RIdIM Database

 
RidIM is delighted to announce the development of an enhanced version of the database of music iconological sources.

This does, however, mean that in the short term we are not able to issue new passwords for access to the current version of the database. If you have specific queries or would like to pre-register for access once it becomes available, please send your details to our International office addressed to
Dr. Debra Pring (email: ridim@sas.ac.uk)


About the Database

The RIdIM database is designed to facilitate discovery of music iconography images by registered researchers. The database is web-based and platform independent and access to the search facility will be free of charge to scholars linked to academic institutions, galleries, museums etc. and also to independent researchers. Database records contain descriptions of art works featuring music-related objects, persons and places. Whenever possible, links to online views of the art are included and in many cases thumbnails of the image concerned will be able to be viewed within the record. The scope of art works and artefacts contained in the database encompasses a wide spectrum of techniques and media (drawings, engravings, paintings, sculpture, etc.) and the musical content includes depictions of instruments, musicians, music patrons, music notation, performance venues and more.

A powerful and flexible searching interface will allow retrieval of works using both free-text keywords and controlled vocabulary terms. Examples of search access points include names of artists and composers, musical instruments, titles (often in multiple languages), art media, date of creation and owning institutions (museums, archives, etc.).

The database is being designed to take advantage of current technology and support widely used concepts and standards for metadata, including those specially designed for art, music and iconography. Examples include:

  • Unicode text encoding
  • Repeatable fields for entering unlimited numbers of artists, titles and other data
  • Controlled, centrally edited lists of artist and musician names, museum names, art media terms and geographic places
  • A rich controlled vocabulary for musical instruments, organized using the Hornbostel-Sachs instrument classification system
  • Free-text fields for entering descriptions, information on related art works, bibliographic references and various types of notes

    For cataloguers, a detailed, field-by-field style guide is available to provide examples and guidelines for metadata input standards, ranging from the basic required fields to the many optional detailed-level fields. As the database continues to develop and feedback from cataloguers is received, the guide will be updated and revised on an ongoing basis.