ISBD and Mechanical Musical Devices: A Case Study of Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage, University of Pavia, Italy

The collection of nearly 1,000 piano rolls housed within the Department of Musicology and Cultural Heritage, University of Pavia, Cremona, Italy, remains in need of preservation. A digitalization project requires cataloging based on international cataloging standards. A distinction among instruments and media must be introduced and specific features of mechanical musical devices are to be identified. Four main classes of media have been identified: disks, pinned barrels, books, and rolls. Lastly, morphological peculiarities of the media must be examined to establish their correct and complete description within the International Standard for Bibliographic Description (ISBD) areas.