iTunes University and ARL Academic Libraries

iTunes University is a free service offered by Apple iTunes to educational institutions. It serves as a platform for the management and distribution of educational, instructional, and informational resources through both audio and video podcasts. Participation in the service among colleges and universities continues to grow since its official launch in 2007 as an official offshoot of the iTunes store. While several universities in the United States and Canada have established a presence on iTunes University, the involvement of the ARL members varies. This study surveys the presence of ARL academic libraries on iTunes University and the visibility of the library on the school's iTunes University page and examines the types of resources offered by participating libraries. It also highlights model participants as examples for other institutions and considers what implications future involvement in the service may hold for academic libraries.     

iTunes Metadata and Classical Music: Issues and Solutions for Crowdsourced Metadata in iTunes

Crowdsourced metadata available in iTunes is too often insufficient or even incorrect for classical music recordings. Listeners find themselves frustrated when the only options iTunes provides are illogical. What we need is a group of professionals who are experts in music and information organization to clean things up. Enter the Music Library Association. The author proposes that this national group with ten regional chapters divide the work of providing improved metadata for classical recordings, using an open source program such as freedb. Working with Gracenote, individual music librarians could also correct existing data and reduce instances of a user encountering poor information.