# Challenges of Designing the Roud Folk Song Index

Steve Roud discusses his work compiling The Folk Song Index, an online index to all the traditional folksongs of the English-speaking world. The Folk Song Index is a freely-available online database which lists English-language traditional songs collected in Britain, North America, and Australia, whether found in books, sound recordings, or unpublished collections. Entries include details of the song title and first line, name of singer, place and date of collection, and more. As each element is fully searchable, singly or in combination, the Index constitutes a major finding-aid for both enthusiasts and serious researchers. A sister database, The Broadside Index, lists songs which appeared on broadsides, songsters and other street literature before 1900, and is designed to assist those who are interested in the history of popular and traditional songs. In this presentation, Roud gives special attention to several exciting digitization projects already underway, and others planned for the near future, which have moved the project to an unprecedented level of sophistication and public accessibility.

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2011
- By: American Folklife Center
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2021688652/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/2021688652?play=1)