Sources for studies on the Polish phonography - summary of the 2nd stage of task realisation

The Polish Librarians' Association completed in December 2020 the next stage of the project "Sources for studies on the Polish phonography since 1878 till present days", the continuation of the task realised in the years 2016-2017 as a grant of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The project responds to the repeated calls for gathering information about writings concerning Polish sound recordings and continues development of the first collections which have been started at that time.

The project aimed to collect bibliographic information about writings concerning recordings of Polish composers and performers, sound publications (co)created by Polish sound directors, musicologists, or graphics, as well as the recordings published by record companies Polish or active within the territory of Poland. It includes also texts concerning phonography, written by Polish authors or in the Polish language. Regarding the form, the bibliography includes monographs, ephemera, unpublished theses, journal articles, as well as journalist texts of different kinds, mostly reviews of the recordings, notes, and references.

While collecting the bibliography, the team of experts (musicologists, librarians, archivists) from the National Library of Poland, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the National Film Archive of Poland, academic and public libraries, has analysed a couple of hundred sources, including the British "Gramophon" annual journal (published since 1923), concerning classic music. The foremost Polish journals have also been searched, including "Ruch Muzyczny" [Music Movement] (published since 1945), "Muzyka" [Music] (published since 1950), "Glissando" - the journal concerning modern music (published since 2004), and "Fragile: Pismo Kulturalne" [Fragile: The Cultural Magazine] (published since 2008). Other journals (more than 120 titles in total) were analysed selectively. Journals from the mid-war period are represented in a fairly large number. They include dailies and cultural magazines, but also specialist titles, like for instance the "Antena" (broadcasting-related magazine) or the "Dźwięk" [Sound] monthly, concerning mechanic music, radio, and sound film. E-journals were also included (e.g. "Megakultura - Muzyka, Edukacja, Artyści" [Mega-culture - Music, Education, Artists]), as well as monographs published in the years 1953-2019.

The "Bibliography of the Polish phonography" amounts currently to 14 thousand descriptions, gathered in two databases: "Articles, monographs, and theses" and "Reviews from journals". Open access databases are available at the project website www.sbp.pl/fonografia, a part of the PLA portal. The searching engine enables searching for different detailed data, like text title, author's, editor's and/or tutor's name, journal title, publication date, subject, names of composers or performers being mentioned in the text.

The source material collected in the "Bibliography of the Polish phonography" can be used for further, in-depth research in musicology, history, or cultural studies. It can be used for works concerning e.g. musical performance, repertoires of sound recordings, reception of phonography, Polish recording industry, history of individual recording companies. The bibliography is also a comprehensive information source for non-professionals interested in phonography, who have often tried to complete the material concerning specific time, territory, or company in the last couple of years.
The bibliography has been promoted both in Poland and internationally, e.g. during national conferences organised by the Sound Libraries Section of the PLA Management Board. It was presented at the IAML Congress in 2019 (International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres) on July 14,19, 2019 in Cracow, attended by approximately 300 experts in music libraries from all over the world. A few articles concerning Polish sound libraries were published in 2020 in the "Bibliotekarz" [Librarian] monthly journal.
    
Sources for studies on the Polish phonography since 1878 till present days – the continuation of the project and increase of the range of dissemination of information on the Polish phonography – a task funded under agreement 839/P-DUN/2019 by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, from the funds on science dissemination.