Mapping Sound ‘Off the Map’ at UCC: The Potential of Collaboration Between the Library’s Special Collections and the Musicology Department

Description

Dr Jillian Rogers was formerly of the Dept of Music in UCC (2016-2019).

From the English Market to Merchant’s Quay, Cork City has a rich sonic history that musicology postgraduate students examine in UCC’s “Sound Studies” module. Similarly, UCC Library’s Special Collections has a unique collection of sources that, in encouraging consideration of intersections between history and geography, provides clues as to what locations in Cork sounded like in the past. In the last decade, libraries’ Special Collections have moved away from ‘show and tell’ presentations to more conscious engagement with academics, as evidenced by Bahde et al and Mitchell et al. At UCC, this trend has manifested in undergraduates using Special Collections in new ways: research-led teaching on Irish manuscripts and problem-based enquiry for studying short stories (Harrington, 2015). This “Sound Studies” module continues this trend by illustrating how a symbiotic relationship between researchers in Special Collections, music, and digital humanities, permits primary sources to offer a means to study, create, and map historical sounds. As such, this module provides a model for how libraries might become more embedded in teaching and learning within their universities.

In this presentation, we address the opportunities for research and teaching that UCC’s “Sound Studies” module has facilitated, focusing on the fruitful collaboration between the University’s Library Special Collections and its Musicology Department. This collaboration has enabled students to consider how music, sound and sound practices have shifted historically in Cork through examination of UCC Library’s collection of maps, almanacs, tourist guides, and visitor accounts. Significantly, this interdisciplinary module offers an experimental space for students, librarians, and researchers to contemplate how primary sources shape the production of historical knowledge, as well as the creation of historically-informed soundscapes. In so doing, this module – a pilot for a larger project entitled “Mapping Sound in Cork City” – holds the potential to enable new, creative ways of addressing historical questions.

Period	31 May 2017
Event title	Consortium of National and University Libraries: Inspiring and Supporting Research
Event type	Conference
Location	Athlone, IrelandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National