by
Frank Boles
Laura
Thompson has joined the Clarke Historical Library’s staff as our new cataloger, as
well as having responsibility for cataloging music in the University Library.
While
new to the Clarke Historical Library, Laura has been at Central Michigan
University since 2015. Prior to her new role as Cataloger and Music Librarian,
she worked as a Research and Instruction Librarian in University Library,
supporting the areas of Music, Art & Design, Fashion Merchandising &
Design, Interior Design, and Recreation, Parks, and Leisure. In 2014, she
received her MLS and MA in Musicology degrees from Indiana University,
Bloomington (IU), where she specialized in Music Librarianship.
Her
cataloging experience includes working with historical sound recording formats
(78s, LPs, 45s, cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, acetate transcription discs) and
accompanying documentation at the Archives of Traditional Music at IU. She also
participated in a month-long codicology (the study of codices or manuscript
books written on parchment (or paper) as physical objects) and manuscript
description course in Italy, titled, “Musical Collectorship in Italy in the
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries: A Survey of the Greggiati Collection in
Ostiglia and a Model of Electronic Research Tool.”
The
project studied and worked with early 19th-century Italian music manuscripts
(mostly Italian opera). She described these materials for inclusion in an
eventual digital tool that makes possible both connecting data from different
musical collections and also help scholars reconstruct how the music was
gathered together and collected. She gained additional experience working with
special collections materials as a student working in IU’s Lilly Library.
She
is very excited to be able to put her knowledge into practice working with the
collections of the Clarke Historical Library.