Despite calls for electronic; virtual; digital libraries without walls; the walled variety are still being built; some of them massive. This book explores the reasons for this contradiction by examining several notable new library facilities around the world to see how modern expectations for libraries are being translated into concrete and steel. More and more libraries are looking at change not as a dreaded hazard but as an opportunity that can itself be seized to strengthen the library in the areas of mission; technologies; facilities; funding; and organizational structure. Thirteen libraries are discussedmdash;by a librarian or administrator who worked on the project. Each author writes about the design and building concerns that were particularly relevant to that library: philosophy; political issues; or any other concerns that affected planning; building; and services in the new facility. Introductory and concluding chapters identify underlying values and themes; tying everything together. The unique combinations of issues; constraints; and opportunities show how libraries are planning to fit into the approaching era of virtual information delivery.
#1742843 in eBooks 2012-11-30 2012-11-30File Name: B00AG3UBVO
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. The Confections of (Total) SerialismBy Brian MorganMartin Iddon; Associate Professor of Music at the University of Leeds; wrote a much-needed; fascinating book; "New Music at Darmstadt" (2013); regarding the "Darmstadt School;" which was led by the dodecaphonic composers Pierre Boulez; Luigi Nono; and Karlheinz Stockhausen.The "Golden Age" of the Internationale Ferienkurse fuuml;r Neue Musik began somewhat after World War II and ended with the sudden death; in 1961; of its Founder; Wolfgang Steinecke. The book covers the exciting discoveries of the severest serial composers of the day; replete with bitter polemics and musical politics. Intellectuals like Theodor W. Adorno and Heinz-Klaus Metzger formed an important part of the scene. For this reviewer; this "School" was the true heir to the Second Viennese School; the great trio of Arnold Schoenberg; Anton von Webern; and Alban Berg.Listening to recordings of the various composers associated with that era at Darmstadt (also including Bruno Maderna; Luciano Berio; Iannis Xenakis; Olivier Messiaen; Milton Babbitt; Hans Werner Henze; Bernd Alois Zimmermann; and Humphrey Searle); one is astonished by the thrilling; uncompromising; and theatrical works produced. Difficult they are; to be certain; for both performers and audiences; but intensely dramatic; sometimes even transcendent.Iddon brings us through what was the degradation of the "Darmstadt School;" with the pernicious influence of John Cage; who (according to Carl Dahlhaus) "swept across the European avant-garde like a natural disaster;" with his puerile ideas of chance operations and his gradual artistic eccentricity. M.Boulez diagnosed the problem in 1957: "The most basic embodiment of chance is to be found in the adoption of a quasi-oriental philosophy in order to conceal a fundamental weakness in compositional technique: a cure for creative suffocation...." Nono noted that improvisation is self-centered; it "serves as the adjuration of a god; such that today it is ones own ego which is conjured up."The "abstract negation" (Adornos words) of what Cage and his followers were doing cut into the trajectory of musical development; leaving us with the trivia and sterility (often fatally influenced by commercial music) we too often hear that passes for contemporary music in our concert halls and opera houses.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Excellent read for those interested in this periodBy CenbeAn excellent if somewhat pedantic study of the period that defines the end of classical music as we know it. Iddon points out common misbeliefs about both "total serialism" (there was a wide divergence in technique among these composers; and "fully pre-determined pieces of textbook multiple serialism are rare indeed") and aleatoric music (for example; the fact that David Tudor often prepared fully-realized scores even of John Cages works for performance).If you can get through the dense prose; youll come away with a much better understanding of the so-called "Darmstadt School" and the history behind it. By the way; the lovely young lady on the cover is Schouml;nbergs daughter Nuria; who married Luigi Nono.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Important book.By MusikantA major contribution to the history of post-war music.