion forum, Town Hall speakers and additional CMC members will be available to answer

In April 2022 the MLA-CMC Vocabularies Maintenance Task Group began initial discussion of LC subject headings related to minstrelsy. Minstrelsy is a form of entertainment originating in the 19th century that depicted caricatures of various racialized groups, but most predominantly African Americans.  The Vocabularies Maintenance Task Group in 2022 consisted of Anne Adams (chair), with Jennifer Olson, Ann Churukian, Allison McClanahan, Tomoko Shibuya, and Clare Spitzer.   In September 2022, after consultation with the African American SACO Funnel, the decision was made to remove references to African Americans from the terms Minstrelsy and Minstrel music in LCSH and create the narrower terms Blackface minstrel music and Blackface minstrel shows. The introduction of the narrower minstrelsy terms provides catalogers and users with more specific terms to identify and label derogatory works. Furthermore, similar “-face” terms used to depict caricatures of other racialized groups can be proposed to provide similar searching and indexing. 

The Vocabularies Subcommittee (Cataloging and Metadata Committee, Music Library Association) is pleased to announce the release of Best Practices for Using LCMPT v. 1.5 (March 1, 2023). Current MLA best practices as well as superseded versions for historical interest may be found at https://cmc.wp.musiclibraryassoc.org/mla-best-practices/. Please make sure direct bookmarks point to the current version (https://cmc.wp.musiclibraryassoc.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2023/03/BestPracticesforUsingLCMPT_1-5_20230301.pdf). LCMPT v. 1.5 includes some organizational and style changes, minor updates to the introduction, hierarchy, and MARC coding sections, as well as new and revised examples throughout. Revised sections update guidance for use of singer and voice, and visuals and multimedia. The section “Number of hands” in the previous version has been revised to “More than one simultaneous performer/Number of hands.” New sections include guidance for vocal range and gender, one player/multiple instruments, and using the terms orchestra, chamber orchestra, and instrumental ensemble.