Prototype Interactive
Library Catalogue

An instructive example using an interactive table

1. The entries contained in the table below are a small sample from my own library.
2. Data can be transcribed and maintained by Librarian in a Word table or any spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets, etc.) and exported to a CSV data file.
3. The data file can be uploaded by Webmaster to TablePress (a Word Press plugin).
4. The new version of the table is instantly displayed on the HSRP > Library webpage!
5. Time to complete tasks 3+4 is <5 minutes.
6. Cost, nil!
7. The resulting online table will be “responsive” which is to say it adapts to small screens, e.g. on your tablet or telefonino.
8. A database system as such would be overkill for our purposes, given the small data file size and its lack of complexity.
9. I strongly advise against developing and maintaining a catalogue of scores using a library system, least of all one as arcane as Librarika. Nobody wants the trouble of feeding and watering such a system. It is inappropriate to the scope of our dataset and the needs of our audience.
10. Amongst the advantages of the approach I illustrate below is separation of the tasks of (1) assembling and managing the data, and (2) making it visible to our members online in something as intuitive to use as a moderately intelligent interactive table. The latter task (2) really is trivial; the former (1) is demanding and time-consuming, but it is here that HSRP should put its time and effort.
11. Transcribing our current library data into a familiar spreadsheet, rigorously formatting its content against a set of well-formulated standards, is a tedious business, to be sure, but it only needs doing once! Thereafter, incorporating new items would simply involve the Librarian entering them into the spreadsheet and forwarding a copy to the Webmaster. This is well within the abilities of present and future HSRP members.

I invite you to play with the following prototype!

1. Start by filtering out a few columns you might not want to see by clicking on the Column Visibility button
2. Try clicking off some of the data fields, e.g. Place, Series Editor, Contributor; then click somewhere on the table itself
3. Try clicking on one of the output buttons: e.g. Excel
4. Try Sorting on a column by clicking its title, e.g. Composer
5. Try a Search on any term, e.g. Flowers. Yes, someone really did compose a collection of 25 musical pieces descriptive of angiosperm species, L’Amarante, La Tulipe, La Jacinte, La Violette, etc.!
6. Try Searching items for SAT recorders
7. Try Searching with H4 to locate works in 4 parts by composers whose family names commence with H
8. You deserve a pastis, after that workout!

Composer	Title	Media	Original Date	Publication Date	Publisher	Place	Archive	Instrumentation	Notes	Editor	Series Editor	Contributor
Baines, Francis Athelstan	Quartet for Recorders	Palisander		1960	Schott	London	B6	AATT
Playford, John	Dances from Playford	University of Georgia Musicum Collegium Recorder Ensemble.	1651	1949	Schott	London	P3			Meech, Michael
Various	Deutsche Meister des Barocks [German Masters of the Baroque Era]		17–18th century	1955	Schott	Mainz	H3 H4			Hillemann, Willi
Giovane da Nola, Joan Domenico del	Five Carnival Songs of the Sixteenth Century	Opia	1541	1956	Associated Music Publishers	New York	V3	SSA SST SAA SAT	These are canzoni villanesche (Neapolitan love songs) rather than (Florentine) canti carnascialeschi (Forentine carnival songs)	Davenport, LaNue
Fricker, Peter Racine	Suite for Three Recorders	Bernard Tola		1956	Schott, for Society of Recorder Players	London	F3	AAT
Hindemith, Paul	Trio for Recorders From the Plöner Musiktag. Edition for recorders in C and F	Hidehiro Nakamura	1932	1952	Schott	London	H3	SAT		Bergmann, Walter
Traditional	Yugoslav Folkdances for Recorder Trio			1956	Schott	London	A3			Allen, W. Stannard (Wiliam Stannard)
Monteverdi, Claudio	Angelus ad pastores ait. Christmas Motet for Three Voices	here	1582	1936	Schott	London	M3			Fellerer, K. Gustav (Karl Gustav)
Smith, Roy Heaton	Serenade Op. 35 for Recorder Trio	André Le Gall		1955	Schott	London	S3	SAT
Meech, Michael	Two Pieces			1949	Schott		M4	SSTT
Various	Suite of Five Pieces from The Compleat Flute Master		1700	1948	Schott, for Society of Recorder Players	London	D2			Dolmetsch, Carl Frederick; Hunt, Edgar Hubert
Holborne, Antony	Two fantasias for three recorders from The Cittharn Schoole	Flautadors	1597	1948	Schott	London	H3			Dart, Robert Thurston
Staeps, Hans Ulrich	Reihe kleiner Duette für zwei Altoblockflöten [A series of short duets for two alto recorders]	André Le Gall		1950	Schott	London	S2	AA
Various	School Flute Tunes			1940	Allan & Co.	Melbourne	A4	AAT ATT AATB AATT		Hall, Anthony
Telemann, Georg Philipp	Drei Sonaten für Drei Altblockflöten [Three sonatas for three alto recorders]	Le Phénix'	1738–1742	1988	Amadeus	Winterthur	T3	AAA		Michel, Winfried; Paüler, Berhard
Quantz, Johann Joachim	Sechs Duette für Zwei Altblockflöten [Six duets for two alto recorders]. Vol. 1	Kan Saito	1759	1982	Amadeus	Winterthur	Q2	AA		Paüler, Berhard
Quantz, Johann Joachim	Sechs Duette für Zwei Altblockflöten [Six duets for two alto recorders]. Vol. 2	Kan Saito	1759	1982	Amadeus	Winterthur	Q2	AA		Paüler, Berhard
Delavigne, Philibert	Les Fleurs [The Flowers]. Pièces pour les Musettes ou Vielles, avec accompagnement de Viol ou de Flûte op. 4	Le Berger Fortune	18th century	1976	Amadeus	Winterthur	D2	AA AT		Kolneder, Walter
Delavigne, Philibert	Les Fleurs [The Flowers]. Pièces pour les Musettes ou Vielles, avec accompagnement de Viol ou de Flûte op. 4	Le Berger Fortune	18th century	1976	Amadeus	Winterthur	D2	AA AT		Kolneder, Walter
Composer	Title	Media	Original Date	Publication Date	Publisher	Place	Archive	Instrumentation	Notes	Editor	Series Editor	Contributor

Tools I used (all free- or donation-ware)

• CSVEdit, to create the data upload file. Excel, Google Sheets, your favourite word processor or even Notepad would do just as well!
• Wikipedia, to check composer & editor details, etc.
• WordPress, the open-source content management system used on the server that hosts my website & the HSRP site
• TablePress (a WordPress plugin), to upload the data file to the HSRP website & configure the online table’s layout, appearance & behaviour.
• TablePress Extensions: Responsive Tables, DataTableButtons, DataTables FixedHeader.
• Google Chrome (internet browser).

Nicholas S. Lander
28 May 2022