ABSTRACT

The first use of the phrase 'information technology', according to the Oxford English Dictionary, was in 1958 in an article by Harold J. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler. Information technology has meant different things at different times. It has increased from just a small number of applications to influencing most parts of our work and daily lives. One of the earliest records of using a computer in musicological research was by Bertrand H. Bronson in 1949, who used a computer to assist with the indexing of The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. In International Association of Music Libraries (IAML), the international body of IAML(UK), the first formal mention of information technology was recorded in 1965 at the IAML Congress in Dijon. A round-table discussion was held on the 'Utilization of data-processing techniques in music documentation'. Today, progress has been made in the area of electronic journals but dissertations, monographs and printed music scores are also in demand.