Backstage

A performing arts collections project

Backstage is a cross sectoral project to provide a single point of entry for searching performing arts collections in the UK. It is aimed at the research community, plus anyone with an interest in the performing arts.

The aims of the Project are to:

• Convert the catalogues of existing specialist performing arts collections into electronic format, in order to develop a national performing arts clump allowing cross-searching at item level

• Work closely with the Theatre Museum to create a national database of Collection Level Descriptions for all performing arts collections in the UK

• Work closely with the Theatre Museum to produce an online version of their Directory of performing Arts Resources as an integral part of the collection database

• Develop a Web to Z39.50 gateway as a single point of entry for searching both item and collection databases

• Develop a national service using recognised standards to form the basis of future work

The lead institution is the University of Kent at Canterbury, who are supported in the management of the project by the University of Bristol. The technical work on the project is being undertaken by the Institute for Learning and Research Technology, Bristol, host to over 46 projects in the area of ICT including Biz/ed, JIDI (The JISC Image Digitisation Initiative), Regard: UK Social Science Research, and SOSIG (Social Science Information Gateway).

The following institutions are funded for retrospective conversion of existing records not currently in electronic format.

• Bodleian Library

• Royal Holloway, University of London

• University College, Northampton

• University of Birmingham

• University of Bristol

• University of Exeter

• University of Hull

• University of Kent at Canterbury

They are joined in a commitment to provide Collection Level Descriptions by the following institutions:

• British Library

• City of Westminster Archive

• Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru - National Library of Wales

• National Library of Scotland

• Theatre Museum

• University of East Anglia

• University of Glasgow

• University of Leeds

• University of Manchester

• University of Sheffield

In May 2001 invitations to provide directory information and collection level descriptions for the project were sent out to over 400 further organisations in the UK. The web pages of the project are in the final stages of development and the service was launched officially to the academic community on June 10th 2002.

The Databases

The Backstage databases will contain at the end of the project:

• Directory information for ca400 institutions holding performing arts material

• Several hundred Collection Level Descriptions for relevant performing arts collections in those institutions, the descriptions based on the RSLP Collection Level Description Schema

• Item or file level records for ca140,000 items held at the HE institutions funded for retrospective conversion of records under the project

The Future

The University of Kent, University of Bristol and the Theatre Museum are committed to provide basic maintenance and enhancement of the databases as a long term national resource. They will further be actively seeking funding to develop a comprehensive thesaurus of the performing arts, the methodology for which has been developed by the project, and to add digitised images of items or from collections within the databases.

Contact

The Backstage Project Manager is:

Project website

http://www.backstage.ac.uk/

Content: Gill Davenport
Last updated 2 July 2002