The Oberlin community has recently added a new and innovative way to connect to the on-line informational world through The Opera On-Line Resource Guide. This new website, conceived by Assistant Director of the Oberlin Opera Theater program Victoria Vaughan and Conservatory Public Services Librarian, Kathy Abromeit, was developed through a partnership between the Oberlin Opera Theater and the Oberlin Conservatory Library, made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The on-line guide, while catering directly to students involved in opera, is also a valuable resource for the entire Oberlin community. Links found on the site include: Reference Tools, Text and Translation, Historical Research, Technical Opera, Biographies and Professional Development. Many of the links in these headings connect to sweeping databases of information. These databases usually are not simply restricted to only operas but span all classical genres. Senior opera major and site designer Eric Einhorn sees his creation as beneficial in many ways.
“[There were many] on-line reference materials [in the guide] that were previously available through the Oberlin libraries but received little attention,” Einhorn said. “For example, the massive Groves Music Dictionary…as well as many other subscription services that, I think, few students are aware of.”
Vaughan along with Abromeit, came up with the idea of the On-Line Opera Resource Guide in response to trouble opera students were having doing necessary research for classes.
“I noticed…the last couple of years that students in [Vaughan’s] class were having trouble with particular assignments,” said Abromeit. “On a larger scale, [all] voice students run into a lot of difficulty finding the resources they need, as that particular area of music performance is complicated, with a variety needs.”
Vaughan, who works closely with students in the many yearly campus operatic productions, also teaches a 200-level class for operatic singers. The research needs of this class were a major factor in developing the on-line guide.“The focus of the web design was to bring together many of the resource tools already out there…and have them accessible from a single site,” Vaughan said.
“We also wanted to concentrate on the interdisciplinary nature of opera performance and role preparation to include scenic features, costume considerations and performance history.” She said that while the practical nature of her and other operatic courses will not be changed because of the new resource, the guide will help enhance those qualities in the students that are already expected.
The process of site-building began during the spring semester of last year. Posters were hung in the Conservatory for interested webmasters. Einhorn seemed the perfect fit, as he was a singer and had taken many of the classes that the site aimed to aid. During the summer, frequent electronic conferences linked Einhorn, Vaughan, Abromeit and summer Conservatory Library intern, Leslie Roberts. “[Kathy Abromeit] and I compiled reference biographies for the site,” said Roberts. “We collected books that we thought would be useful resources for singers.”
Vaughan acknowledges that it was imperative that the project not be done solely by the Opera Theater Department of the college, but the music library as well. “Opera research often requires considerable cross-referencing into various fields [including] history, theory, performance history, art, design, [and] costuming,” Vaughan said.
“We felt that giving singers the right skills to research these areas at an early stage [would enhance] their ability to create dramatic opera roles during their time at Oberlin, and give them a head start in their profession preparation.” Vaughan also said that the site had proven to be an excellent resource, according to comments made by students and others outside of Oberlin.
Abromeit looks at the success of the site in another perspective. The grant that made the site financially possible is aimed to “Integrate Information Literacy into the Liberal Arts Curriculum.” As a librarian, Abromeit, finds this particularly important.
She said that the site will help students learn life-long informational skills. “They will come away from this empowered with skills that will serve them…[whether that be in] knowing a piece of information, or…understanding a process needed to get at information.” She said that this is one of the most exciting aspects of information literacy and it is “information that we need to function intelligently in our world.”
Abromeit said that the site has already drawn attention from The Manhattan School of Music, where some have already proclaimed that The Oberlin On-Line Resource Guide is the web page they use for their professional and academic needs.

The Opera On-Line Resrouce Guide is available at Oberlin Conservatory On-Line.