Running head: MUSICIANS AS INFORMATION USERS 1

Musicians as Information Users

Sabrina Juhl

Introduction
Study of the information needs of musicians is a relatively new subject with very little research.
This may be due to the complexity and wide variety of the people and needs included in the term
“musician.” Musicians can be educators, students, performers, composers, theorists, historians,
ethnomusicologists, or a combination. The materials musicians need include LPs or CDs; full, vocal, or
miniature scores; and video recordings, along with more traditional information materials such as books
and journals. Musicians may also need very specific editions, arrangements, or performances. Searching
for this information becomes difficult due to foreign languages, generic titles such as sonata or requiem,
and nickname titles such as “Eroica” Symphony (Dougan, 2012, p. 558).
This paper will take a look at five different attempts to understand musician’s information needs.
These studies take a look at different classes of musician: all musicians, American graduate student
composers of electroacoustic music, amateur musicians, and musicians studying at the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music.

User Group and Context

Lavranos, Kostagiolas, Martzoukou, and Papadatos (2015) take a look at all musicians to develop
a model that shows the connection between musical creativity and information seeking behavior. Using
only the information of information theorists who have come before them, Lavranos et al. do not clearly
define their understanding of “musician” for their model allowing it to have the ability to be applied to all
musician classes and the opportunity for further development.
Kostagiolas, Lavranos, Korfiatis, Papadatos, and Papavlasopoulos (2015), use Lavranos’ et al.
(2015) conceptual information seeking behavior model for musical creativity to take a closer look at the
information needs of members of a community concert band. These musicians are unpaid and have
largely varied degrees of music education and ability. The ensemble also has a wide range of ages from
younger than 18 to older than 46. Since concert bands are an ensemble found in many cities around the
world today, Kostagiolas et al. were able to study what one might see as the everyday musician (p. 10).
Narveson (1999) is the oldest study in this paper that addresses the information needs of
musicians. Narveson interacted with nine musicians over the age of 18 who were “actively involved in
playing music and participate in one or more musical group” (p. 7). Narveson also defines these
musicians as amateurs but goes on to say that many have had started playing at a young age, received
private training, and were currently using performing as a way to supplement their income. These
qualities would define them as semi-professionals or professionals in the eyes of musicians. Though
Narveson’s definition of amateur musician is inaccurate, her study takes a look at a variety of musicians
similar to Kostagiolas et al (2015) and can be helpful in understanding some of the common information
needs found in all classes of musicians.
Hunter (2006) holds an MM in Composition and an MS in Library Science (p. 1). Hunter himself
is a composer of electroacoustic music and studied the information seeking behavior and needs of five
fellow composers currently attending American universities (p. 5). Hunter defines electroacoustic music
as a live performer on an acoustic instrument with electronic sounds, or only an electronic instrument, or
a purely electronic performance device, or any variety of those above (p 2).
Dougan (2012) takes a look at the information seeking behaviors and needs of students of the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music. Though these students are vocalists or
instrumentalists, undergraduates or graduates, and are from a variety of majors (performance, education,
theory, composition, etc.), Dougan’s research gives a look into the needs of music students which can be
helpful to many academic librarians (p. 559).
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Theories, Models, and Approaches

Lavranos et al. (2015) developed their own model for information seeking behavior specific to
musicians by using Wilson’s (1999) information seeking behavior model and Webster’s (2002) model of
creative thinking in music. Wilson’s model of information seeking behavior shows that information
seeking depends on the user’s socioeconomic environment where they are placed in different roles that
can affect a user’s physiological, affective, and cognitive state all of which are called the context of
information need. In order to fill that information need, they may come into contact with different barriers
that make finding information difficult. How a user fills their need and interacts with these barriers is seen
as their information-seeking behavior (Lavranos et al. 2015, p. 1073).
Webster’s model of creative thinking in music sees musical creativity similar to Wilson’s model.
Creative thinking begins when the musician decides to create. This is where they gather information and
ideas. Next, the idea is developed but not yet fully formed. Once an idea is fully formed, the musician has
reached illumination. Finally, the idea is expressed in the form of a composition, analysis, or
performance. Along the way, the musician is affected by their environment, role, and state of being. They
may also encounter barriers due to their environment, role, and state of being just as users in Wilson’s
model (Lavranos et al., 2015, p. 1077-8).
The model Lavranos et al. developed has three stages with accompanying sublevels similar to
Webster’s model. State A is “Musical creativity impetus/divergent thinking” which includes A1. Music
information motives for creativity and A2. Creative product intentions (compose, perform, analyze, etc.).
State B “Music information seeking behavior/preferences” includes Wilson’s model of information
seeking behavior but also includes “Enablers/Information literacy” as well as barriers as a factor in
finding information. State C. Musical creativity/convergent thinking is the final stage taking form as C1.
Musical creative activities or C2. Musical creative products (p. 1084). This model is used as the basis for
research done by Kostagiolas et al. (2015).
Narveson (1999), Hunter (2006), and Dougan (2012) do not look to any model or theory for their
research, but instead aim to assist in future developments of musicians and their information needs.
Narveson and Hunter both define their studies as “exploratory” (Narveson, p. 5; Hunter, p. 11) and take
little from information science literature. Dougan, while also disappointed with the existing literature,
does basis her experiment on the finding that recordings and scores seem to be the most important
resource for all musicians (p. 559).

Methods and Techniques

Kostagiolas et al. (2015) used a questionnaire survey that was refined by group sessions with
potential participants and experts. The questions were on “information needs, motives for seeking
information on the Internet, the resources used and the barriers musicians encounter in this process” (p.
11).
Dougan (2012) also used a survey which contained 20 questions on when they look for music scores
and recordings, what tools they use, what elements are valuable to them in their search, how they
discovered those tools, whether or not they become frustrated in research, and if they ask for help when
having trouble researching (p. 560). To further understand the results of the survey, Dougan also held two
focus groups. One was of three graduate students and one was of seven undergraduates, both of which
were held by a LIS graduate student who was working in the arts library at the time. Dougan did not hold
the focus groups because of concerns that students would not feel as comfortable talking to a librarian as
they would talking to a fellow student who they have interacted with previously (p. 561).
Narveson (1999) and Hunter (2006) both held informal interviews. Narveson’s interviews were a half
hour to an hour-long discussion of music background, what affected information needs, and how to meet
those needs (p. 8). Hunter’s interviews were conducted over the phone and by email consisting of open-
ended questions on information needs, motivations behind research, resources used, and barriers
encountered while researching. Hunter also encouraged the interviewees to be as exploratory as desired in
order to gain a more accurate representation of a musician’s information seeking behaviors and
information needs (p. 5-6).
MUSICIANS AS INFORMATION USERS 3

Specific Information Needs

All studies concluded that musician’s information needs greatly depended on the role they were
assuming. Kostagiolas et al. (2015) studied a community band, a type of ensemble primarily known as a
place for musicians of all levels to learn and improve their skills. Their information needs primarily
focused on information to improve their performance level (p. 16). Narveson (1999) studied a small group
of musicians similar to those of the community band and found that they also desired information on
developing their skills and playing more difficult music (p. 24).
Dougan (2012) and Hunter (2006) both studied students but Hunter found that certain students have
different needs based on their role as a composer. As electroacoustic composers, information of software,
hardware, and programming is vitally important in their creative process (p. 7). Dougan studied students
from the whole school of music but many of those who responded were primarily performers and
educators with only 8% of those surveyed being composers (p. 561). Though the students studied by
Hunter used scores and recordings just as the students Dougan studied, these were secondary in
importance to electroacoustic composers (Hunter, 2006, p. 8).

Applications and Implications

The model produced by Lavranos et al. (2015) “positions information needs and information
seeking behavior at the center of the musical creative thinking process…” (p. 1084). Using this model to
understand how musicians think, information scientists will be able to create better information
technologies. Their model is also helpful in understanding music information literacy. The ALA (1989)
defines information literacy as, “a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have
the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” Music information literacy
involves this at the creative level. Musicians need to know when knowledge is needed in order to be
creative, how to find and evaluate the information, how to present information, and the ethical use
(copyrights, royalties, permissions, etc.) behind music information (Lavranos et al., p. 1086). Music
information literacy is a critical component to creativity.
Kostagiolas et al., Hunter, Narveson, and Dougan all found that a musician’s role affected their
information needs. Members of community ensembles need information on other performing
opportunities and how to better their skills; composers need information on software, hardware, and
programming; undergraduate performers and graduate students need recordings and scores; the list could
go on and on (Narveson, p. 28; Hunter p. 7; Dougan, p. 567). Knowing this, information professionals can
create tools tailored to specific musician classes instead of attempting a one-size-fits-all approach.

Conclusion
Research into the specific information needs and behaviors of musicians is limited and much
information must be drawn from literature that is broader in its scope. By combining models of creativity
and information behavior, Lavranos et al. (2015) were able to provide a useful tool for information
scientists to use in further studies. Exploratory studies by Narveson, Hunter, and Dougan are the first
steps to understanding how information professionals can serve such a diverse and unique user group. It
will be interesting to see how others build upon this knowledge to create specialized tools and services for
musicians.
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References

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