As of today, with LIDA Beta Release version 0.9.003, LIDA users now have the capability to … (a drum roll, please) …
…Manage Multiple Music Libraries in LIDA!
In this posting, I will share with you how it works, and how to take advantage of this outstanding and powerful new capability.
How It Works
In LIDA, all your data, the listings you enter into your library, and the LISTS that you have personalized (or should) for your needs, are kept in a LIDA-Data##.accdb file. This is the name of the data file when you first install LIDA.
However, with this latest (v0.9.003) upgrade, you are now able to connect LIDA to a LIDA-Data file of any name.
Therefore, if you want to rename your LIDA-Data file to PodunkBandLibrary.accdb, you can do so and reconnect to it. You only need to remember where you keep that file, so you can navigate to it when LIDA asks you to reconnect.
Whatever you name your LIDA Data file, you should keep the .accdb file extension. As of this writing, we have not tested whether a file renamed with a different extension will still work. When we test this, we will post another news article with the results.What this means is that you can have a separate music library data file for each music library you manage.
For example, a church music office might have a library for the Choir, a different one for the Orchestra, and yet a third for the Praise Band. A community band might have a library for the Concert Band, one for the Jazz Band, one for the Oompah Band, and yet another for Outreach Ensembles.
How To Use MULTIPLE LIBRARIES.
First, before doing ANYTHING else, make a backup copy of your original library, and store it in a safe location. If you have worked with computers for any time at all, you know how vitally important this is, because you can never tell when gremlins will get loose inside your computer and destroy things.
Next, simply do a copy-and-paste operation on your existing (now backed-up) library data file. If you have not renamed it yet, the file name will be LIDA-Data##.accdb.
Third, rename this new copy to reflect the library it will contain. Be sure to keep the .accdb filename extension.
Finally, open LIDA. If you have renamed your main library since last opening LIDA, it will ask you to navigate to the LIDA data file and select it.
Once you are in LIDA, click on the Program Settings button to open the settings screen, then click on the button that says “Relink Current or Link New DATA,” navigate to your newly-copied data file, and click OK.
Finally, enter your data in this new data file. You will need to delete any existing listings you don’t want in this library, and you should probably personalize all the LISTS to suit that organization.
That’s it! You are up and running with a new library file. To change (back) to a different libary file, just follow these procedures again, and pick the file you want.
Unlimited Libraries!
Of course, we haven’t tested this yet, and we welcome any feedback from those who use this feature.
We are tremendously excited by this new capability in LIDA, and look forward to hearing how various people use it.