Table of Contents
Note from the Chair
CFP for NEMLA’s Fall 2025 Virtual Meeting
MLA/NEMLA Membership
Committee Reports
Noteworthy News
— Alex Waterman Joins Wesleyan World Music Archives
— Progress Made on Houghton Library’s AI Grant Project
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information
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A Note from the Chair
Dear NEMLA community,
As the weather starts turning to cooler temps, many of us are welcoming the return of students and other patrons, the official or unofficial end of our summertimes, the dwindling of summer concerts. I always have mixed feelings at this time of year – I’m anxious to see the backside of hot temperatures, but sorry to see the less stressful days of fewer meetings, vacation days, and shovel-free mornings.
And Fall also means that we can look forward to the upcoming NEMLA meeting! Please save the date on your calendars for this year’s Fall virtual meeting on Friday, November 14, 2025. The program committee, chaired by NEMLA Vice Chair Emily Colucci, has been hard at work, and is accepting proposals for this meeting until September 22, 2025. For those of you in farther flung places, the virtual meeting format presents a perfect opportunity to share your work with our community without the need for a long drive!
As I write this, the Board is set to meet in early September, working on streamlining our record keeping, with the help of our archivist, Jonathan Paul, and setting goals for the new year. I look forward to sharing any updates in the next newsletter.
Since I last wrote, our three elections have concluded. Although the results of the uncontested elections are not a surprise, we want to welcome our new Vice Chair, Emily Colucci (Library Assistant at Bates College) and our new Member-at-Large Marci Cohen (recently retired Head of the Music Library at Boston University Libraries), and we are grateful for the continued service of Hannah Ferello (Catalog Librarian at the New England Conservatory), who has been reelected as our very able Secretary/Treasurer.
And in the committee realm, I’d like to express gratitude to Erin Conor, Richard French Librarian at Harvard’s Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, and Brianna Pérez, Public Services Supervisor, Blumenthal Family Library, New England Conservatory, for joining the Program Committee for the 2025-2057 term.
Speaking of committees, I do want to take this opportunity to make a renewed call for participation. Committees are incredibly rewarding opportunities for service, allowing a better understanding of the organization, the opportunity to effect changes in our profession, and, most importantly in my book, the chance to work with your talented, inspiring colleagues in the New England region.
This coming year will see an in-person Music Library Association meeting in Salt Lake City. As wonderful as these national in-person meetings are, I know many of us have real barriers to attendance, from financial to time restraints. In the current chaotic environment, even more of us may struggle to attend. NEMLA offers a low-cost and local way to stay connected to the community of music librarians, to learn about new ideas, and to connect with our colleagues.
I am looking forward to seeing you all at the upcoming virtual meeting on November 14!
Anne Adams, NEMLA Chair
Manager of Metadata Creation for Music
Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
anneadams at fas.harvard.edu
CFP for NEMLA’s Fall 2025 Virtual Meeting, Friday, November 14, 2025
The NEMLA Program Committee invites proposals for presentations at our Fall 2025 virtual meeting on Friday, November 14, 2025. We welcome all topics of relevant interest to our community, with a particular interest in the various ways music libraries are expanding course reserves services for research and teaching support, by circulating atypical materials such as musical instruments, metronomes, and recording devices.
Proposals should include a summary of approximately three-hundred words describing your topic, approximate length of presentation and any technological or other needs or concerns you foresee for a virtual meeting. We would also be happy to consider proposals for presentations of any length, including twenty-minutes, thirty-minutes and forty-five minutes, as well as panel discussions and lightning talks.
Please submit proposals to Emily M. Colucci (ecolucci@bates.edu) by EOD Monday, September 22, 2025.
Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to hearing from you!
NEMLA Program Committee :
Emily M. Colucci (NEMLA Vice-Chair/Program Committee Chair)
Laura K.T. Stokes
Sandi-Jo Malmon
Carol Lubkowski
Brianna Pérez
Erin Conor
Submitted by Emily M. Colucci, NEMLA’s Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect & Library, Assistant–Access Services, at the George and Helen Ladd Library, Bates College
Save the Date for the NEMLA Fall Virtual Meeting — November 14, 2025
MLA/NEMLA Membership
A gentle nudge to Join/Renew your membership in MLA/NEMLA if you haven’t done so already.
Here’s the quick overview of instructions from MLA:
- Visit the Join MLA page to explore 2025-2026 membership rates, categories and benefits.
- For new members joining MLA for the first time, please begin by selecting your member type then create an account.
- To renew, check your membership status, or view invoices, go to the Membership tab in your MLA profile.
- Be sure to sign in first to access these options and to include NEMLA as your chapter!
Thank you!
Committee Reports
Program Committee
The Program Committee is well underway in the planning process for the fall 2025 meeting held virtually on Friday, November 14, 2025, and is looking forward to receiving proposals to help make the fall 2025 meeting a great success. Details for submitting proposals can be found in the CFP above.
Submitted by Emily M. Colucci
Noteworthy News
Alex Waterman Joins Wesleyan’s World Music Archives & Music Library
Alex Waterman has joined Wesleyan’s World Music Archives & Music Library as the new Music & Audiovisual Archivist. He comes to this position from The Kitchen, a non-profit experimental arts performance and exhibition space in New York City, where he served as the organization’s founding archivist, building their physical and digital archives from the ground up. He is already well acquainted with Wesleyan since from 2015 to 2018 he was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music here. He credits his work with Suzy Taraba (retired Dietrich Family Director of Special Collections & Archives) and Alec McLane (retired Music Librarian) for inspiring him to go back to school to pursue an MLS and Advanced Certificate in Archive Management at the University of North Texas. Alex also has a Ph.D. in musicology from NYU and is an active performer (cello) and composer. Among many other projects, he played on David Byrne’s most recent album.
Submitted by Jennifer Hadley, Wesleyan World Music Archives & Music Library
Progress Made on Houghton Library’s AI Grant Project
Andrea Cawelti, Ward Music Cataloger at Houghton Library, has spent the summer collaborating with Oluwafemi “Femi” Ositade, a Harvard Math and Computer Studies student, on an Arcadia Foundation grant focused on Advancing Open Knowledge.
Femi refined their earlier work using AI to harvest metadata from scans of sheet music covers and title pages. To make proofreading easier, he developed a program that draws on the publishers’ wiki in IMSLP to estimate publication dates based on publisher names, with addresses or plate numbers. He also transformed their AI program from producing static spreadsheets into an interactive tool that enables real-time proofreading during scanning. All in all, it was an exciting summer of progress!
Submitted by Andrea Cawelti. Ward Music Cataloger, Houghton Library, Harvard University
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information
New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in the fall, winter, spring, and summer.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/
Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu
Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Hannah Ferello
hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu
Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00
Return to the New England Music Library Association home page