Nicholas Alexander Brown

This study examines the use of technology and digital rights management to serve museum, library and archive collections digitally. Watermarks are specifically studied as a type of technological protection measure (TPM) that can be used to make protected content available for fair use, such as research and study. Watermarks and other TPMs will be evaluated in the context of the New York Philharmonic Digital Archives, which serves some copyrighted materials digitally under fair use. Conductor scores and instrumental parts are included in these digital collections, raising questions about the application of TPMs and fair use. Effective and ineffective aspects of the New York Philharmonic model are compared to successful models relating to music via other digital platforms, including the music publisher Boosey & Hawkes and the IMSLP Petrucci Music Library. Three key technological recommendations are put forward to better balance the interests of copyright holders and researchers, who have a specific right to access content for education and study purposes under current U.S. copyright law.

This study analyzes the role of German-American musicologist and library executive Carl Engel (1883-1944) as a luminary in the field of music librarianship. Engel served as the chief of the Library of Congress Music Division between 1922 and 1934. As the leader in charge of the largest music collection in the United States, Engel had a unique opportunity to shape the course of the new field of music librarianship. He believed that all components of the music industry, including publishing, libraries, presenters, and musicology, must work together to advance musical culture in the United States. Engel’s impact on music librarianship is evaluated through his role in the founding of the Music Library Association in 1931, the advancement of collections development policies at the Library of Congress, and the presenting of public programs at the Library of Congress through a public-private partnership. His innovations in the field of music librarianship have had an enduring impact through the early-twentieth century, and remain at the heart of contemporary music librarianship.

This study examines the issue of user privacy in 21st century information centers, based on post-9/11 expansions of law enforcement search authority under legislation like the USA PATRIOT Act. Information professionals, including at publicly funded libraries, are expected to defend user privacy to the full extent of local policies, state law, and guidelines established by the American Library Association in the organization’s “Code of Ethics” (2008) and “Library Bill of Rights” (1996). A case study will examine the Newton Free Library’s response to an FBI threat investigation that requested user records without a court order. The Library director’s response serves as a model for how information professionals can defend user privacy and comply with state and local law, while fulfilling lawful records requests from law enforcement. This model is particularly applicable in the United States in the 21st century, given regular expansions of the federal government’s authority to collect private electronic communications.