Table of Contents
Message from the Chair
NEMLA Spring 2024 Meeting Summary
NEMLA Spring 2024 Business Meeting Minutes
NEMLA Membership Renewal
Noteworthy News:
— Lisa Read moving to Princeton
— Berklee Library joining FLO
— Jody Cormack Viswanathan retires
— Wesleyan music graduate students showcase archives projects
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information
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Message from the Chair
Dear NEMLA members,
I am delighted to be serving this year as the NEMLA Chair for 2024-2025.
I was really gratified to see so many of you at Smith College on May 31! Thanks for those who attended in person and online. I’ve heard good feedback about the program, and I am so glad you found it interesting and useful. What a lovely day it was! It was so good to see so many friends and colleagues in person again. Thanks again to all who helped with the conference.
As incoming Chair, I’d like to thank Anne Adams, for stepping up to become Vice-Chair and head of the Program Committee. I’m looking forward to working with Anne to create useful and interesting programs for our chapter for this coming year. Anne has a great committee to work on the programs! Thanks to Terry Simpkins for steering us this past year and helping me out so many times during my tenure as Vice Chair.
I’d like to thank a few of our new chapter officers: Thanks to Donna Maher, our new web editor, who has been hard at work in the last few weeks, and to Jonathan Paul, as the new Archivist of NEMLA. I’m looking forward to working with Jonathan to make sure our history is captured and preserved. Our chapter is truly fortunate to have the skills and expertise of these volunteers. All our continuing officers have really put in a lot of work.
For the coming year, there are three areas that I’d like to focus on: membership (of course), revitalizing and updating our committees, and reexamining the bylaws for our new chapter situations.
In regard to ongoing committee work, I appreciate that Carol Lubkowski will be chairing our Instruction Committee.
As we all fully enter this new post-COVID era, there have likely been changes in your institution’s priorities and programming. What has changed for you at your library? I’d love to hear from you with your interests and concerns about how our NEMLA chapter might address the challenges ahead. What is important to you, and how can we better meet your needs as a local chapter of MLA? I hope to hear from you.
Judith Pinnolis
NEMLA Chair
Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement
Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Boston, MA
NEMLA Spring 2024 Meeting Summary
NEMLA’s spring 2024 meeting took place partially virtually, but also fully in-person on the beautiful day of Friday, May 31st at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts. The first part of the day was held in the beautiful newly renovated Skyline room in the Neilson Library. Following a lovely prelude entailing a Smith Dining Services catered continental breakfast, and some social networking, the day of conference events officially began at 9:15am. Terry Simpkins, Director of Discovery & Access Services at Middlebury College (VT), gave brief welcoming remarks to the meeting’s attendees both online and in person. He thanked Judy Pinnolis, Associate Director of Instruction & Engagement at Berklee College of Music (MA), and NEMLA’s Chair-elect, for her tireless hard work on bringing a fantastic program of events to fruition. Together, she and Terry introduced Susan Fliss, Dean of Smith College Libraries as well as Marlene Wong, Head of the Werner Josten Performing Arts Library, who both acknowledged the online attendees and welcomed the in-person attendees to Smith College, and gave a brief history of Smith College and associated libraries.
The theme of the morning sessions revolved around ‘AI in music and music libraries’. Judy eagerly introduced Dr. Christopher White, Associate Professor of Music Theory at UMass Amherst (MA), who delivered the first captivating presentation titled, “Why is AI so Bad at Music? (at least so far)?”, as the keynote, who set the tone. Leading up to NEMLA’s spring 2024 meeting, attendees were encouraged to bring and share “swag” from their respective institutional libraries, which was showcased at the meeting’s “insta-display” before the official start of the meeting, as well as during a brief coffee break interlude, taking place between the keynote and the following two sessions. The next two sessions were part of a panel discussion overall titled, “AI in Libraries and Industry: What’s Happening Now.” Peter Laurence, Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media at Harvard University (MA), hosted the panel. He first introduced Elise Gowen, Smith College’s own Science Librarian, who gave her presentation on “AI in Libraries: Confronting Change and the Future of Creativity.” The second presentation of the panel was enthusiastically given by Caleb Hall, Music Technology and Digital Media Librarian at the Lewis Music Library, part of MIT (MA). His innovative presentation was titled “AI Music Tools and their Impact on the Music Industry” and was the third and final session to wrap up the ‘AI in music and music libraries’ theme of the morning. [The presenters’ slides are available on the NEMLA presentations webpage. Videos will be available soon.]
NEMLA’s business meeting followed at approximately 11:30am. (See minutes below.) Once again, a lovely spread of lunch catered by Smith College’s Dining Services was put out, while attendees were strongly encouraged to enjoy their lunch outside on the terrace, just outside of the Skyline room. Three distinct tours took place after lunch. Folks divided themselves into groups depending on which tour they wanted to attend. The first optional tour was that of the Neilson Library/building, led by of Smith College employees, while the other two optional tours were either a visit to the Museum of Art or the Lyman Plant House and Conservatory–otherwise known as their botanical gardens–both of which, were self-guided, self-paced tours. I, along with a few others, chose to visit the beautiful Lyman Plant House and Conservatory/botanical gardens. Here are a few photos from my visit:
Everyone reconvened in the Josten Library mezzanine when they returned from the tours, for the remaining afternoon portion of NEMLA’s spring 2024 meeting program. The first afternoon session featured Judy interviewing Steve Waksman, Associate Professor of Music, and American Studies at Smith College, and acclaimed author of Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé, which won the American Musicological Society’s Music in American Culture Award. This award acknowledges a particular book of “exceptional merit that both illuminates some important aspect of the music of the United States and places that music in a rich cultural context.” The conversation during this interview between Judy and Professor Waksman was fascinating!
The second afternoon session and final presentation of the day, before a brief tour of the Josten Library/Mendenhall Performing Arts Center, was a lecture-demonstration introduced by Josten Library’s own Access Services Coordinator, Janet Spongberg, and led by the acclaimed musician, ethnomusicologist and professor, Tim Eriksen. His lecture-demonstration was on the eighteenth-century congregational concept of shape note singing, as well as an homage to the twenty-fifth anniversary of “The Sacred Harp” community singing circle at Smith College.
Professor Eriksen enthusiastically instructed the audience to position their chairs in a circular formation within the room. He then invited the attendees to sit according to their chosen soprano, alto, tenor, or bass vocal part, and led them in singing a few short hymns from the Sacred Harp book.
The postlude entailed a lovely closing/farewell reception for all NEMLA hosts, presenters, and attendees to share light refreshments of lemonade and homemade cookies contributed by fellow meeting hosts and attendees before beginning their journeys home.
Summary and botanical photos respectfully submitted by Emily M. Colucci, NEMLA Member-At-Large & Library Assistant, Access Services, at the George and Helen Ladd Library, Bates College. Photos of Elise Gowen and Caleb Hall by Judy Pinnolis. Remaining images by Jennifer Hadley.
NEMLA Spring Business Meeting Minutes
May 31, 2024
Committee/Officer Reports
Terry Simpkins (Outgoing Chair)
- Donna Maher (UMaine, Augusta) is new Web Editor (previously Peter Laurence).
- Jonathan Paul (MIT) is the new Archivist (position previously vacant).
Emily Colucci (Education/Outreach)
- MLSteP has a new liaison for the New England area. Emily has met with them to lay the groundwork for a growing connection between that program and NEMLA.
Patrick Quinn (EDIJ)
- The new diversity statement is up on the website!
Judy Pinnolis (Program/Incoming Chair)
Hannah Ferello (Secretary-Treasurer)
Old Business
Revisiting conversation from 2023 spring meeting regarding amending the bylaws
- Members are still interested in amending the bylaws so that officer terms align with the fiscal year (July 1 – June 30).
- The new proposed language will be shared prior to the Fall 2024 meeting — 8 weeks before to the Exec Board, 4 weeks prior to membership.
New Business
We do not currently have a Vice-Chair / Chair Elect (and therefore, no chair of the Program Committee).
- Bylaws: “Should an elected office become vacant mid-term, the Chair, in combination with the Executive Board, will appoint a NEMLA member (preferably a previous officer) to fill the position until the next election.”
– May want to consider revising bylaws so that an officer can be appointed at any point, not just mid-term.
– May also want to formally establish a mechanism for organizational leadership when major offices are vacant.
- Program Committee is currently very small; growing this committee would ease the vice-chair’s workload.
– Consider shifting the Program Committee responsibility to the past-chair?
- Anne Adams volunteered to be Vice-Chair with the stipulation that members volunteer to join the Program Committee.
– Several members volunteered to join the Program Committee, and a sign up sheet was circulated.
Meeting adjourned
Submitted by Hannah Ferrello, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer
Catalog and Serials Librarian, New England Conservatory
NEMLA Membership Renewal
Membership renewals are now open on the MLA website. Please take a moment to renew if you have not already done so. If you have any questions about renewing your membership, please contact Hannah Ferello at hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu.
Noteworthy News
Lisa Read moving to Princeton
Lisa Read will begin a new position as Music Librarian at Princeton University’s Mendel Music Library beginning July 31. Her final day at the University of Hartford’s Allen Library was July 11.
Congratulations, Lisa!
Her former position, Public Services Librarian at the University of Hartford, is still posted on the Music Library Association jobs website as of July 18, 2024.
Berklee Library joining FLO
As of July 1, 2024 Berklee Library will become a full member of FLO (Fenway Library Organization). Berklee will soon start the migration process to FOLIO LSP and ReShare (FLO’s resource sharing solution), and begin resource sharing with FLO’s other full members once they are live. Their go live date for FOLIO will be January 13, 2025.
Submitted by Jennifer Hunt, Associate Dean, Library, Berklee College of Music
Jody Cormack Viswanathan retires from the World Music Archives
Jody Cormack Viswanathan retired from Wesleyan’s World Music Archives & Music Library in April 2024. After earning an MFA in Music from CalArts, she came to Wesleyan in 1975 and completed her doctorate in ethnomusicology with a specialty in South Indian music in 1992. In 1991, Jody joined the World Music Archives as part of the NEH grant-funded team tasked with cataloging and preserving the WMA collection, which had only recently become part of the library. Since then the archives has grown, shifted from analog to digital preservation, and migrated through numerous cataloging systems. Jody mentored two generations of international graduate students who worked in the WMA before going on to careers as scholars, musicians, and archivists around the world. Outside of her work at Wesleyan, Jody is well known as the organizer and host of the long-running Middletown House Concerts series and continues to actively research and perform Irish traditional music.
Wesleyan music graduate students showcase archives projects
This spring two Wesleyan graduate students, who had worked as graduate assistants in the World Music Archives under the guidance of director Aaron Bittel, showcased their projects. Chance Kinyange Hakizimana Boas opened his multimedia exhibition, Finding the Spirit of Inanga: Musical Instruments from Africa, on April 5, and gave a presentation to Wesleyan alumni at reunion on May 24. The inanga is a distinctive musical instrument found in six countries in Africa’s Great Lakes region.
Here is an audio clip of guest musician Gideon Ampeire MA ’11 introducing and playing a Ugandan enanga at the opening .
You can explore Chance’s accompanying online exhibit here. It includes audio and video clips, as well as photography and 3D models of the instruments created by Charlie Coffey, Wesleyan’s Visual Resources Curator. Below is an image of the 3D model of a balafon, but it is best seen and interacted with by clicking on this link.
On April 12, Mohammad Geldi Geldi Nejad M’23 launched his digital collection of bardic tradition songs from Turkmenistan and Iran. The songs are drawn from his fieldwork recordings, which he processed and archived at the World Music Archives. With help from Francesca Baird, head of Digital Initiatives, and Megan St. Lawrence, library assistant in Cataloging and Digital Initiatives, the collection is available through Wesleyan’s digital collections platform. At the event, Mohammad performed on the dutar, along with his wife, Zyyada Jumayeva, also an accomplished musician. Mohammad will be entering the Ph.D. program in ethnomusicology at Brown in the fall.
Video from the World Music Archives, Wesleyan
Submitted by Jennifer Thom Hadley, Wesleyan 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
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