Kimmy Szeto
Assc Professor
CUNY Baruch
Department: Library
Areas of expertise: Library and Information Science: History/Philosophy and Theory/Practice of Cataloging and Metadata. Subject specialties: Musicology; Performing Arts; Environmental/Geological Sciences
Email Address: kimmy.szeto@baruch.cuny.edu
- Biography
- Teaching
- Research and Creative Activity
- Grants
- Honors and Awards
- Service
Education
Ph.D., Library and Information Science, University of London London United Kingdom
M.L.S., Library Science, Queens College/CUNY Flushing New York
MPhil, Marine Geology and Geophysics, Columbia University United States
M.A., Earth and Environmental Science, Columbia University United States
M.A., Music History and Theory, University of Chicago Chicago Illinois
B.A., Music and Mathematical Statistics, Columbia University United States
LRSM, Violin Performance, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (UK)
LRSM, Piano Performance, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (UK)
| Semester | Course Prefix | Course Number | Course Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2025 | LIB | 4900 | Advanced Topics in Information |
| Spring 2022 | LIB | 3020 | Knowledge Processes and Transf |
| Spring 2021 | PAF | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2021 | COM | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2021 | LIB | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2020 | COM | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2020 | COM | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2020 | PAF | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2020 | PAF | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2020 | LIB | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2020 | LIB | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2019 | COM | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2019 | PAF | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2019 | LIB | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2018 | PAF | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2018 | COM | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2018 | LIB | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2017 | COM | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2017 | PAF | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2017 | LIB | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2016 | LIB | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2016 | COM | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2016 | PAF | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2015 | PAF | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2015 | COM | 3040 | Information and Society |
| Spring 2015 | LIB | 3040 | Information and Society |
Artistic and Creative Activities
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2016). Multiple Concert Performances.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2016). Stardust Cabaret (2016-06-05). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2016). Worldmuse Singer Songwriter Forum (2016-05-03). Barnard College.
Szeto, K. (2016). Studio Recital (2016-05-08). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2016). The Tides of Manaunaun (2016-05-29). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2016). Noche de Ronda (2016-06-04). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K. (2015). Multiple Concert Performances.
Szeto, K. (2015). Columbia Classical Performers Recital (2015-04-05). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2015). Recital (2015-04-24). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2015). Worldmuse Performance (2015-04-26). Barnard College.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2015). Ko Duboko More (2015-06-05). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2015). Noche de Ronda (2015-06-06). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2015). Life is a Cabaret (2015-06-07). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K. (2015). Studio Recital (2015-12-12). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2015). Argento Chamber Ensemble at Monday Evening Concerts. Argento New Music Project.
Szeto, K. (2015). Multiple Concert Performances.
Szeto, K., Galante, M., & Roe, E. (2015). Konzertsatz by Robert Schumann arranged for solo piano and chamber ensemble. Argento New Music Project.
Szeto, K. (2014). Recital (2014-12-05). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2014). Columbia Classical Performers Recital (2014-10-12). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2014). New Year :: New Music (2014-05-18).
Szeto, K. (2014). New Year :: New Music (2014-05-16).
Szeto, K. (2014). New Year :: New Music (2014-05-11).
Szeto, K., & Galante, M. (2014). Five Pieces for Orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg arranged for clarinet, horn, four-hand piano, and string quintet. Argento New Music Project.
Szeto, K. (2014). Cassandra: A Monodrama (U.S. premiere of the Nimrod Opera Zurich production). Czech Center New York.
Szeto, K. (2014). New Year :: New Music (2014-05-04).
Szeto, K. (2014). Recital (2014-05-03). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2014). New Year :: New Music (2014-05-02).
Szeto, K. (2014). Mahler and Intergalactic Love. 2013-14 Edward T. Cone Concert Series.
Szeto, K. (2014). 7 Klangräume zu den unvollendeten Fragmenten des Requiems von W. A. Mozart. Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club.
Szeto, K. (2014). New Year :: New Music (2014-05-09).
Szeto, K., & Tercz, K. (2013). Ecco la primavera! (2013-06-21). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2013). Midsummer Visions: A Solstice Celebration (2013-06-19). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K., & Buhler, G. (2013). French Cabaret with Gudrun Buhler. Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University.
Szeto, K., & Bühler, G. (2013). In a Persian Garden. Venus Theater Festival at Cabrini Repertory Theater.
Szeto, K. (2013). Recital (2013-05-03). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2013). Studio Recital (2013-04-27). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2013). Worldmuse Performance (2013-03-15). Barnard College.
Szeto, K., & Galante, M. (2013). Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3, "Rhenish" arranged for chamber ensemble. Argento New Music Project.
Szeto, K., & Ito, R. (2013). Orchestra Concert for Sandy Relief (2013-02-12).
Szeto, K. (2013). Recital (2013-12-08). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2013). Columbia Classical Performers Recital (2013-12-06). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2013). Recital (2013-10-14). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., & Eddy, J. M. (2013). The Girl From Bare Cove: A Folk Opera.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2013). Midsummer Visions: A Solstice Celebration (2013-06-22). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K. (2012). Columbia Classical Performers Recital (2012-12-06). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2012). Studio Recital (2012-12-08). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., & Ito, R. (2012). Orchestra Concert (2012-03-03).
Szeto, K. (2012). Opera Night!. Columbia University.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2012). Worldmuse Performance (2012-04-13). Barnard College.
Szeto, K. (2012). Columbia Classical Performers Recital (2013-04-26). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2012). Studio Recital (2012-04-27). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2012). Columbia Classical Performers Recital (2012-12-08). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2012). Recital (2012-12-10). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2012). Recital (2012-11-26). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2012). Columbia Classical Performers Recital (2012-10-13). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2012). Recital (2012-04-30). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2011). Studio Recital (2011-04-03). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., Galante, M., & Fulmer, D. (2011). Chamber Concerto for violin and ensemble from the Overture of Leoš Janácek's opera From the House of the Dead. Austrian Cultural Forum New York.
Szeto, K. (2011). Recital (2011-10-21). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2011). Recital (2011-11-18). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2011). Studio Recital (2011-12-12). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., Ito, R., & Ichikawa, M. (2011). Orchestra Concert: Viva Marimba! (2011-04-01).
Szeto, K. (2010). Recital (2010-11-20). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2010). Recital (2010-12-04). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2010). Studio Recital (2010-12-14). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., Ito, R., & Ishikawa, T. (2010). Orchestra Concert (2010-12-30).
Szeto, K., Galante, M., & Cuckson, M. (2010). Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 2 arranged for chamber ensemble. Argento New Music Project.
Szeto, K. (2010). Recital (2010-01-29). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2010). Recital (2010-02-19). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2010). Senior Recital (2010-03-26). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2010). Recital (2010-03-26). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2010). Recital (2010-04-23). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., Ito, R., & Anikushin, M. (2010). Orchestra Concert (2010-05-20).
Szeto, K. (2009). Recital (2009-12-04). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2009). Recital (2009-11-20). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2009). Recital (2009-05-09). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2009). Recital (2009-04-10). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2009). Recital (2009-03-23). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., Galante, M., & Cuckson, M. (2009). Chamber Concerto for violin and ensemble from Scherzo of Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 2. Austrian Cultural Forum, Washington, DC.
Szeto, K. (2009). Recital (2009-01-30). Columbia University.
Szeto, K. (2008). Recital (2008-12-08). Columbia University.
Szeto, K., Ito, R., Anikushin, M., & Ono, A. (2008). Orchestra Concert (2008-06-25).
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2007). Worldmuse Performance (2007-12-09). Barnard College.
Szeto, K., & Galante, M. (2007). Vorspiel und Liebestod aus Tristan und Isolde arranged for chamber ensemble. Argento New Music Project.
Szeto, K., & Galante, M. (2007). Vorspiel und Liebestod aus Tristan und Isolde arranged for chamber ensemble. Monday Evening Concerts.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2007). Canta Angel (2007-06-08). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K., & McMahan, J. (2007). Lost Forest (2007-06-16). International Cultural Center of Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan.
Szeto, K., & Mercurio, J. (2000). Gentlemen's Bet (Orchestrator). Produced by Andrew Kato.
Szeto, K., & Mercurio, J. (2000). Gentlemen's Bet (Conductor). Produced by Andrew Kato.
Szeto, K. Overture, Scherzo and Finale, Op. 52, by Robert Schumann arranged for chamber ensemble, commissioned by the Argento Chamber Ensemble. Argento New Music Project.
Journal Articles
Szeto, K. (2022). Ontology for Voice, Instruments, and Ensembles (OnVIE): Revisiting the Medium of Performance Concept for Enhanced Discoverability. Code4Lib Journal, (54).
Szeto, K. (2018). The Roles of Academic Libraries in Shaping Digital Music Publishing. Library Trends, 74(2). 303-318.
Szeto, K. (2017). The Mystery of the Schubert Song: The Linked Data Promise. Notes: the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, 74(1). 9-23.
Newcomer, N., Kulczak , D., Belford, R., & Szeto, K. (2013). Music discovery requirements: A guide to optimizing interfaces. Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association, 69(3). 494-524.
Szeto, K. (2013). Positioning Library Data for the Semantic Web: Recent Developments in Resource Description. Journal of Web Librarianship, 7(3). 305-321.
Newcomer, N. L., Belford, R., Kulczak, D., Szeto, K., Matthews, J., & Shaw, M. (2013). Anforderungen an Musik-Discovery-Systeme: Handreichungen zur Optimierung von Benutzeroberflächen. Forum Musikbibliothek, 34(2). 14-23.
Szeto, K. (2011). Digitizing everything? The launch of the digital imaging program at Queens Library. Journal of the Library Administration and Management Section of the New York Library Association, 7(2). 5-15.
Szeto, K. (2011). Digitizing everything? Part II: Piloting metadata creation. Journal of Library Administration Management Section of the New York Library Association, 8(1). 31-49.
Book Chapters
Szeto, K. (2018). Metadata Standards in Digital Audio. In Khosrow-Pour, M. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology (pp. 6447-6463). Hershey, PA. IGI Global.
Szeto, K. (2014). Metadata in Digital Audio. In Khosrow-Pour, M. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology (pp. 5957-5972). Hershey, PA, United States. IGI Global.
Presentations
Szeto, K. (2025, July 9). Music in the Dataverse : A Library Framework for Music Data Repositories and Portable Music Documents. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Salzburg, Austria: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2024, October 12). Artefacts of Andrea von Ramm in Grožnjan, Croatia and their Connections to Archival Collections of the Early Music Ensemble “Studio der frühen Musik” . Conference at Symposium Andrea von Ramm. Grožnjan, Croatia: Accademia Jaufre Rudel di studi medievali.
Szeto, K. (2024, June 24). Library Practices for Electronic and Digital Music Scores: Integrating Functions, Standards, Processes. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Stellenbosch, South Africa: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2024, March 1). Crossover potentials of music librarianship : expanded applications and subject coverage of technical skill sets. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Cincinnati, OH: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2023, August 2). Discoveries from Thomas Binkley Collection at the Cook Music Library at Indiana University, United States, towards the reconstruction of the history of Studio der frühen Musik. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Cambridge, United Kingdom: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2023, August 3). Questioning Boundaries and Opening Spaces: The Trajectory of the Post-Digital Music Librarian. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Cambridge, United Kingdom: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2022, July 26). Data Modeling for Medium of Performance on Open Linked Data Platforms. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Prague, Czech Republic: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2019, July 16). Mapping UNIMARC Codes for Medium of Performance to Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus : Enriching Vocabularies through Mapping. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Krakow, Poland: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2019, February 22). Mapping UNIMARC Codes for Medium of Performance to Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus (Part 2). Music Library Association Annual Meeting. St. Louis, MO: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2018, February 1). Mapping Project : UNIMARC Codes for Medium of Performance to Library of Congress Medium of Performance Thesaurus. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Portland, OR: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2018, July 24). Recent Developments in Music Linked Data Ontologies. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Riga, Latvia: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2017, June 18). From Music Cataloging to Global Linked Data Sharing: An Examination of Roles, Rules and Models. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Riga, Latvia: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2017, February 25). Medium of Performance Ontologies in Cataloging Practice. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Orlando, FL: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2017, February 24). Linked Data Ontologies: Towards a Fusion of Worldviews. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Orlando, FL: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2016, March 4). Practical Applications of Linked Data. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Cincinnati, OH: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2016, May 29). Perceptions of Difference in the Musical Work. International Vocal Arts Workshop Symposium. Grožnjan, Croatia: Jeunesses Musicales Croatia.
Szeto, K. (2016, October 15). Untangling Medium of Performance for the Linked Data Environment. Music Library Association New York State/Ontario Chapter Meeting. Toronto, ON: Music Library Association New York State/Ontario Chapter.
Szeto, K. (2016, July 8). Re-Conceptualising Medium of Performance for the Linked Data Environment. Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. Rome, Italy: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2015, June 23). Music Library Association’s involvement in the Bibliographic Framework Initiative: An in-depth look at medium of performance. Joint Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres and the International Musicological Society. New York, NY: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres.
Szeto, K. (2015, February 27). MARC to BIBFRAME: An Exploration of the Future of Cataloging. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Denver, CO: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2015, February 26). Emerging BIBFRAME Services for Librarians. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Denver, CO: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2014, December 4). Centralizing Metadata Management for Digital Initiatives at Baruch College. CUNY IT Conference. New York, NY: City University of New York.
Szeto, K., & Crowl, C. (2014, January 15). Building authorities with crowdsourced and linked open data in ProMusicDB. Metropolitan New York Library Council Annual Meeting. New York, NY: Metropolitan New York Library Council.
Szeto, K., & Crowl, C. (2014, January 26). Building web scale authorities with crowdsourced and linked open data. American Library Association Midwinter Conference. Philadelphia, PA: Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, Cataloging and Metadata Management Section, Cataloging and Classification Research Interest Group.
Szeto, K. (2014, February 28). Framing Bibframe : Envisioning the Interconnected Bibliographic Environment. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K., Merkey, T., & Wells, V. (2014, February 28). Assessing the Value of Electronic Music Resources Through Data: A Case Study at Two University Libraries. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Atlanta, GA: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2014, November 4). What's BIBFRAME? Why Change? What Now?. Cataloging Round Table. Baruch College: Library Association of the City University of New York.
Szeto, K. (2013, October 22). Selected RDA Changes for Music Scores and Sound Recordings. Cataloging Round Table. Baruch College: Library Association of the City University of New York.
Szeto, K., Berilla , E., &, & Williams, J. (2013, January 15). Three books to the wind: Reflections of three ship's librarians abroad the Empire State VI. Metropolitan New York Library Council Annual Meeting. New York, NY: Metropolitan New York Library Council.
Szeto, K. (2013, February 4). Metadata for institutional repositories. Baruch College Library. New York, NY: Baruch College.
Szeto, K. (2013, June 18). Playing in time: Temporality in Performance and Performing Arts: Closing remarks. International Vocal Arts Workshop Symposium. Grožnjan, Croatia: Jeunesses Musicales Croatia.
Szeto, K. (2013, April 12). Providing access to e-books: Opportunities and challenges. New York University Libraries. New York, NY: New York University.
Szeto, K., Anderson, D. E., & Cross, J. (2013, March 2). Untangling the Web of sheet music publishers, self-publishers, rentals, and licensing. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. San Jose, CA: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2012, January 25). Significant metadata challenges in organizing and delivering digital content: Linking legacy bibliographic data to the sematic web. University of California, Irvine Libraries. Irvine, CA: University of California, Irvine.
Szeto, K. (2012, February 17). A brief introduction to RDF, linked data, and RDA registered properties. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Dallas, TX: Music Library Association.
Szeto, K. (2012, June 24). RDA in RDF: Transitioning to the FRBR catalog and the semantic web. American Library Association Annual Conference. Anaheim, CA: Association for Library Collections and Technical Services, Cataloging and Metadata Management Section, Cataloging and Classification Research Interest Group.
Szeto, K. (2011, March 13). Navigating maritime history: Encoding the Sailors' Snug Harbor archive. Maritime Education Summit. Texas A&M University, Galveston, TX: Maritime Academy Council.
Szeto, K., Brent, K., Daly, M., Detterbeck, K., O'Brien, M., &, & Rath, L. (2011, June 17). Collaboration across disciplines: Second masters for librarians. SUNYLA Conference. Plattsburgh, NY: SUNY Librarians Association.
Szeto, K. (2011, February 10). Audio Technical Metadata: An introduction. Music Library Association Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA: Music Library Association.
Other Scholarly Works
Szeto, K., & Szeto, K. (2016). Report of the Task Force on BIBFRAME. 37.
Szeto, K. (2014). Leoš Janácek : Ouvertüre zur Oper „Aus einem Totenhaus“ für Solovioline und Ensemble bearbeitet von Kimmy Szeto.
Szeto, K., & Lisa, M. (2014). Metadata for Music Resources.
Szeto, K., & McFall, L. (2014). Online Music Metadata Clearinghouse [website].
Szeto, K., & Cortés, C. E. (2013). Classical music and ethnic diversity. Multicultural America: A multimedia encyclopedia. 534-536.
Newcomer, N., Belford, R., Kulczak, D., Matthews, J., Shaw , M., & Szeto, K. (2012). Music Discovery Resources.
Szeto, K. (2008). Music Library Tutorial: Searching CLIO for the Classical Song.
Reviews
Szeto, K. (2018,April 20). Keeping Score, Digitally. Music Reference Services Quarterly.
Szeto, K. (2014,March 11). Introducing ProMusicDB: A professional music credits management system. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship.
Szeto, K. (2012,September 1). Musicking online: Organizing reference sources in the digital age. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship.
Szeto, K. (2011,December 1). Digital Spoken Words Demystified: The nuts and bolts of do-it-yourself podcasting. Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship.
Research Currently in Progess
Szeto, K.(n.d.). Bio-bibliography of Studio der frühen Musik (Studio of Early Music). In Progress.
Update (2025)
Site visits to the archives in Bloomington, Indiana were made in July and December 2022. The Thomas Binkley Collection was found to be in its original state, which is highly disorganized. I conducted a preliminary assessment of the collection during the first visit and concluded that it was not feasible to perform historical research with the collection in this state of disarray. Attention turned to photographing various subsets of the collection, such as concert programs, travel logs, business records, photo albums, microfilms, and the field recordings, to make offsite research possible. This was done on the second visit. In collaboration with Laikin Dantchenko, the music audiovisual metadata librarian, an inventory of field recordings and digitization status was compiled in 2023. All labelings on the reels and their containers were recorded, and gaps in digitization were identified. The provenance of most of these field recordings is currently still unknown, pending further research into their whereabouts. One way to reconstruct their travels was through documentary evidence. About 2,000 pages of concert programs and documents were photographed from Bloomington, Indiana, and an additional 500 or so from the Andrea von Ramm collection were photographed in Grožnjan, Croatia during a subsequent visit in July 2024. Together with the records in the Sterling Jones collection (which is in my possession), the priority now is to find a way to organize these materials in a cohesive manner. My main effort between 2023 and 2024 was to support the music library at Indiana University to create an archivist position through writing letters and promoting the historical significance of the Thomas Binkley collection, including a presentation to an international audience at the 2023 Congress of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. In 2024, Indiana University did create the position of Special Collections Archivist, and hired Jared Walker. When I spoke to Mr. Walker, he said that he intended to begin organizing the Thomas Binkley Collection in the fall of 2025. Besides Indiana, I also visited St. Louis in March 2023 and interviewed Willard Cobb, the sole surviving member of Studio der frühen Musik, over two days. Mr. Cobb is quite advanced in age, and, unfortunately, most of his possessions had been disposed of by a familiar member. In addition to corroborating contemporary accounts of the group’s artistic process, he mentioned a crucial piece of information toward organizing the materials in Indiana, that he deliberately did not keep anything, but returned everything to Thomas Binkley, an important clue to an otherwise confounding layer of complexity in the collection. The visit to Grožnjan, Croatia in July 2024 was to visit the local artist Rok Zelenko to jointly organize the 3-month long symposium and exhibition on Andrea von Ramm in the 25th anniversary year of her death. My main event was the 2-day conference on October 12-13, 2024, including speaking contributions from historians, artistic collaborators, and cultural officials from Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, and France, and my presentation “Artefacts of Andrea von Ramm in Grožnjan, Croatia, and their Connections to Archival Collections of the Early Music Ensemble ‘Studio der frühen Musik’,” as well as culinary demonstrations and a listening session. A proceeding from the conference was going to be published by the L’Accademia Jaufré Rudel di studi medievali di Gradisca d`Isonzo, but funding has since fallen through and I am currently looking for alternatives. In fall 2024, I made an unsuccessful attempt to pitch a monograph to the 33 1/3 series with Bloomsbury Publishing, which, through a close reading of their 1974 LP album “Estampie” with tracks republished in the standard undergraduate text the Norton Anthology of Western Music for two decades (from first to sixth edition), would have discussed the Studio’s legacy in historical music performance, music education, musical revival movements, and cultural diplomacy. Further on the publication aspect, in Indiana, I discovered several sets of manuscripts and mimeographs with handwritten comments of Thomas Binkley’s unfinished works, including his dissertation, a book on historical performance practice, and a book on musical instrument iconography in architecture, as well as the scripts of several medieval-style drama by Andrea von Ramm, which are corroborated by materials discovered in Grožnjan, Croatia. I would like to write an article on the scholarly output of Thomas Binkley when these materials in Indiana become better organized.
Description (2022)
Research (including study and related travel)The research on the bio-bibliography of the Studio der frühen Musik (Studio of Early Music) proposed here brings together my expertise in digital libraries, my early professional training as a music librarian and archivist, and my academic training as a musicologist. This year-long project will involve three areas of the group’s activities in its 20 years of existence (1960-1980): (1) concerts, workshops, and residencies; (2) recordings and discography; (3) finding aid of documents and artifacts, and bibliographies of publications and musical arrangements. I anticipate the results of the research will become a substantial portion of a monograph, while simultaneously presented in article form in journals such as Early Music, Notes, the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association and Fontes Artis Musicae, the journal of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. In addition, inspired by a similar project, I plan to design and build an interactive digital humanities website which documents the primary source materials, performances and recordings, where users can explore spatially and temporally through data analysis and visualization tools.Studio der frühen Musik, based in Munich, Germany, was a musical ensemble that specialized in the discovery and performance of “early music,” European music from the Medieval and Renaissance periods (6th to 16th century). The group’s members included Thomas Binkley, Sterling Jones, Willard Cobb and Richard Levitt from the United States, Nigel Rogers from the United Kingdom, and Andrea von Ramm from Estonia. The group was active from 1960 to 1980, and was among the pioneers of the late 20th-century early music revival. The Studio, through its global concertizing and its recordings, profoundly shaped audience conception of classical music, pedagogy and performance practice, as well as musicological research of the Medieval and Renaissance periods. While the studio had far-reaching and lasting influence, research on it is woefully scant. Other than an unpublished memoir written by Sterling Jones, published writings about the Studio have been confined to the context of the history of early music revivals, or of historical music performance practice. This present dearth of research is due, in part, to the lack of information about the extent and whereabouts of the group’s primary documents, which have scattered across four countries and two continents. My proposed primary source research will be the first step in filling this void.Three collections of papers are known to exist, belonging to members Thomas Binkley, Sterling Jones, and Andrea von Ramm:The Binkley collection includes documents, books, microfilms, and recordings. It has been kept in storage, unorganized for decades, in the Indiana University Bloomington library.The Jones collection includes documents, financial records, concert programs, music manuscripts, and photographs. This collection had been kept in storage in the residence of Sterling Jones, and was shipped to me in 2019.The von Ramm collection includes concert programs, photographs, and promotional materials. Adrea von Ramm primarily lived in the village Grožnjan in Croatia for the last several decades of her life. Her papers are being kept, unorganized, in the studio of a local visual artist named Rok Zelenko, the unofficial caretaker of her Croatian artifacts.For roughly half of the fellowship year, I plan to inventory the three collections of papers (including onsite visits to Indiana and Croatia), and then conduct follow-up oral interviews with Sterling Jones, Rok Zelenko, David Lasocki (retired music librarian at Indiana University). This will enable reconstructing the activity timeline. In the other half of the year, I will collate information on performances and recordings and reconcile commercial releases and subsequent re-releases, which will form the basis of the metadata for the digital library. A front-end interface will then be built on an open-source content management platform (such as Omeka).The story of the Studio der frühen Musik (Studio of Early Music) has acquired new valence in recent times. The group is famously controversial for incorporating Middle Eastern and North African performance techniques and styles, a historically grounded choice given the history of cultural exchange in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. My hope is that the digital presentation of the Studio’s performances will help increase awareness and exposure towards achieving unity in a multicultural society.Improvement of teachingThe bibliographies, discography, finding aid, and digital library can all be used as reference resources for teaching information literacy and for musicological and business research.For teaching information literacy, selected items will enter the Inclusive Early Music Bibliography. Specific Baruch courses that may benefit include LIB 1015 - Information Research in Social Sciences and Humanities, LIB 3030 - Archives, Documents, and Hidden History, and LIB 3040 - Information and Society.For research, Baruch courses that may benefit include MSC 3002 - Music of the Baroque Period, MSC 3005 - World Music, MSC 2023 - Music and Religion, and MSC 3043 - The History of Music from Antiquity Through the Baroque (1750). More generally, the ability to trace the business development of an independent music ensemble through its dealings with international concert presenters, government agencies, record companies, and royalties collecting organizations can benefit students who major in Music specializing in the Management of Musical Enterprises.Creative work in the literature or the artsNo creative work will be produced. However, this research will make the Studio’s modern musical notations and transcriptions of early music available for researchers and performers.
Szeto, K.(n.d.). Linked Data Hub for Music Ontologies. In Progress.
Update (2025)
Up through 2023, I continued to interface with the IFLA Linked Data Technical Committee for implementing the linked data presentation of the UNIMARC medium of performance codes, which was (finally!) published in March 2025. The Linked Data Hub for Music Vocabularies Study Group was officially voted into existence at the July 2022 general assembly of the International Association of Music Libraries (IAML). But since I became the organization's treasurer at the same time, the chair of this group went to Christopher Holden, cataloging librarian in the music division of the Library of Congress. In the meantime, I continue to particpate as a member of this study group, contributing to the ongoing systematic Wikidata integration of the Library of Congress Name Authority File (NAF as P244), Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH as P1149), and Library of Congress Control Number (LCCN as P1144). Further down the road, the study group will analyze and reconcile areas of incompatibility for vocabularies pertaining to music, such as the UNIMARC codes for medium of performances (field 128) and genre (field 125), and the Library of Congress Medium of Performance thesaurus.
Update (fall 2021): I am now leading the effort to form a "study group" under the Cataloguing and Metadata Section of the International Association of Music Libraries (IAML) on using WikiData as a bridge between the North American and European vocabularies for medium of performance, and exploiting WikiData's built-in multilingual support for translation purposes.Update (spring 2021): Pandemic disruptions put the open educational resource collaboration on pause. For my part, I was able to complete the data modeling for meridians, which was published on WikiData. I also published an essay / blog post on the site Library Parlor (https://libparlor.com/2021/05/26/no-research-topic-is-too-esoteric-for-a-librarian/) on the research process. Update (summer 2020): International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the international agency that maintains various library data standards, is undertaking a complete overhaul of the online platforms, the IFLA Standards website and the Open Metadata Registry. I have been actively providing input to the developers on migrating the medium of performance and forms of music vocabularies. While waiting for the completion of the overhaul, I am working on building the data structure of the hub and performing testing on American vocabularies.Following my work on mapping the European and American linked data sets for medium of performance, I received a number of requests from librarians from Japan, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland to map their vocabularies. I now envision creating a linked data hub that will bring these disparate vocabularies into a single ecosystem of data sets and mashups on a free, multilingual platform such as WikiData. This area of research will lead to a new lightweight and flexible linked data ontology that ties the components together. In the meantime, for the purpose of experimenting with WikiData, I accepted an invitation to collaborate with a faculty member at Queensborough Community College on creating an open educational resource for teaching traditional Chinese medicine. My part will be to create a small scale ontology to capture data about meridians and acupoints. For both the small and large projects, I plan to write articles on the process and results, as well as on the changing role of the library cataloger in light of the increasing incorporation of linked data in library operations.
Szeto, K.(n.d.). Untangling Work Clusters and Their Mediums of Performance. In Progress.
Update (2025)
The work awaiting the 2022 ISBD revision has been discontinued, since ISBD is now aligned with LRM, which rendered the ISBD-only aspect moot, unless a revision to ISBD(PM) for printed music is on the horizon (IFLA has no plans so far). On the "conceptual foundations" aspect, in August 2022, I published the article "Ontology for Voice, Instruments, and Ensembles (OnVIE)" in the open access journal Code4Lib, which included a critique of the Performed Music Ontology (PMO) and a detailed refinement of current understanding of the concept and implementation of the medium of performance field(s) in descriptive metadata. This is the second peer reviewed journal article coming out of this project. I made an unsuccesful attempt to pitch a chapter for the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Arrangement Studies, which would have drawn on my practitioner experience as a music arranger (i.e. manipulator of medium of performance) as an entry to exmaine the concept and notion of a musical "work" as practiced by library practitioners, debated among musicologists, and examined by philosophers. One possible outcome for this preliminary research would be for it to feed into the "Music in the Dataverse" project as the basis for examining the library models for collection development and user services. On the implementation front at the Library of Congress, neither PMO or ONVIE will make it into the next round of testing of the BIBFRAME Editor in fall 2025-spring 2026. Reportedly, the support for a more muanced approach is more than clear and adequate from the music division, but the resistance comes from the software development team, so now testing will be done with a much simplified version.
Status: inactive, until ISBD revision is announced, due out in 2022.Update (Summer 2019): The technical details have largely been incorporated in the working models of the Performed Music Ontology (PMO). Due to this incorporation into a larger model, the scope of a "best practice" article would be too wide. So, I have abandoned this particular version of the article. However, since the introduction of the Library Reference Model by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA LRM) in late 2017/early 2018, and a major revision of the International Standard Bibliographic Description (ISBD) due in 2022, new implementations are on the horizon, and I plan to return to the "conceptual foundations" article at that time.Update (Fall 2017): The article was published in the Fall 2017 issue of Notes. For a variety of reasons, many more technical parts from the research were cut from the final publication, so now I am planning to revisit these technical details and expand them into two separate articles, one on the conceptual foundations and one "best practice" for practitioners.I have been invited to submit an article for an upcoming issue of Notes, one of the leading peer reviewed, scholarly journals for music librarianship and musicology. The article I plan to write will examine the ontological relationships in work clusters by way of analyzing the application of the concept "medium of performance" to a group of closely related works. Medium of performance has, for decades, been a problematic and contentious element of library cataloging for music materials. Fine expressivity of entity relationships is the key to information flow in the semantic web, and, therefore, in recent years, medium of performance has been receiving renewed attention. Through examples of bibliographic descriptions of work clusters, I will elucidate the many assumptions and contradictions in the way we have thus far conceptualized medium of performance, and untangle the complex relationships between similar works produced by different intellectual activities (variously called arrangements, transcriptions, versions, revisions, covers, derivatives, compilations, aggregates, etc.) in the context of data modeling for the semantic web.
Szeto, K.(n.d.). Music in the Dataverse : A Library Framework for Multimodal Data Repositories and the Portable Music Document . In Progress.
Description (2025)
This is the manuscript for a monograph on a new library framework for music resources. This framework reconceptualizes the traditional collection development and information service model, expanding the scope of libraries to enable dissemination and publication of user outputs through universalizing data processing tools and binding music data in repositories with a new multimodal Portable Music Document specification. Combining library’s own expertise in managing data repositories and collaborations in digital humanities, this monograph presents a much-needed fresh view into the post-digital revolution information ecosystem, and offers transformative steps toward building a self-sustaining ecosystem of knowledge creation, while upholding the relevance of the library as an institution and expanding the scope of librarianship as curator, creator, and collaborator in the information profession.
| Title | Funding Agency Sponsor | Start Date | End Date | Awarded Date | Total Funding | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archival Inventory of the Thomas Binkley Collection for the Bio-bibliography of Studio der frühen Mu | PSC CUNY 53 | 07/01/2022 | 06/30/2023 | 04/15/2022 | 3500 | Completed |
| Online Data Store for Meridians and Acupuncture Points in Traditional Chinese Medicine | PSC-CUNY 50 | 07/01/2019 | 06/30/2020 | 04/15/2019 | 4680 | Completed |
| Honor / Award | Organization Sponsor | Date Received | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carol June Bradley Award for Historical Research in Music Librarianship | Music Library Association | 2023 | |
| William Stewart Travel Award | CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences | 2016 | The William Stewart Travel Award supported, in part, my presentation of my research on linked data technology at the 2016 Music Library Association Annual Meeting. |
| United University Professional Development Award | 2012 | ||
| American Library Association Spectrum Scholarship | 2008 | ||
| Columbia University Faculty Fellowship | 2006 | ||
| Columbia University Faculty Fellowship | 2005 | ||
| Columbia University Faculty Fellowship | 2004 | ||
| University Fellowship in the Humanities | 2002 | ||
| University Fellowship in the Humanities | 2001 | ||
| Rappaport Summer Music Fellowship | 2000 | ||
| Charles Hayden Memorial Scholarship | 1999 | ||
| Charles Hayden Memorial Scholarship | 1998 | ||
| Charles Hayden Memorial Scholarship | 1997 | ||
| Charles Hayden Memorial Scholarship | 1996 |
Department
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search Committee for Electronic Serials Specialist | 10/1/2021 | Present | |
| Data Services Group | 1/1/2016 | Present | |
| Department Secretary | 9/1/2015 | Present | |
| Newman Library Institutional Repository Working Group | 11/1/2014 | Present | |
| Curriculum Committee | 8/27/2014 | Present | |
| Search Committee for Open Collections Librarian | 10/18/2016 | 4/26/2017 |
College
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Committee on Committees of the Baruch College Faculty | Committee Chair | Present | |
| Governance Review Committee | Committee Member | Present | |
| Newman Library Institutional Repository Working Group | Present | ||
| Data Services Group | Present | ||
| Department Secretary | Officer | Present | |
| Committee on Collegiate Athletics | Committee Member | Present | |
| Library Liaison to the Office of Communications and Marketing | Liaison to the Office of Communications and Marketing | Present | |
| Department Executive Committee | Committee Member | Present | |
| College Personal and Budget Committee | Committee Member | Present | |
| Independent Units Personal and Budget Committee | Committee Chair | Present | |
| Committee on Ceremonial Occasions | Committee Member | Present | |
| Library Liaison to Baruch Athletics | Liaison to Baruch Athletics | Present | |
| Data Governance Council | Committee Member | 10/15/2024 | |
| Department Secretary | Officer | 8/24/2022 | |
| Curriculum Committee (Departmental) | Committee Member | 5/24/2022 | |
| Search Committee for Electronic Serials Specialist | Committee Member | 1/31/2022 | |
| Search Committee for Open Collections Librarian | 4/26/2017 | ||
| Ad Hoc Committee on Faculty Recognition and Support | Committee Member | 5/29/2016 | |
| Library Consultant to the Fine and Performing Arts Department | 8/11/2014 |
University
| Committee Name | Position Role | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cataloging Committee, Office of Library Services | Committee Member | 10/1/2020 | Present |
| Electronic Resource Management Committee, Office of Library Services | Committee Member | 10/1/2020 | Present |
| Reports and Analytics Special Interest Group, Office of Library Services | Committee Member | 10/1/2020 | Present |
| Institutional Review Board | Committee Member | 8/1/2021 | Present |
| Data Migration Task Force, Office of Library Services | Committee Member | 5/17/2018 | 8/5/2020 |
Professional
| Organization | Position Role | Organization State | Organization Country | Start Date | End Date | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Information Standards Organization | Member | 10/1/2020 | Present | |||
| ISO TC 46 / SC 11 / WG21 - Digital Legacies | Committee Member | 10/26/2024 | Present | International | ||
| Argento New Music Project | Board of Advisors of a Company | New York | 1/1/2013 | Present | ||
| Music Reference Services Quarterly | Editorial Review Board Member | 10/1/2019 | Present | |||
| Music Library Association - Gerboth/Bradley Research Award Committee | Committee Member | 3/21/2024 | Present | National | ||
| International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres | Officer, Treasurer | 7/29/2022 | Present | International | ||
| Music Library Association - Coral Award Committee | Member | 10/1/2021 | 9/30/2022 | |||
| Music Library Association - Nominating Committee | Member | 3/1/2021 | 2/28/2022 | |||
| Music Reference Services Quarterly | Reviewer, Journal Article | 10/12/2021 | 11/4/2021 | |||
| Notes, the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association | Reviewer, Journal Article | 8/20/2021 | 9/8/2021 | |||
| International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres | Officer, Other Officer | 7/1/2017 | 7/31/2021 | |||
| Music Library Association | Board of Directors of a Company | 2/1/2019 | 3/31/2021 | |||
| Library Trends | Reviewer, Journal Article | 1/8/2021 | 2/7/2021 | |||
| Music Reference Services Quarterly | 10/1/2014 | 9/30/2019 | ||||
| Music Reference Services Quarterly | Reviewer, Journal Article | 8/1/2019 | 8/16/2019 | |||
| Music Library Association - Encoding Standards Subcommittee | Member | 3/1/2016 | 2/28/2019 | |||
| Fontes Artis Musicae | Reviewer, Journal Article | 1/26/2018 | 2/13/2018 | |||
| Music Library Association - Emerging Technologies and Services Committee | Member | 1/1/2013 | 12/31/2017 | |||
| Library Association of the City University of New York | Officer, Other Officer | 1/1/2013 | 12/31/2016 | |||
| Symposium of the International Vocal Arts Workshop at Jeunesses Musicales Croatia | Program Organizer | Croatia | 9/1/2015 | 6/30/2016 | ||
| Music Library Association - BIBFRAME Task Force | Chairperson | 10/1/2014 | 3/31/2016 | |||
| University of Buffalo (SUNY) | External Reviewer | 9/30/2015 | ||||
| University of the Pacific | External Reviewer | 8/31/2015 | ||||
| Music Library Association - Metadata Subcommittee | Member | 1/1/2010 | 12/31/2014 | |||
| Online Music Metadata Clearinghouse | Editor, Journal Editor | 6/9/2014 | ||||
| Library Association of the City University of New York | Officer, Other Officer | 1/1/2010 | 12/31/2013 | |||
| Music Library Association - Metadata Subcommittee | Chairperson | 8/1/2013 | 12/31/2013 | |||
| Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, 3rd ed. | Reviewer, Journal Article | 11/18/2013 | ||||
| Maritime College Committee on Nominations and Elections | Committee Member | New York | 8/1/2011 | 7/31/2013 | ||
| Federal Depository Library Program (Depository 0416) | Program Coordinator | New York | 8/1/2010 | 7/31/2013 | ||
| State University of New York Librarians Association | Officer, Other Officer | 8/1/2010 | 7/31/2013 | |||
| State University of New York, Faculty Senate Operations Committee | Committee Member | 10/1/2011 | 7/31/2013 | |||
| Journal of Library Metadata | Reviewer, Journal Article | 7/1/2013 | 7/31/2013 | |||
| International Vocal Arts Workshop, Jeunesses Musicales Croatia in Grožnjan | Program Organizer | Croatia | 6/6/2013 | 6/25/2013 | ||
| Music Library Association - Virtual Educational Outreach Program Task Force | Task Force Member | 10/1/2011 | 5/31/2012 | |||
| Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal | Editor, Journal Editor | New York | 1/1/2007 | 12/31/2009 |