2. Research Guides

Music Library Staff Guide: Aviary Projects

What is Aviary?

Aviary is a platform used by Vanderbilt University Libraries to provide streaming access to audiovisual materials. It is currently made up of archival collections held by Special Collections, University Archives, and the Wilson Music Library. The home page of Aviary is accessible here.

Creating Summaries

  1. Access Aviary at https://aviary.library.vanderbilt.edu
  2. Navigating:
    1. In the upper left-hand menu, select Collections.
    2. Scroll down to the Phil Schaap Jazz Collection and select “Search Collection”. (Don’t just click on the collection name, since you get fewer options if you do.)
    3. On the left-hand side of the screen are a series of facets that can be used to narrow down the collection. Go to the one called Keyword and limit the results to Provisional Record (should be the first option).
  3. Open a file and start listening to one of the programs. While listening, take notes or think of important points that should be included in a short summary. 
    1. To prevent overlap, put the record # of the program you are working on in the Google Sheet (instructions below) and a note that says in progress so you don't accidentally take someone else's work!
  4. After listening, write a short paragraph that covers the overarching content of the radio show or interview. This can range from very granular in the case of the Bird Flight series (e.g., which particular Charlie Parker recording), or very general (e.g., the life and output of a particular interviewee).  For interviews (which also could be within radio shows): Note who/when/where, and a general idea of the content (e.g., about working with Miles Davis or John Coltrane). For live sound recordings, try to account for date/place/time, personnel, and any setlist. Note incomplete performances or technical problems.
  5. Access the Google Sheet at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1K9gHPtuhnEhEXbHyPu0SB8HKrP1yJO_ZiXDuey8o8xA/edit?usp=sharing
    1.  Aviary record # is required. This number is unique to a particular record in Aviary, and can be found as the final number in the URL for the record (e.g., 132340)
    2. Metadata field is required. When creating summaries, this will be Description. 
    3. Put your paragraph summary in the Changes needed column.
    4. Add your initials, date you created the summary, and any notes or other concerns about the content.

    5. Jake will go through and check your work. He may add highlighted notes about wanting you to add additional information, so make sure to go back and check daily to see if there is anything you need to edit. 

Editing Transcripts

  1. Access Aviary at https://aviary.library.vanderbilt.edu
  2. Navigating:
    1. In the upper left-hand menu, select Collections.
    2. Scroll down to the Phil Schaap Jazz Collection and select “Search Collection”. (Don’t just click on the collection name, since you get fewer options if you do.)
    3. On the left-hand side of the screen are a series of facets that can be used to narrow down the collection. Go to the one called Has Transcript and limit the results to Yes.
  3. Open one of the broadcasts, go to the Transcript tab, and click the pencil button to start editing.
  4. We are primarily wanted to correct proper nouns (names, places, etc.). If there is a name that is misspelled often, you can use the find and replace function. Don't worry about editing out all the umms, repeated words, or fixing grammatical errors. That will take too long, and we want to make sure just the most important parts are edited. 

  5. You may find transcriptions without punctuation or where the AI did not transcribe the whole recording or other errors. Notate these on the Incomplete Transcript Sheet: Incomplete_Transcripts.xlsx (you can also find this in a chat in the Digitization subchannel of Teams)

  6. Once you finish a transcription, In the transcription Description field for the appropriate part, enter "Corrected by [First name] [Last name], [Date]'. If there is already data in the Description field, enter "; corrected by [First name] [Last name], [Date]" 
  7. When a transcription or transcription part is corrected, comment on the Corrected Transcripts thread in the Digitization subchannel of Teams.
  8. Meagan or Michael spot checks and appends more to the Description field: "checked by [Initials]".
  9. When ALL parts are completed, Meagan or Michael edit the master record to remove "Whisper AI text transcript".

Resources

We recommend using Oxford Music Online if you need a resource relating to any information about the radio shows or interviews. You will need to login with your VUNet ID and password.

Library of Congress Authorities is a great resource as well for searching up correct spellings of an artist or performing group.