In the early 1960s, Barry S. Brook created a standardized form that RILM’s New York offices used to collect abstracts. Printed on thin, color-coded paper, these forms enabled RILM’s first editors to organize and edit submissions efficiently. Each color represented a different language: green for German, yellow for English, orange for Italian, pink for Spanish, and red for Russian. RILM distributed these forms worldwide. As Executive Editor Zdravko Blazeković recalls, the forms were a familiar sight on university campuses around the globe–he first encountered them as a graduate student in Zagreb, long before he later joined RILM in New York.
Editors first filled out the paper forms by hand before transferring the information into an IBM SG360 computer. Used from 1965 to 1978, the SG360 was the first family of computers designed to support both commercial and scientific applications, offering models that ranged from small entry-level systems to large mainframes. The early data-entry program the editors worked with was WYLBUR, a text editor and word processor introduced in 1967. Beyond RILM, WYLBUR was also used at institutions such as the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), and numerous other sites.
While the production of RILM Abstracts has consistently depended on computing technology, the systems available in the 1960s and 1970s were unable to fully support its multilingual and multicultural mission. Even the advanced IBM System/370 mainframe, employed between 1970 and 1988, offered only limited functionality for rendering diverse fonts, writing systems, and diacritical marks. From its founding in 1966, however, RILM prioritized the accurate representation of names and terms–including their display in original scripts–as a central objective.
During the 1960s and 1970s, RILM’s Soviet national committee made significant contributions by supplying many records of Russian-language publications. Because the IBM System/370 mainframe could not render authors’ names and titles in Cyrillic script, RILM editors turned instead to the IBM Selectric typewriter, introduced in 1961. The Selectric quickly became a commercial success, with IBM receiving four times the anticipated number of orders within its first year.
IBM Selectric’s typeballs.
The Selectric’s distinctive typeball–a rotating mechanism resembling a golf ball–improved both typing efficiency and the visual quality of text. Its capacity to switch between multiple fonts and alphabets within seconds anticipated the flexibility of later word processors and personal computers. For RILM editors, the interchangeable typeball served almost as an automated transliteration tool: by installing a Cyrillic typeball, they could generate Russian texts while using a standard Roman-letter keyboard.
In July 1965, RILM’s founder, Barry S. Brook, was conducting research in Europe when he attended the International Association of Music Libraries (IAML) congress in Dijon. During the congress, he introduced his ambitious idea of creating an international bibliography of music literature, which he had already named “RILM”. Brook emphasized the transformative potential of using computers for music documentation–an innovative concept at the time. According to Brook, even note-taking would become unnecessary as “any page passing . . . on the screen can immediately be reproduced in paper form or be recalled at will later. We may even dare dream of that famous little black box in which the entire contents of the Library of Congress or of the Bibliothèque Nationale, or both, are stored in speedily recallable form.” Brook envisioned a system where scholars engaged in specific research projects could request bibliographic searches from a computer database and receive automatically generated printouts in response. This forward-thinking approach laid the groundwork for what would become a foundational resource in music scholarship worldwide.
Barry S. Brook in Europe, mid-1960s.
Recognizing that RILM was too small an organization to carry out its ambitious goals alone, Brook reached an agreement with Lockheed Research Laboratory in Palo Alto–a division of Lockheed Missiles and Space Company–to assist in data distribution. Through this partnership, RILM’s bibliographic data could be transmitted via telephone lines, a remarkable innovation given that this took place more than 30 years before internet technology became commercially available.
IBM mainframe computer, 1964. Photo courtesy of IBM.
RILM employees at their computers in 1992.
Following the founding of RILM Abstracts, it quickly became evident that its production depended heavily on computing technology. However, the computing capabilities of the 1960s and 1970s were not fully equipped to handle the complexities of RILM’s multilingual and multicultural mission. Even the powerful IBM System/370 mainframe (pictured in the first image above)–used in RILM’s production from 1970 to 1988–had significant limitations in rendering diverse fonts, writing systems, and diacritical marks. Yet from its inception in 1967, RILM was committed to representing names and terms in their most accurate and original forms, including their native scripts. To meet this standard, RILM editors often relied on a much simpler tool: the IBM Selectric typewriter, which allowed for manual switching between typeballs to produce various fonts and writing systems that the mainframe could not yet support.
The main entrance to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts’s exhibition Lou Reed: Caught between the twisted stars opens up on Lincoln Plaza, directly adjacent to the The Metropolitan Opera house. On a sunny day, the Met’s … Continue reading →
Seven strings/Сім струн (dedicated to Uncle Michael)* For thee, O Ukraine, O our mother unfortunate, bound, The first string I touch is for thee. The string will vibrate with a quiet yet deep solemn sound, The song from my heart … Continue reading →
Introduction: Dr. Philip Ewell, Associate Professor of Music at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, posted a series of daily tweets during Black History Month (February 2021) providing information on some under-researched Black … Continue reading →
For it [the Walkman] permits the possibility…of imposing your soundscape on the surrounding aural environment and thereby domesticating the external world: for a moment, it can all be brought under the STOP/START, FAST FOWARD, PAUSE and REWIND buttons. –Iain Chambers, “The … Continue reading →
