About

I have a PhD in Music History and my MS in Library and Information Science and am passionate about improving the scholarly communications life cycle. Digital Humanities projects, open access publication, and metadata associated with the publications life cycle are my particular interests.

As a metadata librarian, I study how scholars can improve the impact of their output through better bibliographic information, tagging, and description of their content. I am currently exploring how better discover open access publications and born-digital projects through better descriptive metadata.

As a musicologist, I continue to study how medieval monastics learned to read and write music. I work toward bringing the sonic experience of monastic music to life through a born digital project.

Education

PhD, Music History and Theory, University of Chicago
MS, Library and Information Science, University of Illinois
MA, Music History and Theory, University of Chicago
BA, Music and Religion Honors, Concordia College-Moorhead

Publications

Dissertation

“Music in the Devotional Lives of the Birgittine Brothers & Sisters at Vadstena Abbey (c. 1373-1545)”

 

Single Author Publications

“Pasts and Futures of Digital Humanities in Musicology: Moving Towards a “Bigger Tent.” Music Reference Services Quarterly 20: 3-4 (2017): 134-150.

“The Visual and Aural Experience of the Birgittine Liturgy at Vadstena.” Forthcoming in the conference proceedings for the 2016 meeting of Cantus Planus in Dublin, Ireland.

“The Paschal and Mariological Processions Brothers and Sisters at Vadstena Abbey.” Forthcoming in the conference proceedings for the 2014 meeting of Cantus Planus in Venice, Italy.

 

Book Reviews

“The Birgittines of Syon Abbey: Preaching and Print by Susan Powell (review).” The History of Women Religious of Britain and Ireland. December 2018.

“Review of Developing Digital Scholarship: Emerging Practices in Academic Libraries edited by Alison Mackenzie and Lindsey Martin; and Digital Library Programs for Libraries and Archives: Developing, Managing, and Sustaining Unique Digital Collections by Aaron Purcell.” RBM A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage. Fall 2018.

“Manuscripts and Medieval Song: Inscription, Performance, Context edited by Helen Deeming and Elizabeth Eva Leach (review).” Notes 73 (2017): 544-547.

“A Paradise of Priests: Singing the Civic and Episcopal Hagiography of Medieval Liège by Catherine Saucier (review).” Notes 72 (2016): 539–542.

 

Invited Publications

Academic
“American Women Religious: Sisters of the World and Nuns Dedicated to Prayer.” Sightings (July 2014).

“Grafting the Vine: Liturgy, Pilgrimage, and the Compassion of Mary at Vadstena Abbey.” Pietisten 29 (2013).

“Research Summary.” SCAN: The Bulletin of the American-Scandinavian Foundation 60 (2012): 3.

 

Community

“Girls Rock! at the GOALS Project’s Second Annual Purse & Shoe Auction.” Chambanamoms.com (November 2014)

“GOALS Project Looking for Volunteers to Help Teen Parents in Champaign-Urbana.” Chambanamoms.com (October 2014)

“GOALS Project Empowers Teen Moms in Champaign-Urbana.” Chambanamoms.com (September 2014)

Blog Posts

    Projects

    Access, Discovery, and Cataloging of Streaming Video Content, June 2018–Present, on-going work in collaboration with librarians at the University of Washington and University of Oregon

    Digital Scholarship at the University of Washington, 2016–Present, on-going work in collaboration with Verletta Kern, Digital Scholarship Librarian

    Upcoming Talks and Conferences

    Recent Poster Presentations
    “Teaching for the Public Good: Integrating Digital Scholarship into the Classroom.” Presented with Verletta Kern. Teaching and Learning Symposium, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 5 April, 2018.

    “Now You See It: Representing Video Titles in the 360 KB.” Presented with Jess Short. Electronic Resources and Libraries, Austin, TX, 4-7 March, 2018.

    “How you say it matters!: Building and Supporting an Open Digital Scholarship Community.” Presented with Verletta Kern. HASTAC, Orlando, FL, 3-4 November 2017.

    Recent Conference Presentations
    “Nuns’ Manuscript Culture: Production and Movement of Birgittine Music and Text across Europe, 1400-1600.” Renaissance Society of America, New Orleans, LA, 22-24 March, 2018.

    “(Re)Turning the Pages: Gendered manuscript production by the Birgittine brothers and sisters at Vadstena Abbey.” Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study, Minneapolis, MN, 9-11 May, 2017.

    “Nordic Cult Building Through Music and Ritual: Mary’s Suffering Heart, and the Office Stabat Virgo dolorosa.” American Musicological Society, Vancouver, BC, 3-6 November 2016.

    “What the Manuscripts Reveal about Gendered Literacy and Devotional Practice in the Birgittine Order, Vadstena Abbey.” Conference on Manuscript Studies, Saint Louis, MO, 14-15 October 2016.

    “The Visual and Aural Experience of the Birgittine Liturgy at Vadstena.” Cantus Planus, Dublin, Ireland, 2-7 August, 2016.

    “The Sights and Sounds of Liturgy at Vadstena, Sweden, the Motherhouse of the Birgittine Order.” International Congress for Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, 12-15 May 2016.

    “How would they Experience the Office on a Feast Day? – The Symbolic Sites, Sounds, and Experiences of the Virgin Mary’s Compassion and Assumption.” Bad Bevensen, Germany, 25-31 October 2015.

    “Constructing a Birgittine Identity at Vadstena Abbey through the Procession Repertory.” Continuity and Change in the Birgittine Order (Syon Abbey 1415-2015), University of Exeter, Devon, UK, 21-24 July 2015.

    “Something Borrowed, Something New: The Procession Responsories of the Birgittine Sisters and Brothers at Vadstena.” Medieval-Renaissance Music Conference, Brussels, Belgium, 6-9 July 2015.

    “Re-imagining St. Birgitta’s Jerusalem Pilgrimage in Verner von Heidenstam’s novel Heliga Birgitta’s pilgrimsfärd.” Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies, Columbus, OH, 7-9 May 2015.

    “Writing Hagiography and Popularizing Cult Through Two Offices for St. Birgitta of Sweden.” Medieval Academy of America, South Bend, IN, 12-14 March, 2015.

    “Performing the Birgittine liturgy: Leadership roles of the brothers and sisters at Vadstena Abbey.” Second Birgittine Liturgy Conference, Vadstena, Sweden, 2-3 October, 2014.

    Michelle Urberg

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    @murberg

    Active 1 year, 5 months ago