by Peter Berryman
"The FolkLib Index is an on-going attempt to index information on the World Wide Web that is related to the fields of Folk Music, Bluegrass and Old-Time Music, Acoustic Blues, Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar, Harp (the stringed kind) Players, and a very special emphasis on everything to do with Wisconsin music and musicians."
Thus begins the FolkLib Index, an amazing, 6.5 megabyte, 340 page web site, created and maintained entirely by Doug Henkle of Oshkosh, WI. I have used this "Library of Folk Music Links" often, and finally had a chance to yak with Doug a few days ago about it. We talked on the sunny grounds of the wonderful Black Hawk Folk Festival in Mt. Morris, WI, on the afternoon of Saturday, July 14, 2001.
Doug grew up in Highland Park, IL, where he began listening
to folk music on Chicago's WFMT
in 1958. Consequently, though all his high school friends were
into Elvis, Doug "...was always out of whack," going
to concerts by folk musicians like Richard Dyer-Bennet, Josh White,
and Odetta.
He graduated in 1959 and, after a series of adventures, moved
to Oshkosh, WI, in 1966. In '72, after being trained in computer
programming, he landed his current position with UW Oshkosh, where
he has worked for 29 years in information technology. Doug asked
me to add that the FolkLib
Index is in no way connected with nor takes time from
his UW Oshkosh job.
[Sept. 2002 update: after 30 years at UW Oshkosh, Doug retired
on August 30, 2002 in order to attend more concerts and music
festivals and work full-time on the Index and write a book, "Wisconsin Discography".]
Doug found himself armed with computer savvy, a passion for folk
music, a genetic predisposition toward library work due to both
his parents having been librarians, and a building frustration
from missing a number of folk concerts because of poor dissemination
of information. These scattered considerations coalesced in 1991,
soon after UW Oshkosh acquired email capabilities. On October
11 of that year ("That
day changed my life"), he discovered an Internet collection
of music information at UW-Parkside, and all the possibilities
of Internet folk music archiving flashed like a vision before
him. He began by submitting his own discographies to the Parkside
site, switching later to the FolkBook site at Ohio State,
but in January '95 he decided he needed a site of his own. The
result of that decision eventually became the FolkLib
Index.
Visually, the FolkLib Index
is stark. In order to be compatible with all browsers, it has
"...no frames, image maps, backgrounds, counters, java, JavaScript,
cookies, sounds, annoying scrolling text, animations or blinking
text, links to specific browser downloads, and only one graphic."
This results in a consistent, clean look and fast downloading,
and is more accessible to the vision impaired.
The home page of the FolkLib
Index presents an overview of the site, breaking it up
under four headings: Artists, Musical Genres, Other
Subject Indexes, and Site Tools and Information. These
are subdivided further into links, and some experimentation with
these links is necessary to find out where they will take you.
For example, it isn't apparent from the names of the numerous
discography links which ones take you to actual collections of
discographies and which take you to lists of links to collections
of discographies, or whether you are taken to another section
of the FolkLib Index
or sent away to a site maintained by someone else.
But a click or two clears up any confusion, and Doug told me
he is working on clarifying this situation. Additionally, there
is a site-search
feature which makes it unnecessary to have to understand the
layout of the site in order to find your information. Also, there
is a link to a handy 1500 word Site
Overview for First Time Visitors, which is great for
anyone attempting to navigate the FolkLib
Index with authority.
There is not nearly enough room here to describe this stupendous
site in any detail. Instead, I'm listing a few of Doug Henkle's
special areas of interest, which are given the most detailed treatment:
Wisconsin Music
http://www.folklib.net/index/wi/
Doug told me he spends 80% of his time on this subsection. Wisconsin music -- primarily acoustic music but other genres too -- is covered in detail. Bluegrass music is given an extra scrutiny; Doug told me he would like to have a record here of every bluegrass band and artist in Wisconsin's history.
My Discography
http://www.folklib.net/index/discog/henkle.shtml
This is Doug's personal collection of over 70 discographies
of his favorite bands. Names of recordings and names of songs
on these recordings are listed; most of the other discography
links on the FolkLib Index
do not go into this kind of detail, and usually direct you to
off-site discographies, or to off-site lists of discography links.
Musi-Cal Crusade
http://www.folklib.net/index/faq.shtml#ITIN2 and http://www.folklib.net/index/musi-cal.shtml
One of Doug's conventions is that though he will link to many pages within an artist's web site, he will NOT link to an artist's own itinerary page. This is because he is a supporter of Musi-Cal (http://www.musi-cal.com/), a service which provides a searchable all-artist itinerary. He feels that if someone wants to find out when a favorite of theirs is playing in the area, they should use and support this free site. That way they won't have to seek out different itineraries for all their favorite performers, but can find them all with one search. The businesslike FolkLib Index is often humanized by Doug's own personal passions like this one.
The mind boggles at the work that goes into the FolkLib Index. There are lists of links to music biography books, folk music videos, guitar tunings, lyrics, periodicals, folk societies, pictures, fan clubs, folk radio programs, and so on, most of which are cross-referenced extensively so that you are not likely to miss a related link. Remember, for the most part, this site is not a destination in itself, and is not meant to be, but is a brilliant information beacon illuminating the otherwise murky Internet swamp of folk music resources.
My hat's off to Doug Henkle for his inspirational labor of love, and I am grateful to him for subjecting himself to my questions. Dig the incredible FolkLib Index at http://www.folklib.net/