Digitalization Project - Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music

About the project

The digitization project arose from the need to protect rare and fragile resources of the Library's Puerto Rican Collection and to facilitate access to Puerto Rican musical heritage, in line with our mission to “preserve and disseminate Puerto Rican musical heritage.” These digital resources aspire to be valuable not only for students and professors of the Conservatory, but also for scholars interested in researching Puerto Rican musical heritage and its history.

The final result of the work carried out as part of the different projects are the Digital Collections available through the Library's online catalog. Please note that the Digital Collections can only be accessed from the Conservatory campus. The collections are broken down below:

Puerto Rican Collection of the Amaury Veray Library – Includes scores, books and sound recordings by Puerto Rican composers and performers or residents of Puerto Rico.
Jesús María Sanromá Collection – Recordings on 33 1/3 rpm and 78 rpm records and tapes belonging to Jesús María Sanromá. Many of them are rare recordings of Sanromá himself playing alone or with figures such as Paul Hindemith and William Primrose.
Roberto Milano Collection – More than 200 compositions by Roberto Milano, American composer, Episcopal priest and Conservatory professor, living in Puerto Rico since 1976.
Puerto Rican Music Transcription Project – Originally started as a project to convey art songs for singing students, this collection now includes transcriptions of more than 100 art songs by composers who are Puerto Rican or resident in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican dances, and other rare and/or in-condition pieces. of deterioration.
Collaborative Project between the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and the General Archive of Puerto Rico for Virtual Access to Musical Resources from Puerto Rican Collections – Scores of 19th century composers kept by the General Archive of Puerto Rico.

Built-in resource types

Sound recordings from the Puerto Rican Collection – They include cassettes and records of 33 1/3 rpm, 45 rpm and 78 rpm. Additionally included are resources that are not classified under the Puerto Rican Collection that contain recordings by Puerto Rican performers or composers. (Note: These recordings will later be reclassified under the Puerto Rican Collection.)
Sheet music – Compositions by Puerto Rican composers or composers residing in Puerto Rico, prioritizing manuscripts, rare resources and/or printed resources in a state of deterioration.
Books – Those that represent a rare and/or difficult to obtain resource, often consulted by the academic community.
Transcripts – Art songs by Puerto Rican composers or those residing in Puerto Rico are included with the intention of being able to transport them in tone, Puerto Rican dances and other rare and/or deteriorated pieces that are difficult to read.

The digitization projects of the Amaury Veray Library are possible thanks to funds from the ADAI Program (Support for the Development of Ibero-American Archives) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. With part of these funds, the first stage of the Collaborative Project between the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and the General Archive of Puerto Rico was also financed, to allow virtual access to part of the musical resources belonging to the Music and Sound Archive of the Archive General of Puerto Rico.

Technical specifications

The original digital files of the scores and covers of the sound recordings are created in TIFF format, in color (24-bit RGB) and at 600 dpi. The derived files are created in JPEG format, which are used to create the PDF that the public will see on the Conservatory's internal network.

LP records are digitized in WAV format with a depth of 32 bits and a sampling rate of 48 kHz. The derived files, which the public has access to through the online catalog, are created in MP3.

Digitized resources

Sheet music: 535 • Discs: 308 • Transcripts: 52

Update: March 2017

Release of responsibility

The Amaury Veray Library fulfills its responsibility to inform users of digital collections about the importance of abiding by the provisions contained in the laws that govern copyright. By using the digital collections, the user agrees to exempt the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music from any civil or criminal liability resulting from the violative use of the resources in the collections. We encourage all users to familiarize themselves with our Policy for the Use of Images and Sound Recordings in the Digital Collection.

NOTE: The Digital Collections can only be accessed from the Conservatory campus.

Contact

Sigfredo Lopez
Digitalization Project Coordinator
Amaury Veray Library
Annex hall
slopez@cmpr.pr.gov