As I write this message, I know many of you are experiencing concerns and possibly some anxieties about the future of academic freedom, inquiry and thought, of freedom to read, and possibly other deep problems that academia and our country will face. I want to take this moment to pause, to take a deep breath, and to reflect on all that has been good and ongoing – and all that is working in our organization and that will continue into the future. We have a lot that we can be proud of as professional librarians, in helping our students succeed, helping our researchers and faculty achieve their goals, and in stewarding world class collections at our institutions. Professional organizations are a backbone of civil society, and I’m proud of being part of this one. Participation in such groups to exchange new ideas is an often unheralded but important marker of a democratic culture.
Over the summer, I have been very gratified that so many NEMLA members have answered the call of our organization and have stepped into roles to help it work smoothly. I want to thank all of you who have joined committees, volunteered to chair committees, and lead in officer positions! Thank you! Without you, the work that we do, which is important to our institutions and academic communities would not be possible.
We had an excellent Fall Meeting, and special thanks to Anne Adams and the Programming Committee: Emily Colucci, Sandi-Jo Malmon, Laura Stokes, and Carol Lubkowski. Thanks to the other presenters: Sonia Archer-Capuzzo, Andrea Cawelti , and Mark Bailey. In this newsletter you will find more details about the Fall Meeting.
As you know, there is currently a vote taking place on our NEMLA by-laws. I do not yet know the outcome of this vote but hope that it passes. This will help our organization work more efficiently, and more equitably. For all of you who have taken a moment to vote on the NEMLA by-laws, we appreciate your thoughtfulness and time.
In addition, I want to let you know that our new NEMLA Archivist, Jonathan Paul, and I have been working on ways to improve and sustain our online NEMLA archival materials, which are now held in a Google drive. We have already created a backup plan for the materials held in this drive. This Spring, we will be announcing some of the changes for uploading new NEMLA materials to the Google drive that we feel will improve ease of use and clarity for all NEMLA members. We will be improving and strengthening the guidelines for those members uploading reports and other materials that will be archived. If there is anyone who would like to take part in these discussions about the archive, we welcome more input. Please feel free to contact me to find out more details.
Judith Pinnolis
NEMLA Chair Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee Boston, MA
NEMLA Fall 2024 Virtual Meeting Summary
The New England Music Library Association’s fall 2024 meeting was hosted virtually via Zoom, on Friday, October 18, 2024, with attendance fluctuating on average between twenty-four and thirty-five NEMLA members throughout the day. Anne Adams, the Senior Music Cataloger at the Loeb Music Library at Harvard University, NEMLA’s Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect and Program Committee Chair, graciously welcomed everyone to the meeting. She gave a brief overview of the day’s events and thanked the members of the Program Committee who all worked together to create an exciting program. Anne kindly introduced Judy Pinnolis, the Associate Director of Instruction and Engagement at Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, as well as NEMLA’s 2024 – 2025 Chair, as the first presenter of the morning’s sessions revolving around obscure sound recordings collections housed within college/university libraries. Judy took us through a fascinating, historical journey through “Difficulties in Jewish Music Sound Recordings Collections.” Mark Bailey, the Head of Historical Sound Recordings at the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library and the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale University, continued the momentum by giving a riveting presentation on “Reviving the Romantic Era through Historical Sound Recordings.” At the conclusion of these two captivating sessions, Judy led a brief discussion regarding small but helpful proposed changes to the NEMLA By-laws, requesting the membership to vote. Details on the NEMLA By-laws discussion along with information on voting would be sent by Hannah Ferello, the Catalog & Serials Librarian at Blumenthal Family Library at the New England Conservatory and NEMLA’s current Secretary-Treasurer, further in this newsletter.
After lunch, the afternoon began with an opportunity for various committees (e.g. the Tech Services Committee, the Program Committee and the EDIJ Committee-–to list only a few), to come together via break-out rooms to discuss any updates, ongoing work, etc. The next presentation was an information session presented by Sonia Archer-Capuzzo, the Clinical Associate Professor at UNC-Greensboro Information, Library, and Research Sciences Department, and Chair of the Music Library Association’s Committee Management Team. Sonia spoke within an MLA volunteer recruitment capacity, about the newly improved volunteer process, relating to a more “transparent and inclusive” avenue for MLA members–-which encompasses NEMLA Chapter members–-to join and serve on committees and subcommittees in the near future (Archer-Capuzzo, 2024). Andrea Cawelti, the Ward Music Cataloger at Houghton Library, Harvard University next engaged the meeting’s attendees with her insightful and interactive presentation on how “AI Can Change Your Life (Can’t It?): Creating Rudimentary Sheet Music Finding Aids with ChatGPT.”
Carol Lubkowski, the Music Librarian at Wellesley College, enthusiastically led an informal listening party towards the end of the afternoon to let remaining attendees wind down for the day and have some additional fun. She encouraged attendees to provide spooky music links—as an homage to Halloween approaching in the coming weeks—in Zoom’s chat box, while she began playing through a pre-curated list of songs using YouTube Music, starting with “Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)” by David Bowie.
Look forward to a highly anticipated exciting program to take place during NEMLA’s spring 2025 meeting in April, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Please keep an eye out for a call for proposals and program details to come out in early 2025!
Summary respectfully submitted by Emily M. Colucci, NEMLA Member-At-Large & Library Assistant–Access Services at the George and Helen Ladd Library, Bates College.
NOTE: Videos of the meeting presentations will be available on the NEMLA website within a few weeks.
NEMLA Fall Business Meeting Notes
October 18, 2024
The proposed by-laws amendments were discussed briefly (see text below).
The amendment process outlined in the by-laws has been followed, as the proposed language was sent to the membership four weeks in advance of the discussion at the meeting.
Those present were reminded to renew their membership in order to vote and to vote so that we can meet quorum requirements.
Submitted by Hannah Ferello, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer Catalog and Serials Librarian, New England Conservatory
Proposed By-laws Amendments
New England chapter of the Music Library Association (proposals as approved by the Executive Board on September 13, 2024)
The Executive Board of the New England chapter of the Music Library Association (NEMLA) respectfully proposes the following 5 amendments of the by-laws to the membership. Voting will take place by virtual ballot. The current NEMLA membership list as of November 1 received a ballot via email from the Secretary/Treasurer.
Please submit your ballot before 5 pm EDT on November 15, 2024.
AMENDMENTS 1 & 2 These two amendments are in regards to the start of term for officers and committee chairs. By moving the start date to July 1, officers and committee chairs can expect consistent 12-month terms. Previous terms were inconsistent, as the date of the Spring meeting varies.
Article IV: Officers, section 9 Current language: Terms of office shall commence immediately following the Spring meeting.
Amended language: Terms of office shall commence on July 1st.
Article VIII.A: Committees, section 1 Current language: The Standing Committees shall be the Nominating Committee, the Program Committee, the Instruction Committee, the Publications Committee, the Technical Services Committee, the Education & Outreach Committee, and the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Committee. Except when otherwise specified, committee chairs and members may serve no more than two consecutive terms. Service as a member does not preclude subsequent service as chair for two additional terms. Members may be reappointed after being off a committee for one year.
Amended language: The Standing Committees shall be the Nominating Committee, the Program Committee, the Instruction Committee, the Publications Committee, the Technical Services Committee, the Education & Outreach Committee, and the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Committee. Except when otherwise specified, committee chairs and members may serve no more than two consecutive terms. The start of term for incoming committee chairs is July 1st. Service as a member does not preclude subsequent service as chair for two additional terms. Members may be reappointed after being off a committee for one year.
AMENDMENT 3 There is one amendment regarding the format of NEMLA meetings, allowing for meetings to be held virtually, in-person, and in hybrid settings.
Article VI: Meetings, section 1 Current language: There shall be a minimum of two meetings a year.
Amended language: There shall be a minimum of two meetings a year. Meetings may be virtual, hybrid, or in-person.
AMENDMENTS 4-5 There are two amendments regarding voting methods, allowing for flexibility in ballot distribution and collection as technologies evolve.
Article V: Elections, section 1 Current language: Officers shall be elected by a plurality of the ballots cast. Ballots shall be distributed to members at least four weeks before the Spring business meeting. Ballots will be collected online and collated by the Secretary/Treasurer.
Amended language: Officers shall be elected by a plurality of the ballots cast. Ballots shall be distributed to members at least four weeks before the Spring business meeting. Ballots shall be submitted to the Secretary/Treasurer as specified thereon.
Article XI: Amendments, section 3 Current language: Ballots and texts as revised at the meeting shall be distributed to Chapter members in a timely manner, generally in the next issue of the chapter newsletter. Ballots will be collected online and collated by the Secretary/Treasurer.
Amended language: Voting for changes to by-laws may take place by virtual ballot. Ballots and texts as revised at the meeting shall be distributed to Chapter members in a timely manner, generally in the next issue of the chapter newsletter. Ballots shall be submitted to the Secretary/Treasurer as specified thereon.
NEMLA Membership Renewal
Membership renewals are available on the MLA website. Please take a moment to renew if you have not already done so. Remember to select “NEMLA” as a category. If you have any questions about renewing your membership, please contact Hannah Ferello at hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu. Thank you!
Spring Meeting Save the Date!
The New England Music Library Association’s Spring 2025 meeting will take place April 11, 2025 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, hosted by the Lewis Music Library, Avery Boddie, Department Head. A call for proposals and program details will be forthcoming in early 2025.
Anne Adams, Program Committee Chair, New England Music Library Association
Noteworthy News
24 Hour Performance of Drift/Loop in Olin Library
Starting at noon on Friday, November 1, in the Campbell Reading Room and the two balcony rooms overlooking it, Olin Library hosted the first 24-hour performance of DRIFT/LOOP, a collaborative project developed by Wesleyan Professor of Music Paula Matthusen and the Metropolis Ensemble. Aaron Bittel, Director of Wesleyan’s World Music Archives & Music Librarian, planned for the event for months along with Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts and the Music Department.
DRIFT/LOOP was designed to create an expansive space for sonic engagement and reflection, braiding three 40-hour LOOP scores with 32, 1-hour DRIFT scores, performed across the three library spaces. The scores were composed and performed by visiting artists, Wesleyan students and faculty, and community members.
Photographs by Aibek Baiymbetov ; video by Rani Arbo.
NEMLA Officers
Chair: Judith S. Pinnolis Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee Boston, MA jpinnolis at berklee.edu
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Anne Adams Metadata Manager Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA anneadams at fas.harvard.edu
Past Chair: Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Davis Family Library Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin at middlebury.edu
Secretary-Treasurer: Hannah Ferello Catalog & Serials Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Research and Instruction Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA patrick.quinn at necmusic.edu
Member-At-Large: Emily Colucci Library Assistant, Access Services George and Helen Ladd Library Bates College Lewiston, ME ecolucci at bates.edu emcguitar at gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Thom Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu
NEMLA Archivist: Jonathan D. Paul Reference Associate Distinctive Collections MIT Libraries Cambridge, MA jdpaul at mit.edu
Website Editor: Donna Maher Reference and Instruction Librarian University of Maine at Augusta Libraries Augusta, ME donna.maher at maine.edu
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 Spring 2024 Meeting – Skyline Room, Neilson Library, Smith College
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.]
Christopher WhiteElise GowenCaleb Hall
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:
Lyman Plant House and Conservatory (photos by Emily Colucci)
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.
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.
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, BerkleeCollege 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.
Inanga
Here is an audio clip of guest musician Gideon Ampeire MA ’11 introducing and playing a Ugandan enanga at the opening .
Chance (wearing a tie) speaking to alumni and parents at the exhibit in Olin Library
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.
3D model of a balafon in Sketchfab
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
Chair: Judith S. Pinnolis Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee Boston, MA jpinnolis at berklee.edu
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Anne Adams Metadata Manager Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA anneadams at fas.harvard.edu
Past Chair: Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Davis Family Library Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin at middlebury.edu
Secretary-Treasurer: Hannah Ferello Catalog & Serials Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Research and Instruction Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA patrick.quinn at necmusic.edu
Member-At-Large: Emily Colucci Library Assistant, Access Services George and Helen Ladd Library Bates College Lewiston, ME ecolucci at bates.edu emcguitar at gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Thom Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu
NEMLA Archivist: Jonathan D. Paul Reference Associate Distinctive Collections MIT Libraries Cambridge, MA jdpaul at mit.edu
Website Editor: Donna Maher Reference and Instruction Librarian University of Maine at Augusta Libraries Augusta, ME donna.maher at maine.edu
Even though the forecast calls for a foot of snow this weekend, I can officially say “Happy Spring” to everyone. I hope your semesters are going well.
It was great to see many new and familiar faces at the post-MLA chapter zoom meeting. There was some terrific conversation about presentations from the meeting that were particularly inspiring, as well as a bit of excitement concerning our spring chapter meeting on May 31. The range of interests and knowledge in this group is truly phenomenal.
There will be more information about the upcoming spring meeting elsewhere in this newsletter, but I know the program will be timely and fascinating. Thanks again to Judy Pinnolis and Marlene Wong for making this happen.
Finally, we are still in need of a NEMLA archivist. Please contact me (tsimpkin@middlebury.edu) if you are interested.
Have a terrific remainder of the semester!
Kind regards,
Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin@middlebury.edu
NEMLA Spring 2024 Meeting Preview
Save the Date!NEMLA Spring Meeting on May 31, 2024 at Smith College
Neilson Library — https://libraries.smith.edu/
The Program Committee of NEMLA has been working hard to create an interesting and timely program for members for this Spring’s Annual Meeting being held May 31, 2024 at Smith College. Thanks especially to the efforts of local arrangements by Marlene Wong! The program will have several components. In the morning will be a series of presentations on “AI and Music” and in the afternoon will be the Business meeting, lunch, and a wonderful musical presentation on Sacred Harp music by Tim Eriksen.
The keynote speaker in the morning will be Dr. Christopher White, Associate Professor of Music Theory, UMass Amherst on “Why is AI so Bad at Music? (at least so far)?” followed by two librarians on a panel called “AI in Libraries and Industry”. Elise Gowan, Science Librarian at Smith College will address “AI in Libraries: Confronting Change and the Future of Creativity,” and Caleb Hall, Music Technology and Digital Media Librarian at MIT will speak about “AI Music Tools and Their Impact on the Music Industry.”
In addition, there will be a brief book discussion by Judy Pinnolis with musicologist and author Steve Waksman –about his newly acclaimed and award-winning music history Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé.
Christopher White, Elise Gowan, Caleb Hall, Steve Waksman, Tim Eriksen
The day is scheduled so that there is ample time to visit and tour many of the interesting sites and museums at Smith. It should be quite an interesting and fun day — so plan ahead to come in person, see friends, hear some great music, eat good food, and learn useful and interesting facts about the dramatic changes on our near horizon with AI in music libraries. Registration will open on April 8, so look for the Registration form on the NEMLA website in the near future! A schedule of the day has been published on our website for upcoming meetings. I personally hope to visit the Smith botanical plant house — since I am definitely ready for some Spring! Hope to see you there!!
Submitted by Program Chair, Judy Pinnolis, Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement, Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Call for Nominations for NEMLA Positions
NEMLA is seeking nominations for the following positions in our upcoming election.
Members may nominate themselves and/or others using the 2024 Nomination Form. Nominations must be submitted no later than April 19, 2024.
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025):
Performs the duties of the Chair in the latter’s absence.
Serves as Chair of the Program Committee.
Also serves as an ex-officio member of the Education & Outreach Committee.
The term of office shall be one year after which the Vice-Chair shall succeed to the office of Chair and then Past-Chair, meaning a commitment of three years.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Officer
Serves as Chair of the EDIJ Committee.
Leads the chapter’s EDIJ efforts to identify and dismantle barriers to equity, diversity, inclusivity, and justice within NEMLA and related organizations.
The term of office shall be two years.
Member-at-Large
Acts as liaison to relevant professional organizations in New England (such as the New England Library Association (NELA), the six state library associations, the New England chapter of ACRL (ACRL/NEC), and the New England chapter of the American Musicological Society) primarily to promote information exchange and outreach.
Serves as Chair of the Education & Outreach Committee.
Writes summaries of the biannual NEMLA meetings to be published in NEMLA newsletters.
The term of office shall be two years.
Web Editor (board-appointed/non-elected position)
Maintains the NEMLA website, listserv, and Board listserv.
Collects and preserves documents, photographs and other materials of enduring historical value produced by and about the NEMLA chapter
Develops and maintains a records retention schedule to ensure materials worth preserving are deposited into the chapter archives on a regular basis
Serves an unlimited number of consecutive terms
Questions about the nomination process or duties of the positions open for election may be sent to Memory Apata, Chair of the Nominating Committee at Memory.R.Apata@Dartmouth.edu.
Submitted by Memory Apata, Music and Performing Arts Librarian, Dartmouth College
March 2024 NEMLA Chapter Meeting Summary
On March 6, 2024, NEMLA members gathered virtually for a Chapter meeting in conjunction with the national MLA meeting. The meeting opened with details regarding NEMLA’s upcoming Spring Meeting, to be held at Smith College on Friday, May 31, 2024. The program includes multiple sessions on the use of AI in music, a Sacred Harp event, and the annual business meeting. Registration will open in late April. There will be a dinner planned on Thursday night for anyone arriving early in Northampton. There was also discussion of hiking Mount Holyoke on Saturday.
Attendees also spent time sharing their experiences at the MLA conference. Shoutouts were given to NEMLA members who gave presentations and/or served in official roles during MLA. Remote conference attendees reported a varied experience with streaming. It was noted that many presenters added their slides to CVENT for future access, and that once posted, the quality of the recordings will likely be much higher than the quality of the streams. Finally, NEMLA members were encouraged to consider applying for the various open MLA committee positions. It would be great to see more NEMLA representation in the wider MLA community!
Submitted by Hannah Ferrello, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer Catalog and Serials Librarian, New England Conservatory
Noteworthy News
Liz Berndt has joined NYU
Liz Berndt’s last day at Harvard was March 5th. She has taken the position of Librarian for Music at New York University Libraries. She’ll be splitting her time between Boston and NYC while working hybrid for the foreseeable future.
Submitted by Liz Berndt, Librarian for Music, NYU
New Book Chapter Publication and Conference
Judy Pinnolis was invited to give the opening talk at the Digital Humanities conference “Building a Database of Recorded Music Data for Analysis, Research, and Access” at UCLA in Los Angeles on March 7, 2024. She based her talk on her recently published chapter, “Jewish Music Sound-Recording Collections in the United States” which appeared in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Music Studies, published in October, 2023 by Oxford University Press.
Submitted byJudy Pinnolis, Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee
NEMLA MLA Award Winners
Congratulations to Anna Kijas, who was presented with the A. Ralph Papakhian Award at the MLA conference! “The A. Ralph Papakhian Award is given to recognize extraordinary service to the profession of music librarianship over a relatively short period of time. The Board MLA unanimously voted to confer the Papakhian award on Anna E. Kijas for her efforts to preserve the cultural heritage of Ukraine as it struggles against the Russian invasion through the co-founding of the organization Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online or SUCHO” (MLA News).
Congratulations also to Avery Boddie, who won the Richard S. Hill award is an annual award for the best article on music librarianship or article of a music-bibliographic nature, along with co-authors Jessica Abbazio and Ellen Ogihara! Their article “Music Libraries and an Expanding Repertory: Suggested Strategies for Building Diverse Music Library Collections” appeared in in Notes, volume 78, number 3 (MLA News).
(Note from the editor: If I’ve missed anyone from NEMLA, let me know and I’ll add them!)
A glimpse of MLA 2024
The MLA Big Band 2024 — in the Hall of Mirrors (photo courtesy of Lisa Read)
The MLA Rock Band 2024 (photo courtesy of Lisa Read)
A clip from the community performance of In C organized by MLA’s Contemporary Music Interest Group (courtesy of Jennifer Hadley)
NEMLA Officers
Chair: Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Davis Family Library Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin at middlebury.edu
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Judith S. Pinnolis Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee Boston, MA jpinnolis at berklee.edu
Past Chair: Memory Apata Music and Performing Arts Librarian Paddock Music Library Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu (603) 646-3129
Secretary-Treasurer: Hannah Ferello Catalog & Serials Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Research and Instruction Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA patrick.quinn at necmusic.edu
Member-At-Large: Emily Colucci Library Assistant, Access Services George and Helen Ladd Library Bates College Lewiston, ME ecolucci at bates.edu emcguitar at gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu
NEMLA Archivist: If interested in the position of NEMLA Archivist, contact Terry Simpkins, Chair.
Website Editor: Peter Laurence Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA laurenc at fas.harvard.edu
I’m sure everyone is looking forward to the end of our semesters and, hopefully for all of you, the opportunity to disconnect from our work lives and “recharge” a bit.
I want to thank everyone who participated in our fall virtual chapter meeting. Those of you who missed it will be able to read about the sessions in this newsletter, but in general it was a timely and fascinating discussion of various aspects of censorship in libraries both writ large and specific to music librarianship. Judy Pinnolis and the Program Committee did a terrific job of lining up speakers.
We are still (!!) looking for a NEMLA archivist, as well as new blood for the Program Committee as we head into the details of planning for the spring meeting at Smith College. Please contact me (tsimpkin@middlebury.edu) if you have interest in either position or Judy directly (jpinnolis@berklee.edu) if you would like to help with the Spring planning.
Have a great holiday break, everyone!
Kind regards
Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin@middlebury.edu
NEMLA Fall 2023 Chapter Meeting Summary
NEMLA’s Fall 2023 Chapter meeting on the “all-too-timely” topic of “Censorship in (Music) Libraries” took place on Friday, October 27th, via Zoom. The highest (fluctuating) number of attendees resulted in approximately forty-six participants. The day started at 9:45am and wrapped up a few minutes after 3:00pm. Terry Simpkins, Director of Discovery & Access Services at Middlebury College Library in Vermont, and NEMLA’s President, introduced himself, graciously expressing his excitement for being in this presidential role, while also acknowledging Past-President, Memory Apata, for taking on such a strong, leadership role in NEMLA, previously. Terry welcomed everyone to the meeting, giving a few remarks. He started out by introducing each member of NEMLA’s Executive Board, and giving Judy Pinnolis, Associate Director of Instruction & Engagement at Berklee College of Music Library, NEMLA’s Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect, and new Program Committee Chair, praise for organizing such a terrific program of events for the Fall 2023 meeting. Terry voiced the importance and need for NEMLA members interested to join any of the committees, giving strong emphasis to the Program Committee, since members involved, engage in planning future NEMLA Chapter meetings. Terry also mentioned the current absence of a NEMLA Archivist and asked anyone interested in fulfilling this role to reach out. After advertising the afternoon “schmooze” session to brainstorm ideas for the Spring 2024 meeting, Terry turned things over to Joanna Fuchs, Metadata Coordinator for Arts and Humanities at Brandeis University, to introduce the first speaker of the morning.
Joyce McIntosh, Assistant Program Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation at the American Library Association (ALA) presented the first session of the morning, at 10:00am. Her presentation titled “Protecting Access and Increasing Advocacy: Having the Right Tools in a Challenging Time”, brought about well-rounded perspectives surrounding the knowledge behind what types of book banning challenges have existed, and continue to do so, over the last ten years in the United States. Most book-banning challenges in public and school libraries concern race, LGBTQIA, and sex education content, and can impact Black and Indigenous populations disproportionately. School and public librarians/libraries and administrations alike, also deal with pushback from parents of minors, individuals and communities as a whole, who are threatening librarians and boards of trustees–those responsible for curating collections–to remove certain materials that they find offensive. They are going even further to defund such establishments. However, Joyce also talked about individuals having rights to access information, according to the First Amendment, which enable them to defend their statutes and rights to access the various materials they wish to read or listen to. The First Amendment also allows librarians and boards of trustees to consult their collection development policies every time a book is challenged in their library.
Lastly, Joyce expressed the ways in which individuals and communities can best serve as advocates for protecting against book bans and varying challenges against those who continue to attempt book-removal from library collections in public and school libraries. Some of these advocacy efforts include: running for office on the school or library board affiliate, educating oneself and others as much as possible, in addition to talking with people about what kinds of materials they want to see in libraries, as opposed to closing doors to accessibility, and instead, contributing to community resources. It is also extremely important to keep the Constitutional right to access information in mind, when defending patrons’ rights when they want to check out materials of their choosing. Lastly, not all materials are suitable for everyone. By the same token, it is the individual’s responsibility–including the parent’s responsibility if the individual is a minor–to select or ask for alternate material if he or she is not comfortable with the former. Joyce closed her presentation, giving a nudge to NEMLA members, to visit the website UniteAgainstBookBans for more information.
Carol Lubkowski, Music Librarian at Wellesley College (Massachusetts), introduced the next speaker of the morning, Dr. James Bradford. He is the renowned author of Poppies, Politics, and Power, Afghanistan and the Global History of Drugs and Diplomacy and Associate Professor of History, in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Department, at Berklee College of Music. His presentation, “Perilous Waters: Navigating Pressures of Censorship, Political Polarization and Intellectual Freedom in the College Classroom”, explored a variety of challenges intersecting with how he teaches upper-level political/cultural history classes, as well as those circling drugs and addiction, and how they are relative to issues surrounding human rights and crime. Throughout Dr. Bradford’s years in teaching various world themes he encounters in his courses such as Global History of Drugs, he finds the discussion aspect of class most crucial. Students are able to dedicate time to learning about what is going on in the world around them; they want to hone the proper tools and skills needed, to engage themselves fully to form well-rounded, unbiased opinions about issues brought up in classes.
The biggest challenges Dr. Bradford grapples with regularly is figuring out the best way(s) in which to educate his students amidst this present political climate on the issues they want to know more about, while also feeling out the limitations and willingness of what they can and cannot do time-management-wise, since they have competitive workloads for other music-centered courses. Dr. Bradford has observed over the years that while the students like to dive into various issues and be informed, they prefer to find information from possibly less-reputable sources such as YouTube videos/channels, X (formerly Twitter), and other social media platforms, and podcasts, as opposed to going a more wholesome, traditional route as simple as reading. He recognizes that going the former research route is more of an “instant gratification” for the students. It is much easier for them to grasp this material, because for one thing, it is all at their fingertips essentially. This also makes a strong case for the material to be more digestible, given their time constraints. Dr. Bradford finds that the best way to combat these challenges is to be deliberate and purposeful in material-selection that specifies relatable content and themes, hoping to captivate the students’ focus more effectively. His intention is to start building a more solid foundation for the students to form a different way of well-educated thinking that can be applied to his courses throughout the semester, as well as in life overall.
Judy hosted an informal “schmooze” gathering after lunch for the next half-hour, beginning at 1:30pm. This time was critically utilized for participants (roughly eighteen) to briefly introduce themselves, and to brainstorm potential themes and ideas for NEMLA’s Spring 2024 meeting held in-person–and possibly hybrid–at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, on Friday, May 31, 2024. While Terry, NEMLA’s President was introducing himself, he expressed his excitement for this session and future sessions carved out in the day, as an informal space for members to bounce ideas around for the next and forthcoming NEMLA Chapter meetings. Terry also gave one final pitch for anyone interested in joining NEMLA committees, and especially the Program Committee, to reach out to himself (tsimpkin@middlebury.edu) or Judy (jpinnolis@berklee.edu).
The two main goals for the Spring 2024 meeting are for (1) the presentations to be more musically focused, and within that, to (2) primarily concern activities that people are doing in (music) libraries today. Judy welcomes help from NEMLA members across the membership as well as those who were in attendance of the Fall 2023 all-virtual meeting, for receiving submissions for topic ideas, such as the pressing topic of AI (artificial intelligence) in music libraries, which was mentioned during the “schmooze”. AI in music libraries currently seems to be a strong contender, which Judy continues to explore in a more serious light, since she recognizes it as a prevalent initiative evolving in most places today. If anyone in the NEMLA membership has any ideas or suggestions, please reach out to Judy.
Marci Cohen, Head of Research Services for Instruction and Consultation at Boston University Libraries (Boston, Massachusetts), introduced the day’s third and final speaker that afternoon, at 2:00pm. Brett Milano, a prolific journalist and writer on his own merit, gave a fascinating talk titled “I Bet You They Won’t Play This Song on the Radio: The Uncensored History of Music Censorship”. The first part of his presentation’s title, cleverly comes from the eleventh track’s title on the final studio album by Monty Python, released in 1980, called “Monty Python’s Contractual Obligation Album”. It also set the tone for the presentation in its entirety. Brett took viewers (about twenty-eight) through a journey of musical censorship from the thirties and forties, through contemporary music and artists on the scene today. When it comes to censorship and what to play or not play on the radio, Brett pointed out that it is and has always been “cyclical”, and that popular music goes through “permissive” and “repressive” times at one point or another, and sometimes both, simultaneously.
Brett demystified the thought that musical censorship in terms of pop culture influences go back to Rock ‘n’ Roll. He instead contradicted that statement, saying they go back to the thirties and forties, such as in songs like “I Get a Kick Out of You” by the prolific composer, Cole Porter. This song is extremely well known. However, the proper and original lyrics that Cole Porter wrote are often never the ones heard today. American Swing-Jazz singer and actor, Frank Sinatra, sang this version. The lyrics in this version make direct references to alcohol and drugs such as champagne and cocaine. Brett points out that these lyrics were at the time, primarily censored because of the Hays Code, which set standards for what was and was not acceptable to show in a motion picture at that time. The song “I Get a Kick Out of You” was originally written for the musical “Anything Goes”, which was later adapted for the screen in 1936. Therefore, the lyrics were changed to reference perfume instead, which is what one hears in most versions recorded since. When dealing with the early days of pop culture and Rock ‘n’ Roll, there were many social norms that motivated the elimination of certain words and ideas, either in music or on the radio. This concept according to Brett was more acceptable and “free-willing” in Blues and Jazz traditions.
Moving on into the late seventies, Brett discussed the scandalous events happening in England over the Sex Pistols’ 1977 release, “God Save the Queen”, as it was viewed atrociously offensive–especially to the Queen of England–because of the repetitive mention of the word “God” in the title and the song. According to Brett, the charts refused to put the song in its rightful spot as number one, and replaced it with another record instead, resulting in pushing “God Save the Queen” into the number two spot. Despite the pushback, this particular record sold many copies generating a lot of money during that time. England did not actually suppress the record from stores; they only stopped talking about it, attempting to prevent people from listening to the record.
Brett rounded out the timeline and musical genres relating to the idea of censorship by introducing aspects of Hip Hop and Rap and how the battles were getting more serious, such as in the song “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar-Hill Gang, released in 1979. However, as more pressing issues were becoming increasingly political and global in the late 1980’s, Black communities were greatly affected and had a lot to say. America had its own rap version of “God Save the Queen”, as in a song by the NWA addressing police brutality and mistreatment of minorities, an example of the community’s response of fighting back through their lyrics. Extreme circumstances resulted in arrests for selling certain records in stores, such as was the case with a record seller in Florida, who attempted to sell the 1989 album “As Nasty As They Want to Be ” by 2 Live Crew. Law enforcement later also arrested the group for creating an album with vulgar, graphic and suggestive humor. Brett mentions that the group followed this album with another one, one year later in 1990, called “Banned in the USA”. Of course, they got permission from Bruce Springsteen to sample his song “Born in the USA”.
Despite some technical difficulties, NEMLA members including Marci, Judy and Terry, were able to provide a variety of resounding anecdotes that filled the vacant space with their own nostalgic contributions throughout. Brett closed his thought-provoking talk speaking about how the band formerly known as the Dixie Chicks criticized former President George Bush at a concert in London, during their World Tour in 2003. When the band, returned to the U.S., their music and name were completely boycotted. Brett noted that this was a shame, because they were just starting to reach current Taylor Swift status, in terms of popularity–not just in Country music, but also in the pop music realm. Even after so many years since starting fresh by changing their name to “The Chicks” and trying to make a comeback, they still have not risen back to the fame they once had. He closed by saying that the music industry has enough “clout” to defend themselves. Record companies will go to any heights to defend the rights of their artists to release anything they want–especially if they are selling an abundance of records.
The last few minutes of the meeting’s wrap-up consisted of Judy and Terry going back and forth. Judy thanked Brett for giving such a riveting and interactive presentation. Terry thanked Judy for all of her hard work in organizing the day of events, as well as thanked all of the speakers for delivering such captivating presentations. Judy also thanked everyone for coming, and asked anyone to reach out to her about ideas for the Spring 2024 meeting. She will be thinking about the topics informally discussed during the schmooze for the next NEMLA Chapter meeting in May.
Respectfully submitted,
Emily M. Colucci, Member-At-Large, NEMLA Library Assistant, Access Services, George and Helen Ladd Library, Bates College
Additional note from Judy Pinnolis: Videos from the program can be viewed on NEMLA’s YouTube channel or via the NEMLA website . Thanks to the program hosts including Marci Cohen, Carol Lubkowski and Joanna Fuchs. Special thanks also to Marlene Wong, Memory Apata, Rebecca McCallum, Peter Laurence, Terry Simpkins and Elizabeth Berndt and all others who gave advice, ideas, and technical knowhow!!
Save the date for the 2024 Spring Meeting
scheduled for May 31, 2024 at Smith College!
Details to be announced soon.
NEMLA Membership Renewal
A friendly reminder that membership renewals are open on the MLA website. You are encouraged to take a moment to renew if you have not already done so. If you have any questions about renewing your membership, please contact me at hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu.
Submitted by Hannah Ferrello, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer Catalog and Serials Librarian, New England Conservatory
Noteworthy News
“Jewish Music Sound Recording Collections in the United States”
Judith Pinnolis recently had her chapter “Jewish Music Sound Recording Collections in the United States” published in the Oxford Handbook of Jewish Music Studies.
Judy’s chapter examines several significant Jewish music sound-recording collections in the United States providing insight into individual agency tied to different understandings of Jewish music. Discussion centers on their complexities from a library-science perspective focusing on conservation and preservation as well as bibliographic control and other issues in which the complexities of Jewish music unfold more clearly. Authenticity, comprehensiveness, and other constructions demonstrate how sound-recording collections reflect the overall difficulties of defining and delimiting Jewish music.
Submitted byJudy Pinnolis, Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Monica Ruiz Joins Alphin Library
Monica Ruiz was recently hired as the Circulation Manager for the Alphin Library at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and is the newest member of the Berklee Library team.
Monica brings experience with managing student employees, course reserves, canvas support, interlibrary loan and assisting with circulation. Monica was also part of the Alma Migration Fulfillment Team at MIT and holds a Bachelor of Science in Music.
Submitted by Jennifer Hunt, Associate Dean, Library, BerkleeCollege of Music
Hidden Volumes Returned to Olin Library
It may sound like a series of occult books kept in an undisclosed location, or perhaps a hazing ritual for new library staff, but Hidden Volumes is actually a sort of musical happening in the spirit of John Cage’s Musicircus. Dreamed up by Wesleyan Professor of Music Paula Matthusen and visiting scholar Terri Hron in 2017, Hidden Volumes calls for performers to disperse around the library, playing for between five and ninety minutes, in an exploration of the sonic, visual, and architectural spaces of the library, while the “audience” wanders through the stacks in search of the source of the mysterious sounds coming from around the corner. The core group of performers are students in Matthusen’s class “Live-Electronics for Composition, Improvisation, and Sound Art”, but other members of the extended Wesleyan community are invited to join in as well.
For two hours on October 12, 2023, Hidden Volumes returned to Wesleyan’s Olin Memorial Library for a third run, with more participants than ever before, in a simultaneous double-feature with another of Matthusen’s projects, the electronic-music-and-weaving duo between systems and grounds, with Olivia Valentine. Here’s a five-minute video of the highlights:
More details are in a campus newsletter in an article titled, appropriately, Music in Unexpected Spaces.
I’ll close with one student piece that didn’t make it into the video or newsletter:
A pair of bananas connected with wires to a large speaker; sign above reads “DON’T TOUCH THE BANANAS!!! (slap them)”
Submitted by Aaron Bittel, Director, World Music Archives and Music Librarian, Wesleyan University
For fun: Library receives a shout out from a very learned puppet
Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year with a variety of events, including a Javanese shadow puppet (wayang kulit) play on December 2, 2023, which commemorated the original performance opening the World Music Hall in 1973. A dozen alumni from that era, along with renowned Javanese musicians, joined the current Javanese Gamelan Ensemble under the direction of Professor of Music Sumarsam (the puppeteer for the evening) and I.M. Harjito. Below is a short clip in which a puppet mentions research in the library and heavy use of Interlibrary Loan. The clip ends with an in-joke reference to Sumarsam’s forthcoming book, History and Myth, Interculturalism and Interreligiosity: The In-Between in Javanese Performing Arts (Wesleyan University Press), which the World Music Archives helped celebrate with a performance and talk in the library last May.
If you’d like to actually hear the gamelan music and see the more humorous and exciting puppet work, scroll through the full video.
Submitted by Jennifer Hadley, World Music Archives & Music Library, Wesleyan University
More Photos from the Spring 2023 NEMLA Meeting
Submitted by Judy Pinnolis
Celebrating Maria Jane Loizou’s many years as Collections Management Librarian at New England Conservatory
Music in The Music of Black AmericansEDIJ Committee
NEMLA Officers
Chair: Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Davis Family Library Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin at middlebury.edu
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Judith S. Pinnolis Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee Boston, MA jpinnolis at berklee.edu
Past Chair: Memory Apata Music and Performing Arts Librarian Paddock Music Library Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu (603) 646-3129
Secretary-Treasurer: Hannah Ferello Catalog & Serials Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Research and Instruction Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA patrick.quinn at necmusic.edu
Member-At-Large: Emily Colucci Library Assistant, Access Services George and Helen Ladd Library Bates College Lewiston, ME ecolucci at bates.edu emcguitar at gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu
NEMLA Archivist: Position vacant
Website Editor: Peter Laurence Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA laurenc at fas.harvard.edu
This is the first “hello membership” message I’ve had the honor to write to any organization, and I am pleased to serve as the new Chair of NEMLA for 2023-2024. My involvement with music librarianship dates back decades by now, and, although my career path as a librarian has veered away from a purely music focus, music and music librarianship has and will remain my joy and passion. I am currently a member of the library administration team at Middlebury College, but I have maintained an active interest in music librarianship issues as co-owner of a music contract cataloging service.
First of all, a warm welcome to our incoming board members Judy Pinnolis, Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement at Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee, who is the Vice Chair/Chair Elect and Hannah Ferello, Catalog Librarian at New England Conservatory, who is our new Secretary/Treasurer.
Also, a huge thank you to the members of the Program Committee as well as our hosts at the Berklee College of Music for a successful in-person meeting this past June, our first such gathering since the pre-COVID “before times.” COVID changed everything for us, of course, and while virtual meetings are, for many reasons, valuable additions to our communal activities, human beings are social creatures and in-person interactions are crucial to our professional lives.
Finally, I would like to thank Memory Apata — our current Past-Chair — for her work over the past year, especially for her focus on ways to make NEMLA a more accessible and inclusive organization. I hope to maintain that focus during my term. Additionally, thank yous and kudos to Sandi-Jo Malmon, outgoing Past-Chair; and Carol Lubkowski, outgoing Secretary/Treasurer for their service on the NEMLA Executive Board.
Kind regards,
Terry Simpkins, NEMLA Chair Director, Discovery and Access Services Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin@middlebury.edu
NEMLA Spring 2023 Hybrid Meeting Notes
NEMLA’s Spring 2023 hybrid meeting, graciously hosted at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, took place on Friday morning, June 2nd starting at 9:00 am, and concluding in the early evening at 5:00 pm. Thirty-three participants attended the meeting in person, and approximately 8 – 10 participants attended the meeting via Zoom. After a lovely opportunity for in-person attendees to socialize over coffee, NEMLA’s Chair, Memory Apata, gave some opening remarks and announcements, including welcoming everyone in-person and online to the Spring meeting, at 9:45 am. She also thanked Berklee and its colleagues for providing their space for hosting the meeting. She then welcomed Pablo Vargas, Dean of the Stan Getz Library and Learning Resources, who gave a brief history about how Berklee College of Music came to be the highly esteemed school of music that it is in Boston, and highlighting two other Berklee campuses –- one in Spain and the other in New York. Pablo also kindly expressed how he came to be the Stan Getz Library and Learning Resources Dean and emphasized that Berklee and the Stan Getz Library as a whole along with its wonderful community, is a great place to work. He closed by saying that he looks forward to working with others on “many amazing things.”
The morning continued with an engaging presentation from Andrea Cawelti, Ward Music Cataloger at Houghton Library, Harvard University, at 10:00 am. Andrea’s presentation introduced Rudolf Ackermann’s The Repository of the Arts. While the journal was published monthly from 1809 through 1829, Andrea’s presentation focused mainly on highlights from music reviews published between 1809 and 1816. These music reviews analyzed a number of composers’ scores for domestic music-making and made intriguing connections with events on the world stage, particularly during the concluding years of the Napoleonic Wars, and how the compositions tied into Britain’s perspective during this time. For an earlier version of the presentation, please consult the Jane Austen Society of North America: https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol-42-no-1/cawelti/.
The NEMLA business meeting at 11:00 am was led by then Chair Memory Apata. Members discussed the proposed by-law changes, which had been voted on by virtual ballot prior to the meeting: 1) that new Board officer terms should begin July 1, 2) that fall NEMLA meetings should be virtual and spring meetings could be virtual, in-person, or hybrid, and 3) that voting for officers should take place virtually. A quorum was not achieved, and it was discovered that the current by-laws already include a provision for virtual elections. Members voted to rescind the ballot for further review by the Board. Comments and suggestions should be sent to the Board. At the end of the meeting, Jennifer Hunt presented Maria Jane Loizou with a bouquet to celebrate her many years as Collections Management Librarian at New England Conservatory. Her last day at NEC was May 31st, and she looks forward to devoting more time to teaching and writing.
After lunch, the afternoon schedule resumed with two rounds of two twenty-minute presentations, with a fifteen-minute break in between. The first afternoon presentation was given by Jennifer Hunt, the Associate Dean of the Library at Berklee . Jennifer’s presentation, “The Merger of The Boston Conservatory and Berklee: A Tale of Two Libraries,” took us on a methodical journey through how the Albert Alphin Library at Boston Conservatory and the Stan Getz Library at Berklee College of Music worked out the complex details of new workflows after the two institutions announced their merger seven years ago. The merger presented a number of challenges, such as how to coordinate communication between two different open-source integrated library systems, Evergreen and Koha. Some of the first projects after the merger included setting up cross circulation between the two schools, merging some of the collections, such as the classical scores, music teaching books, and all of the online resources, and establishing a unified workflow for ILL. Other positive opportunities to come out of the merger included a staff reorganization and the creation of a few new job positions that will allow library operations to run even more smoothly.
Garrett Groesbeck, a PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology, at Wesleyan University, presented next. He spoke about his in-depth research of Japanese music and how it is taught throughout higher education institutions in North America. For example, national living treasure of Japan Yamaguchi Gorō, a shakuhachi player, taught at Wesleyan in the late 1960’s. He, along with other influential figures in early North American ethnomusicology had a significant influence on the view of Japanese music in U.S. higher education today. Garrett gave a short introduction to Japanese music notation and also discussed his cataloging of Japanese scores in the Wesleyan Music Library and World Music Archives collections.
To begin the second round of presentations Kerry Masteller, Sandi-Jo Malmon and Christina Linklater, from Harvard University, spoke about a project recently launched by the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library at Harvard University, The Music in The Music of Black Americans, a digital appendix to The Music of Black Americans, the landmark book by Dr. Eileen Southern. Dr. Southern was the first Black woman to receive a tenured professorship in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1974, three years after the first edition of The Music of Black Americans was published; the book itself is a monumental work that develops an extensive musical and cultural history of Black Americans, spanning from before the trans-Atlantic slave trade and continuing through to the mid twentieth century.
The Music in The Music of Black Americans offers the first organized, openly accessible inventory of the musical examples in the first edition of The Music of Black Americans. It provides full-text open access to the complete scores of almost all of these examples, from sources in the collections of Harvard Library and nine other institutions. An open-access project, the appendix furthers Harvard Library’s commitment to champion access and share knowledge with users around the world — The Music of Black Americans was exceedingly popular and was most recently reprinted in 2022. The site bridges the gap between musical works as they appear in the book, and as they could appear in the hands or on the screen of a composer, conductor, or musicologist today. During the presentation, Kerry, Sandi-Jo, and Christina related their experiences locating the scores and building a delivery system for them, and shared useful insights for those contemplating their own digital humanities initiatives. You can view their presentation slides here.
Patrick Quinn, the Research and Instruction Librarian at the New England Conservatory, gave the final presentation along with the other members of the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Committee: Jenée Force, Yamil Suarez, and Jennifer Hadley. Patrick first explained the committee’s framework for a NEMLA statement of the organization’s commitment to combatting racism, ableism, anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment, and hatred, and to pursuing EDIJ efforts to create a positive future for music librarianship. Patrick led the in-person and online NEMLA attendees in an informal discussion about how NEMLA and the field of music librarianship could be a more inclusive community as a whole. Both the discussion and feedback provided by the NEMLA community via this form will assist the committee in drafting a statement for the NEMLA website. (See the EDIJ Committee report below.)
During the lunch break, meeting attendees were welcomed to tour the Creative Technology Center and Immersive Technology Lab to learn about the extensive resources and training offered. After the final presentation, attendees broke into two groups to take guided tours of the Stan Getz Library and the Albert Alphin Library at Boston Conservatory. Many thanks to all the staff who led the tours. It’s always inspiring to learn from other libraries.
To cap the wonderful day, the Esli Honore Quartet, a talented Berklee ensemble led by Haitian pianist Esli Honore, performed an enjoyable concert of original compositions and standards at the reception.
Esli Honore Quartet: Esli Durano Junior Honore (lead, guitar), Ciara Moser (bass), Amaury Cabral Jorge (drums), Paul July Joseph (keyboard)
Respectfully submitted,
Emily M. Colucci, Member-At-Large, NEMLA Library Assistant, Access Services, George and Helen Ladd Library, Bates College with contributions from Andrea Cawelti, Jennifer Hunt, Garrett Groesbeck, Christina Linklater, Patrick Quinn, and Jennifer Hadley
NEMLA Membership Renewal
A friendly reminder that membership renewals are now open on the MLA website. You are encouraged to take a moment to renew if you have not already done so. If you have any questions about renewing your membership, please contact me at hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu.
Submitted by Hannah Ferrello, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer Catalog and Serials Librarian, New England Conservatory
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Justice Committee Invitation for Input
As mentioned in the meeting report, the NEMLA EDIJ committee presented a framework for an official statement on NEMLA’s EDIJ principles at the Spring meeting. This framework will be used to craft a full statement, to be approved or adapted by the NEMLA board later this summer, so this is the perfect time to add your own feedback!
Please make sure your voice is heard in this process by contributing your ideas! The EDIJ committee is hoping this will be a truly “NEMLA-owned” statement that reflects our shared commitment to EDIJ principles. We’ve already received some wonderful responses that will help us immensely in crafting a statement. Thank you to those who have already participated in person or online!
Submitted byPatrick Quinn, Chair, EDIJ Committee Research and Instruction Librarian, New England Conservatory
Nominating Committee Report
NEMLA is looking for leaders! There are several vacant positions which need to be filled. If you are interested in nominating yourself or another NEMLA member for the following roles, please contact the Chair of the Nominating Committee at memory.r.apata@dartmouth.edu.
Vacant Volunteer/Chair-Appointed Positions:
Nominating Committee Members (2 or more new members)
Chapter Archivist
Chair, Technical Services Committee
Chair, Instruction Committee
Submitted byMemory Apata (she/her) Music and Performing Arts Librarian Dartmouth College
Noteworthy News
Chris Schiff Gives Bates’ Baccalaureate Address
(Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
This past May, the Bates College Class of 2023 selected Chris Schiff, Music and Arts Librarian, as their baccalaureate speaker, or as the college chaplain Rev. Brittany Longsdorf explained in introducing him, the person they would most like to give them advice on the eve of their graduation. Students described Chris as a “mythical wise wizard, like Gandalf the Grey,” while Longsdorf praised his “wisdom on how to research, structure, and write about the arts and music” and his “boundless tender heart in helping students as they sift through challenging subject matter.” You can read the full story in the Bates News, and watch the video of his heartfelt speech, “Drink the wave.”
Chris shared his thoughts about the experience:
While my heart will always be in music and the performing arts, in the last few years I have been called upon to serve as the bibliographer and research librarian for disciplines across the humanities. I count these years as the most productive and personally rewarding of my career!
I came to the attention of this particular class through a research seminar which combined Africana, American Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Religion. It took place on my very first face-to-face day after dispersal. I found the topic of our research – civil rights pioneer Pauli Murray – to be exciting and I was NOT afraid to show it! The students and their professor responded in kind, because we were all – at that point – starved for close and personal communication. That single library session set the tone for the next two years, and I worked with many of those same students on their Senior Thesis. When it came time to choose a speaker, one of the Religious Studies students that I had helped asked me if she could nominate me. I didn’t hesitate to accept. I knew that – although I have been in academia off and on since 1976 – I had finally found my graduating class!
Congratulations, Chris!
Marci Cohen’s New Role
Marci Cohen has moved into a new role in Boston University Libraries. Previously the Assistant Head of the Music Library, she is now Head of Research Services for Instruction and Consultation.
NEMLA Officers
Chair: Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Davis Family Library Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin at middlebury.edu
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Judith S. Pinnolis Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee Boston, MA jpinnolis at berklee.edu
Past Chair: Memory Apata Music and Performing Arts Librarian Paddock Music Library Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu (603) 646-3129
Secretary-Treasurer: Hannah Ferello Catalog & Serials Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Research and Instruction Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA patrick.quinn at necmusic.edu
Member-At-Large: Emily Colucci Library Assistant, Access Services George and Helen Ladd Library Bates College Lewiston, ME ecolucci at bates.edu emcguitar at gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu
NEMLA Archivist: Position vacant
Website Editor: Peter Laurence Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA laurenc at fas.harvard.edu
It was truly lovely to catch up with many of you at MLA in St. Louis. This was my first time seeing another music librarian face-to-face since the 2020 MLA meeting in Norfolk! I was really inspired by the program this year and was reminded that it’s so important to spend time together as professionals outside of committee meetings.
I’ve got some brief updates from the board: First, the proposed by-laws changes will be posted to NEMLA website soon for your review and are include below. A virtual ballot is forthcoming and results will be announced at the spring meeting. Second, the work on the NEMLA virtual archive is ongoing. After this first pass through materials in our GDrive, we hope that an incoming NEMLA Archivist will be willing to advise and check our work. The NEMLA Archivist position remains vacant and interested members are encouraged to express interest to me via email. Third, the annual reports for the last three years are live on the NEMLA website. We hope that sharing our goals in this way will create some accountability and continuity in work as the board changes each year.
And finally, it is my great pleasure to thank our colleagues at Berklee College of Music for agreeing to host our spring meeting. The call for program proposals is included in this issue of Quarter Notes.
Looking forward to seeing you in June,
Memory Apata NEMLA Chair Music & Performing Arts Librarian | Dartmouth College
Proposal for Changes to By-Laws FY23
The following are proposed amendments to the NEMLA by-laws, as approved by the executive board. Members may vote on the proposed changes by using this virtual ballot.
Proposal 1: Regulation of Officer/Committee Chair Terms
This change will standardize the length of terms for officers and committee chairs. Terms will start on July 1st, decoupling the start of terms from the spring meeting date.Proposed additions are in red. Strikethrough text will be excluded from the new version of the by-laws.
ARTICLE IV. OFFICERS
There shall be a Chair who shall preside at all meetings, appoint committees (see Article VIII for exception), and perform the duties customary to this office. The term of office shall be one year, after which the Chair shall succeed to the office of Past-Chair.
There shall be a Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect who shall be responsible for programs and perform the duties of the Chair in the latter’s absence. The Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect shall also serve as an ex-officio member of the Education & Outreach Committee. The term of office shall be one year, after which the Vice-Chair shall succeed to the office of Chair.
There shall be a Past-Chair who shall appoint and chair the Nominating Committee and perform other duties as necessary. The term of office shall be one year.
There shall be a Secretary/Treasurer who shall record the minutes of all meetings and preserve all official records and reports of the Chapter; notify the members of all meetings at least two weeks in advance; keep an up-to-date membership list; conduct any correspondence of the Chapter as may be required; collect dues; make authorized expenditures; maintain Chapter accounts and report on status of these accounts at each board meeting; prepare an annual budget; and perform duties customary to this office. The term of office shall be two years.
There shall be a Member-at-Large who shall act as liaison to relevant professional organizations in New England (such as the New England Library Association (NELA),the six state library associations, the New England chapter of ACRL (ACRL/NEC), and the New England chapter of the American Musicological Society) primarily to promote information exchange and outreach. The Member-at-Large shall also serve as Chair of the Education & Outreach Committee. The term of office shall be two years.
There shall be a Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Officer who shall be responsible for leading the chapter’s EDIJ efforts. The EDIJ Officer shall also serve as Chair of the EDIJ Committee. The term of office shall be two years.
The Board may appoint non-voting, special officers for a two year term of service renewable at the board’s discretion. Except when otherwise specified, special officers may serve no more than four consecutive years.
A) All officers shall be members in good standing of the Chapter. B) The Chair and Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect shall be members of the national association.
Terms of office shall commence immediately following the Spring meetingon July 1st.
No officer shall be eligible for more than two consecutive terms in the same office.
ARTICLE VIII.A. COMMITTEES
The Standing Committees shall be the Nominating Committee, the Program Committee, the Instruction Committee, the Publications Committee, the Technical Services Committee, the Education & Outreach Committee, and the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Committee. Except when otherwise specified, committee chairs and members may serve no more than two consecutive terms. Service as a member does not preclude subsequent service as chair for two additional terms. Members may be reappointed after being off a committee for one year. The start of term for incoming committee chairs is July 1st.
Reasons for changes:
The amount of time that the Vice Chair/Chair Elect (de facto Program Committee Chair) has to plan for the fall meeting varies from year to year, depending on the date of the spring meeting. This ranges from 3-9 months.
Proposal 2: Fall Meeting Location
This addition to the by-laws will require NEMLA to hold at least one virtual meeting per year. Proposed additions in red:
ARTICLE VI. MEETINGS
There shall be a minimum of two meetings a year.
There shall be a business meeting in the Spring of each year.
The fall meeting shall be virtual. The spring meeting may be virtual, hybrid, or in-person.
Meetings shall be called by the Executive Board with at least two weeks’ notice.
A quorum shall consist of a majority of members present at any meeting.
The Executive Board shall determine appropriate honoraria for guest presenters at the meetings; NEMLA members do not receive honoraria for presenting.
Reasons for changes:
Virtual meetings align with our organization’s purpose to “bring together […] all persons in the region interested in music libraries…”
A majority of members indicated a preference for an online option at NEMLA meetings in a recent survey.
Virtual meetings allow for a greater number of attendees from the New England area, in particular students and library staff who would not be able to attend in person due to geographical distance or financial constraints. Mandating that at least one meeting occur virtually is a step toward equitable representation and inclusion of these members. This would differ from mandating a hybrid meeting, because remote attendees would not be able to engage equally with in-person meeting activities.
Planning for a virtual meeting requires considerably less lead time. The planning of a virtual meeting for the fall will allow for much more flexibility in the choosing of a date for the meeting and will ease the workload of the incoming Vice Chair/Chair Elect.
Proposal 3: Virtual Voting Procedure
This addition to the by-laws will require that elections and voting for changes to the by-laws occur virtually, rather than in person.
ARTICLE V. ELECTIONS
1. Officers shall be elected by a plurality of the ballots cast. 2. Ballots shall be distributed to members at least four weeks before the Spring business meeting. Ballots shall be submitted returned by mail to the Secretary/Treasurer as specified thereon. 3. A majority vote of the Executive Board shall break a tie. 4. Voting for officers shall take place virtually.
ARTICLE XI. AMENDMENTS
These By-Laws may be amended by a two-thirds vote according to the following procedures and conditions:
1. Proposed amendments shall be submitted to the Executive Board for consideration at least eight weeks before the meeting of the Chapter at which it is requested that the proposal be presented. 2. Upon approval by the Executive Board texts of the proposed amendments shall be distributed to Chapter members at least four weeks before presentation for discussion at the meeting. 3. Ballots and texts as revised at the meeting shall be distributed to chapter members in a timely manner, generally in the next issue of the chapter newsletter. Ballots shall be returned by mailsubmitted to the Secretary/Treasurer as specified thereon. 4. Voting for changes to by-laws shall take place by virtual ballot.
Reason for changes:
It is already common practice for voting to occur virtually, but this convention is not stated in the by-laws.
A virtual ballot allows for greater participation of members who are unable to attend in-person meetings.
Spring 2023 Meeting Save the Date and Call for Proposals
Save the date! The spring 2023 meeting of NEMLA will be held at the Berklee College of Music, Boston, MA, June 2, 2023. If you would like to present at the meeting, please submit your idea via this (brief) form or click on the QR code below.
Registration details will be announced shortly.
We hope to see you there!
Terry Simpkins, on behalf of the NEMLA Program Committee Memory Apata Elizabeth Berndt-Morris Carol Lubkowski Rebecca McCallum Jared Rex Marlene Wong
NEMLA Membership Renewal
Membership renewal will be coming up soon. Carol Lubkowski, the Secretary/Treasurer, will be sending out a message in the next few months with rates and instructions. If you have any questions about your membership status, renewal, or joining NEMLA, please contact Carol at clubkows at wellesley.edu.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Justice Committee Report
The EDIJ Committee recently met with the Board to discuss the future of the committee and its goals. The combined group has committed to creating a framework to help guide the committee in future iterations and leadership. We discussed the possibility of NEMLA conducting an EDIJ self-assessment in order to gauge where the organization stands, what progress has been made, and what needs further attention.Additionally, the EDIJ Committee will be reaching out to individual committees to further understand the individual needs each NEMLA committee may have and how best to support those needs.
The EDIJ Committee is also looking to help revive the currently inactive Oral History Project working group, with a particular focus on collecting a wide diversity of experiences throughout New England music librarianship. Through this revival, we hope to encourage the capture of voices heard less often, including from BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, early career librarians, library students, paraprofessionals, and even those who have chosen to leave the profession. The Committee looks forward to moving forward on these projects and will put out calls to action in the future – we hope you’ll consider taking part or lending aid!
Patrick Quinn, Chair, EDIJ Committee Research and Instruction Librarian, New England Conservatory
Establishing Collaboration between NEMLA and Other New England Library Organizations
Collaboration between organizations presents a vital opportunity to support one another and promote information exchange. Successful collaboration enables individuals and organizations to evolve their knowledge capacity to foster new ideas and expand upon them within the (music) librarianship profession as a whole. With this in mind, I have been busy rejuvenating efforts over the last few months to build professional relationships between NEMLA and each of the New England library organizations. Within the last couple of months, I have had the pleasure of speaking with the Maine Library Association (MLA) Board, the Connecticut Library Association (CLA) Board, and the Rhode Island Library Association’s (RILA) President. I appreciate that they all kindly invited me to speak to them about NEMLA and start generating conversations about how NEMLA can collaborate with and support such organizations. I would like to share some notable takeaways from speaking with the Maine Library Association Board and the Rhode Island Library Association’s president.
The MLA Board meeting was on the morning of Friday, February 24, 2023, on Zoom. The current MLA President, Wynter Giddings (Past-President after July 1, 2023) invited me to attend at least 3-4 board meetings per year, to serve in an ex-officio capacity, and to possibly have a seat on a committee or roundtable. We also briefly discussed the question of how NEMLA can support academic librarians to best store/house their libraries’ rare, print sheet music collections. Over time, the MLA Board and I intend to revisit these conversations and ideas in the near future.
The RILA President, Rachael Juskuv, and I had an informal conversation via Zoom on Monday, March 20, 2023. She first suggested that NEMLA share notable updates, accomplishments, and information about upcoming chapter meetings/events via the RILA listserv and/or their bi-monthly newsletter, theRILA Bulletin. While individuals must be a member of RILA to contribute to the listserv and the newsletter, being a former, long-time Rhode Islander, I am still a member of RILA. Therefore, I am happy to share anything with them on your behalf if interested in sharing anything with RILA. Rachael also explained that the association welcomes any invigorating proposal ideas from NEMLA members–regardless of what New England state they reside in–interested in presenting at RILA, whether individually or collectively with other librarians in Rhode Island. In regards to conferences, Rachael offered the potential use of their Zoom license for NEMLA to host virtual/hybrid chapter meetings. Similarly, she offered for NEMLA to use RILA’s physical library spaces to host upcoming in-person meetings. Of course, my hope is that NEMLA reciprocates many of these outlets for information exchange, collaboration, and support with RILA.
While meeting with the MLA Board, the CLA Board, and the RILA President, I provided information and links for them to look into NEMLA’s membership, meeting structure, First-Time Attendees Program for meetings, the newsletter, and social media links and how to join NEMLA-L. I want to continue nurturing these connections and make new ones over the course of my term as NEMLA’s Member-At-Large. Overall, my hope is that NEMLA and these affiliated New England organizations work together in the most beneficial way(s) possible, and maintain these relationships going forward.
Respectfully submitted, Emily Colucci, Member-At-Large, NEMLA Library Assistant, Access Services George and Helen Ladd Library, Bates College
Noteworthy News
Harvard launches The Music in The Music of Black Americans
The Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library at Harvard University has launched The Music in The Music of Black Americans, a digital appendix to The Music of Black Americans, the landmark book by Dr. Eileen Southern. Dr. Southern was the first Black woman to receive a tenured professorship in Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences in 1974, three years after the first edition of The Music of Black Americans was published; the book itself is a monumental work that develops an extensive musical and cultural history of Black Americans, spanning from before the trans-Atlantic slave trade and continuing through to the mid twentieth century. The site bridges the gap between the text and music as it appears in the book, and as it could appear in the hands or on the screen of a composer, conductor, or musicologist today.
This appendix to the book was created with the support of an Advancing Open Knowledge grant from Harvard Library and is included on the website already designed for the Eileen Southern Project, launched in 2022. The Music in The Music of Black Americans, available at https://musicinmoba.harvardmusiclib.share.library.harvard.edu/, offers the first organized, openly accessible inventory of the musical examples in the first edition of The Music of Black Americans. It provides full-text open access to the complete scores of almost all of these examples, from sources in the collections of Harvard Library and nine other institutions. As an open-access project, the appendix furthers Harvard Library’s commitment to champion access and share knowledge with users around the world. (The Music of Black Americans was exceedingly popular and was most recently reprinted in 2022). Digital scores available on The Music in The Music of Black Americans include:
Scott’s Joplin’s Maple Leaf Rag (digital score provided by Indiana University Library)
R. Nathaniel Dett’s In The Bottoms (digital score provided by University of Rochester Library)
Bob Cole’s Under the Bamboo Tree (digital score provided by Harvard Library)
Should you have a question about the project, please feel free to reach out to the project partners, Christina Linklater, Kerry Masteller and Sandi-Jo Malmon.
Submitted by Sandi-Jo Malmon, Librarian for Collection Development Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard University
NEMLA Dinner at MLA
Photos thanks to Marci Cohen!
NEMLA Officers
Chair: Memory Apata Music and Performing Arts Librarian Paddock Music Library Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu (603) 646-3129
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Davis Family Library Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin at middlebury.edu
Past Chair: Sandi-Jo Malmon Librarian for Collection Development Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA smalmon at fas.harvard.edu
Secretary-Treasurer: Carol Lubkowski Music Librarian Wellesley College Wellesley, MA 02481 clubkows at wellesley.edu (781) 283-2076
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Research and Instruction Librarian New England Conservatory Boston, MA patrick.quinn at necmusic.edu
Member-At-Large: Emily Colucci Library Assistant, Access Services George and Helen Ladd Library Bates College Lewiston, ME ecolucci at bates.edu emcguitar at gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu (860) 685-3897
NEMLA Archivist: Position vacant
Website Editor: Peter Laurence Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA laurenc at fas.harvard.edu
Thank you all for your participation in our virtual meeting in November. The decision to pivot our in-person meeting to the online format was a difficult one after so much time apart, but I’ve heard from many of you that the conversation was constructive and useful. The pandemic has forced us to shift our thinking about how to fulfill the mission of our organization and I am grateful to everyone who contributed their ideas for moving us forward.
The board is working on several projects to that end. First, we are drafting a by-laws change which would require that at least one business meeting each year should be held virtually. This change would allow greater participation for members who are unable to attend meetings in person and make the most efficient use of our in-person events. Look for more details about this change, which will be distributed via the NEMLA email list in the coming months. Second, we will be holding several meetings to do the highly glamorous work of cleaning up the NEMLA virtual archive. Once this has happened, the transition of records to each crop of incoming officers will be much easier on the Webmaster. Third, we will begin a new practice of posting the NEMLA annual reports to our NEMLA website. Although the annual reports are on MLA’s website, we want our goals for the year to be front and center for our members on our chapter website. This page will give us a way to see the work of our chapter over time and to hold ourselves accountable to the membership.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge the work of Emily Levine, who served as NEMLA Archivist for the past few years. She managed a move of our materials to the Boston Public Library, in addition to being a very active voice on the NEMLA board during this transition. Emily has moved away from New England and her presence in our chapter will be greatly missed. The NEMLA Archivist position is currently vacant. If you are interested in volunteering for the role, please contact me via email.
Sincerely,
Memory Apata NEMLA Chair Music & Performing Arts Librarian | Dartmouth College
Summary of the Fall 2022 Meeting
Introduction
Terry Simpkins, the Chair of NEMLA’s Program Committee, facilitated NEMLA’s community meeting via Zoom, on Friday, November 4, 2022 from 10:00 am – 11:35 am EST. Approximately thirty to thirty-two members attended. This meeting enabled the NEMLA community to come together and discuss a series of prompts, which Terry had devised from a survey he sent to the membership a week and a half prior. The first portion of the meeting opened the floor for comments and concerns about attending conference meetings and presenting. Another component of the discussion pertained to brainstorming sustainable ideas for developing presentation content that is both resourceful and interesting to as many people as possible throughout the membership. The final component discussed during the second portion of the meeting, which remains to be resolved, regards the frequency and format to hold future conference meetings. A change in format and frequency–-whether there will be one or two meetings per year and if they will be in-person, hybrid, or virtual–would require a change to the NEMLA by-laws.
Preliminary Survey Results
Terry began the meeting by displaying the survey results and highlighting some key elements, including:
The frequency and format of NEMLA meetings
Meeting content and most popular event types
Critical concerns presenters have about presenting
How the NEMLA Board and Program Committee can best encourage and support presenters in the preparation and submission processes of presentations
Twenty-nine responses accumulated, making up about 40% of the membership according to NEMLA’s president, Memory Apata. According to the frequency of meetings per year–as illustrated in the survey results–shown in figure 1 below (courtesy of Terry), twenty of the twenty-nine members indicated they prefer to attend one meeting per year.
Twelve of those twenty responses indicated preference for a hybrid Spring meeting, while the other nine responses prefer the two-meetings per year format; seven of those nine responses prefer one virtual meeting and one in-person meeting per year.
Figure 2 below (courtesy of Terry), shows response rates for what types of events should be presented at conference meetings, as well as a few major concerns individuals have when it comes to presenting material. However, the majority of responses relating to types of events are in favor of full-length programs throughout the day, rapid lightning talks, NEMLA business and committee meeting work updates, and the ability to network with colleagues.
The third and last figure below (courtesy of Terry), demonstrates responses indicating how the NEMLA Program Committee can encourage and support members wanting to present at future conference meetings. There was a high response rate requesting the Program Committee to extend the timeframe members currently have to prepare their work for submission. Members also embraced the idea of setting aside some time during the day of events for brainstorming topics for sessions that motivate members to present.
Concerns about Presenting at a NEMLA Conference Meeting
During the meeting Memory asked how peoples’ job natures have changed in the last two years during the pandemic, and how the changes affect peoples’ ability to participate in professional development opportunities and commitments. Many members chimed in to say that not only have individuals transitioned into new positions and are being acclimated to a new work and geographical environment, but also people are in the ‘getting things done’ mode within organizational change and personnel turnover. Members are also serving on hiring committees, with the aim to hire new folks to fill vacancies, which is taking up a lot of their time. With all of this said many folks feel they do not have sufficient time to prepare their presentations in a timely manner, mainly because of their demanding workloads. They are also hesitant as to whether or not the topic and material they want to present meets a suitable level of expectation worthy of proposing.
The ability to network and get together at a conference meeting is a huge part of individuals’ experience, which is currently lacking. It would not only be great to present on topics of interest to one another, but also for everyone to come together to discuss what is going on at other institutions. Members are not feeling as motivated to present now, because they have lost the ability to collaborate with others in person. Reuniting to bounce ideas off each other is a great way to bring potential presentation topics to the forefront and feel validating doing so, given the fact that NEMLA as a community has been disconnected for so long.
Ways to Support Individuals in Presenting
Memory suggested that perhaps presentation work distribute among the membership, where members could identify trends in jobs over the past year. The survey results indicate that a separate meeting or a session built into the fall meeting could include a brainstorming session for folks to get together to come up with potential ideas to turn into a presentation for a future conference meeting. Additionally, the Program Committee would be responsible for making sure that all committee chairs could be present at this meeting to facilitate ideas. This would take the pressure off individual members, as well as a new incoming Programming Chair just starting the position, who would not feel all alone in the process in its entirety. There is also a lack of clarity on the proposal process, as demonstrated by the survey results. This partially plays into why folks do not feel well prepared to produce presentation content. Perhaps folks feel the proposal process is too overwhelming. During the meeting, Terry came up with an idea for a proposal method to help reduce peoples’ anxiety. The Program Committee would create and email the membership a 3-question form, and then work with individuals who submitted the form, on their ideas to make them presentation-ready.
Another possibility for supporting members in presenting is creating a mentorship program. Members could assign as individual mentors or within small cohorts, and be paired with members who have little to no experience presenting at a conference. Great candidates to serve as mentors are folks who have a lot of experience presenting, as well as past programming chairs. One idea for generating a mentorship program is putting out a call for volunteers via the NEMLA listserv or even the NEMLA newsletter. The call for volunteers would be asking for both mentors as well as mentees to participate in the program. No pressure or commitment to be a part of this program would be necessary; the initial idea is to see if anyone in the membership would find a mentorship program interesting and beneficial.
Ways to Generate Prospective Programming Ideas
The participants in November 4th’s community meeting discovered an abundance of ideas to develop program content for future conference meetings. The idea of working with library students and co-presenting on a presentation to highlight the students’ work came up. Library students can become more comfortable with presenting and provide a fresh perspective to the membership and the field of music librarianship overall. Terry mentioned he would like to get a list of new NEMLA members who recently became members within the last few years. His intent is to send them a welcoming letter and put in a light word of encouragement, inviting new members to consider presenting at NEMLA in the future.
Another way to generate correspondence with new NEMLA members and welcome inclusivity is to implement member bios in the NEMLA Newsletter. Many organizations’ newsletters have a “new member’s spotlight” section, featuring interviews with individuals who recently joined the organization. Interview content often entails history of their musical and educational background, current position and projects they are working on or their student status in library school, how they became interested in music librarianship, and future aspirations as they branch out into the (music) librarianship world. The possibility of hosting a series of virtual coffee hours once a month on Zoom developed in this meeting. Virtual coffee hours entail either a discussion or a presentation revolving around a certain topic or trend in librarianship interesting to the membership. This would allow an informal, low-pressured environment for the NEMLA community to get together more regularly.
Memory derived seven presentation ideas from the meeting’s discussion; her thought being that each presentation topic links to a specific committee who would facilitate discussion for turning these ideas into actual presentations. Memory acknowledged some “natural fits” for linking presentation ideas with particular committees. The seven ideas include:
Trends in workload since Covid
How to serve on a search committee (link to the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice committee)
Coping with post-pandemic work environment
How to be a music librarian–with a focus on popular and non-notated music
Onboarding new staff
How to do a conference presentation (link to the Programming Committee)
What is it really like to serve on the NEMLA Board?(link to the Nominating Committee)
Pathways to Music Librarianship
NEMLA Conference Meeting Structure
The second portion of the NEMLA community meeting was devoted to a discussion about the frequency and format of NEMLA conference meetings. Many members favored the two meeting format, but alternating between in-person and virtual. This meeting schedule requires an alteration to the NEMLA By-Laws. It would also be important to verify that this is the consensus of the membership and the end-result of folks changing folks’ minds, which is on the contrary from what they indicated on the pre-meeting survey. There was another thought from the membership to be as flexible as possible in terms of the by-laws in case something–-such as another pandemic–-were to affect the decision to be in person. If such were the case, the Programming Committee would need to turn the conference meeting virtual at the last minute. A final consideration is that formalizing the two meetings per year model puts a tremendous amount of stress on the board, since it is of course, a lot of work. This meeting left a lingering uncertainty about whether or not there will be a required by-laws change for the meeting structure, leaving the NEMLA board to make the final decision. The board needs to keep in mind while making this decision, what is best for the membership as a whole.
Submitted by Emily Colucci, NEMLA Member-At-Large Circulation & Audio/Video Departments, George and Helen Ladd Library, Bates College
Noteworthy News
MLA and the Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online initiative
On October 18, 2022 the Music Library Association became a sponsor of the Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO) initiative. Thanks to the generosity of the MLA, we have been able to use their donation towards a larger purchase of twenty Anker 535 PowerHouse power stations that will be distributed to cultural heritage institutions in Ukraine so they can continue to digitize and scan items from their collections even during the recurring electrical outages.
Since its launch on March 1, 2022, SUCHO has brought together over 1,500 volunteers (including MLA and IAML members!) to create high-fidelity web archives of around 5,000 Ukrainian cultural heritage websites, amassing over 50 TB of data. These websites range from national archives to local museums, from 3D tours of churches to children’s art centers. The SUCHO initiative developed soon after NEMLA and MLA member Anna Kijas put out a call on Twitter inviting people to participate in a data rescue workshop focused on digitized music collections that were at risk following the invasion of Ukraine. We were able to web archive music-related content from a variety of institutions for example, the National Folk Decorative Art Museum, whose website is no longer fully accessible, and the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine. Since late summer, the SUCHO initiative has been working with European organizations to facilitate delivery of digitization equipment directly to Ukrainian institutions who need it so they can digitize their valuable cultural heritage collections during the war. Tax deductible donations can be made by visiting: https://www.sucho.org/#donate.
Submitted by Anna Kijas Head, Lilly Music Library, Granoff Music Center, Tufts University
Bennett Konesni named Executive Director at Bagaduce Music
Bennett Konesni has been named Executive Director at Bagaduce Music following the retirement of Teresa Myrwang.
He most recently served as a trustee for the organization and co-chaired the Programs committee. Konesni brings a Master of Business Administration and 15 years of experience in the non-profit sector to the role. He fell in love with Music and Music Libraries as a music major at Middlebury College in Vermont.
He is familiar to many in the area, as well as in Maine and New England as a musician and performer with the Gawler Family Band and Drive Train. He has also taught at Maine Fiddle Camp and is Belfast’s resident shantyman aboard Bantry Bay Gigs and Schooners that sail along the coast of Maine in summer. Konesni has toured internationally as a cultural ambassador for the U.S. Department of State.
“I grew up on Islesboro and in Appleton, Maine, so I bring together this lifelong love and understanding of rural Maine with my professional experiences both in-state and in Vermont and New York”, shares Konesni.
Outgoing Executive Director, Teresa Myrwang, has worked closely with Konesni in his capacity on the Board of Trustees over the last couple of years and was instrumental in recruiting him to the Board. “I was initially motivated by both his youthful energy and tremendous talent when I first saw him performing with the Gawler Family Band at our Blue Hill WIntermarket; as I learned more about his tremendously experienced and varied background in the non-profit sector, I became convinced he would be a huge asset to our organization. He is very well suited to the job of Executive Director. I expect to remain involved in Bagaduce Music in a supporting Development role and Bennett and Bagaduce Music have my full support going forward.”
Konesni began his interim role on November 1 and was made full-time Executive Director on December 1. He can be reached at bennett@bagaducemusic.org.
Bagaduce Music is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation with a mission to collect, preserve and lend printed music and to promote the appreciation, knowledge, and performance of music.
Submitted by Bennett Konesni, Bagaduce Music
NEMLA Officers
Chair: Memory Apata Music and Performing Arts Librarian Paddock Music Library Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu (603) 646-3129
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Davis Family Library Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin at middlebury.edu
Past Chair: Sandi-Jo Malmon Librarian for Collection Development Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA smalmon at fas.harvard.edu
Secretary-Treasurer: Carol Lubkowski Music Librarian Wellesley College Wellesley, MA 02481 clubkows at wellesley.edu (781) 283-2076
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Instruction and Reserves Coordinator Boston University Boston, MA 02215 pquinn6 at bu.edu (617) 358-8523
Member-At-Large: Emily Colucci Library Assistant in Access Services Circulation & Audio/Video Departments George and Helen Ladd Library Bates College Lewiston, ME ecolucci at bates.edu emcguitar at gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu (860) 685-3897
NEMLA Archivist: Position vacant
Website Editor: Peter Laurence Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA laurenc at fas.harvard.edu
I’d like to begin my first message as Chair will the utmost gratitude to you all. Your support and encouragement are the reasons I’m a music librarian and it is an incredible honor to serve NEMLA in this capacity. I’m excited to steward the work of recent officers this year!
First and foremost, I’m delighted to share that we will be mounting our first in-person event since Fall 2019. This decision comes after a recent survey of the membership, which indicated that 75% of respondents would like to see a hybrid meeting. The NEMLA board and Program Committee recognize that an individual member’s decision to attend in person will be reliant upon many factors including funding, the venue’s COVID precautions, the venue’s geographic location, and personal health risk. We are therefore making every effort to ensure that members can meaningfully participate either in-person or virtually. That said, I’m pleased to invite you all to join us (in whatever capacity feels right for you) for the fall meeting in Hanover, New Hampshire at Dartmouth College on October 7th, 2022.
Second, the board has drafted an amendment to the by-laws for review by the membership. Be on the lookout for a message on the NEMLA list-serv ahead of the fall meeting explaining the justification for the proposed change, alongside a ballot.
Finally, I want to give a special spotlight to the work currently underway by the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Committee. I was recently able to sit in on a meeting to learn about the current and future projects of this small and ambitious group. The committee is preparing a workshop to guide members in the drafting of land acknowledgements covering the New England region, organizing a discussion session on the Notes special issue on race and music libraries, exploring an oral history initiative, and assembling a suite of resources on EDIJ for the NEMLA website. With so much work on the docket, there is ample room for this committee to grow. I would like to challenge any member with an interest in EDIJ work to consider joining, especially if you have skills in teaching or workshop facilitation, oral history, or data visualization.
Looking forward to gathering with you all soon!
Memory Apata Chair, New England Music Library Association
Fall Meeting Save the Date
October 7, 2022 Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
Spring 2022 Meeting Summary
In a departure from previous virtual meetings, the NEMLA Spring 2022 meeting was held over two days, the afternoon of June 9th and the following morning on the 10th. The main reasoning behind the format change was to avoid the Zoom fatigue that comes from full day meetings. The other benefit was that the Thursday session was only devoted towards the Business Meeting and Committee meetings, which allowed folks who may not wish to participate those meeting the option to only attend the Friday sessions. The minutes of that Business meeting are as follows:
Thursday, June 9th 2022 – Business Meeting
Business meeting minutes:
Call to Order
Sandi-Jo Malmon starts off the meeting thanking Memory Apata and the other programming committee members for their work arranging the meeting.
Secretary/Treasurer report: Carol Lubkowski
Carol provided the financial report
Noted that there still money in the Oral History and MLA chapter grants
180 registrants for the Fall meeting
EDIJ Committee report: Patrick Quinn
Discussed plans to create a survey about what’s happening in local libraries
The committee is currently focusing on exploring what NEMLA can do in terms of EDIJ and creating goals for the group.
Plans to reassess the practice of land acknowledgements and develop best practices for members
Archives report:
BPL transition is progressing well, thanks to the hard work of NEMLA archivist Emily Levine and Jared Rex at the BPL.
Open discussion about Chair cycle
Sandi-Jo proposes a new chair cycle
Past chairs have lamented the short 3-year chair cycle.
The nominating committee had a hard time finding folks to serve as chair, possibly because the year serving as head of the Program committee is hard work.
Some members are confused by the proposed cycle
Why change things?
Would this lead to added work for chairs?
The cycle seemed a little confusing.
Other members proposed that all chairs support the Chair-elect during the year as Program Committee head.
Election results:
Vice Chair/Chair-Elect: Terry Simpkins
Member-at-Large: Emily Colucci
Committees meet in Break-out rooms
Handover to new Chair
Memory accepts the “gavel”
Old Business
None
New Business
None
Meeting adjourned
Friday, June 10th 2022 – Presentations
Keynote: Jazz and the Academy, presented by Colin Hancock
The morning presentations started with a Keynote from scholar Colin Hancock, who presented on Dartmouth’s contribution to the Jazz Age, through their student jazz band The Barbary Coast Orchestra. The presentation was a fascinating look into how a small student-led musical group in the 1910s playing music frowned upon by the institution, could evolve into a major band on the Dartmouth campus. Their popularity grew enough for them to tour across the US and for them to make recordings, some of which have luckily survived to today. Hancock framed the band’s successful trajectory as a result of both the rise of recorded sound and the popularity of early jazz on college campuses, yet the group’s sustainability was due to strong leadership and their ability to stay current with jazz styles. He illustrates how The Coast (as they were commonly called), was one of several collegiate jazz bands at the time, particularly among the other Ivy League schools. It was a wonderful glimpse into the musical activities on college campuses 100 years ago and an impressive display of scholarship on the part of Hancock, who gathered much of the information from Dartmouth’s library and was able to locate quite rare recordings.
Unburied Treasure: Adapting a Physical Music Exhibition for the Digital World, presented by Leo Sarbanes, Harvard University
Creating exhibits, both physical and digital has been an interesting challenge for librarians over the last two years of the pandemic. Both for reasons of accessibility and outreach, librarians have been focused on creating digital exhibits that fall somewhere within a spectrum: from a complete replication of a physical exhibit, to one that merely complements the content. At Harvard’s Loeb Music Library, graduate student and library assistant Leo Sarbanes was tasked with developing an online presence for one of their physical exhibits. The exhibit was titled “Treasures of the Last 10 Years,” which highlighted major additions to their library’s collection through a broad scope of materials, both in their general and archival collections. The variety of materials proved to be one challenge, from planning workflows around digitizing multiple formats, to understanding the complex copyright concerns for each item. Yet the online aspect allowed for added enhancement to the exhibit, such as the ability to add audio to the digitized scores. They used the platform Omeka for creating the online exhibit, which proved to have its share of pros and cons. For one, Omeka features an annotation tool, so they could add context and notes to manuscripts. For display, they chose a non-linear navigation method, which effectively presented the scope and depth of the collection, but flattened the experience for the user and removed the arrangement considerations that were made for the physical exhibit. Sarbanes notes that the process was a constant reminder about how a physical exhibit is often about a narrative and moving it online means determining how that narrative is translated or perceived in an online context.
Henri Lazarof: A Composer, an Archives, an Exhibit (well 2!) and a Pandemic, presented by Surella Seelig, Brandeis University
Coming from the archival perspective, Surella Seelig spoke about the process of creating an exhibit, both physical and online. The subject of her exhibit was Henri Lazarof, a composer and graduate of Brandeis, whose family donated his papers to their archives. This exhibit proved to be a wonderful case study about the processes and pitfalls that one might encounter while creating an exhibit. Surella was faced with myriad challenges, including a tight budget, limited staff, working with an unprocessed collection, the pandemic, and her own limited background in music. Yet these difficulties helped her highlight some of the essential elements to exhibit building, including knowing how to narrow the focus of the exhibit to properly portray the subject but not overwhelm the audience. She delved deeply into the basics, like how to tell a narrative with the documents, be selective with the accompanying text, and effective labeling and arrangement. She also described the limitations she faced creating a digital exhibit, the limits of having to use the institution’s CMS, rather than an exhibit creation software, and handling copyright concerns with embedded audio. To conclude, she reiterated that the exhibit is meant to promote the collection and that creators should always remember that “The collection is the main course and the exhibit is the appetizer.”
Building a Digital Archive of Ottoman Classical Music, presented by Ridvan Aydinli, Wesleyan University
The final presentation provided an in-depth look into Omarsiv, a digital repository dedicated to Ottoman-Turkish classical music. The repository features a vast collection of sheet music, score collections, and recordings. What is immediately striking about the scores in the collection is the wide variety of notation styles, primarily Western style notation, but also Byzantine, Hampartzum, and other non-western notation styles. Similarly, some scores include a mixture of Latin language characters and Arabic script. Ridvan led attendees through the public-facing site, particularly the robust search engine and the detailed metadata for each item, as well as showing the back-end side of the database, discussing how documents are uploaded and the peer-reviewed metadata approval process. What is most impressive is the uniquely detailed metadata that each item is given. This not only creates a robust and agile search engine, but allows for specialized interactivity with the collection. As an example, Ridvan showed how the database is able to provide a side by side comparison of works of the same name, but published in different notation styles. In all, the repository is an example of how specialized metadata and intentional systems structuring can create a database that allows users to not just view the digitized materials, but also have an enriched research experience. Ridvan invites those with suggestions for further developing this metadata system to contact him at raydinli at wesleyan.edu.
Submitted by Brendan Higgins, outgoing NEMLA Member-At-Large
Secretary-Treasurer’s Report
We continue to be in very good financial shape. Due to holding all our meetings virtually over the past two years, we have had very few expenses. Both our October and June meetings were held over Zoom. Our only meeting expense was a fee for our keynote speaker at the June meeting.
Prior to the membership renewal period, we had 69 active members. If you have not yet renewed your NEMLA membership, I encourage you to do so. If you have any questions about renewing, please contact me at clubkows at wellesley dot edu.
Submitted by Carol Lubkowski, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer
Committee News
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice Committee
The EDIJ Committee has been meeting the last few months and has been productive moving forward on several short and long term goals. These include work on the institutional land acknowledgement process, creating a framework for a NEMLA EDIJ glossary of terms, EDIJ-focused oral history project planning, and programming for the upcoming fall meeting.
The committee is still open and welcomes interested membership from all backgrounds. If you are interested in joining the committee, please reach out to Patrick Quinn, EDIJ Officer at pquinn6@bu.edu.
Noteworthy News
Tribute to Jean Morrow
Jean Morrow, age 77, died Sunday, May 15, 2022, surrounded by family, after a short battle with cancer. Daughter of the late William and Pauline Perry, Jean was born and raised in Cranston, RI. As the oldest sibling, Jean was always a guiding light to her younger brothers and sister. Her smile and leadership touched so many wonderful people but especially at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Jean earned her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Arts from MacMurray College, her master’s degree in Music History from Smith College, and pursued advanced studies in musicology at New York University. In the early 1970s, Jean joined the staff of New England Conservatory as a catalog librarian and subsequently served as Director of Libraries from 1986 until her retirement in 2014. She was always warm and generous to her staff, whether it was bringing in donuts from Linda’s in Belmont for a staff meeting or taking the library staff out for an annual holiday lunch. Jean was so beloved at NEC that she was selected by her colleagues to be the first ever recipient of the Robert Rachdorf Staff Service award in 1999. Jean advocated for a new library at NEC for many years and played a central role in the planning and development of the Blumenthal Family Library which opened in 2017. The totality of Jean’s contributions to NEC were recognized when she was awarded an honorary doctorate by the institution in 2019.
Outside of NEC, Jean also made significant contributions to the field of music librarianship. Throughout her professional career, Jean was a generous mentor and an engaged teacher of music librarianship at the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science, where she taught and guided generations of music librarians. An active member of the Music Library Association (MLA) as a member-at-large on the board of directors, Jean held numerous MLA committee appointments, and served as chair of the New England regional chapter. Her deeply felt commitment to the betterment of the profession of music librarianship came to full flower in her untiring advocacy for, and subsequent leadership of MLA’s Basic Manual Series. The Basic Manual Series produced nine titles under Jean’s chief editorship and has become a mark of MLA’s leadership in the field, fulfilling their mission statement to “promote continuing education and professional development in music librarianship.” As a result of all of Jean’s contributions to the field of music librarianship, she was awarded MLA’s highest honor, the A. Ralph Papakhian Special Achievement Award for 2014.
Jean was also a friend to so many of us in the Music Library Association, and in the New England Chapter of MLA. She rarely missed a meeting of either organization during the four decades she was at New England Conservatory. Jean spearheaded a New England table at the MLA banquets where we all enjoyed her company and that of others. Jean was always up for a good time (generally that would include a nice glass of wine or a cocktail!). She certainly knew how to live life to the fullest.
Jean was also an accomplished organist, having served as an organist at St. John the Evangelist Church for many years.
Jean is survived by her loving daughter Wynne, dedicated siblings Gail, Bill, and Bob, their families, as well as many nieces, nephews, and wonderful friends. Jean was predeceased by her partner of 43 years, John Joanou.
Submitted by Pat Fisken
Remembering Michael Ochs
August, 2022
Since the news came down on July 21, 2022 that Michael Ochs died at the age of 85, Sandi-Jo Malmon and I have been exchanging reminiscences about Michael, and his impact on us, and upon our profession. Michael was very human: He was complex. He was generous. He had a wicked good sense of humor.
Michael Ochs was one of the very first persons I met upon moving to the Boston area 32 years ago. In my mind’s eye, I always picture Michael from that day, as he spoke with me about music librarianship sitting at the Loeb Library. He was influential to me in becoming a fully credentialed librarian (even though I never held an official fulltime music librarian job until coming to Berklee). Still, it was an ideal for me, not least because of the work by people like Michael.
Michael was born on February 1, 1937, in Cologne, Germany. He came to the United States in 1938 and was naturalized in 1945. He was the son of Isaac Julius and Claire (Baum) Ochs and the brother of Dani and Eva. Michael is survived by his wife of 63 years, Carol Rebecca Ochs, his daughters Elisabeth and Miriam, and their spouses, Lea and Anton.
For nearly six decades, Michael served in one capacity or another as a music librarian, musicologist, educator, early music performer and music editor, first in the Boston area and, for the past thirty years, in New York City.
He started out in the early 1960s at CUNY as a cataloger, where he immediately became a member of MLA in 1963, and since attended more than 50 national meetings during his career. He worked as a music librarian nearly another 30 years — at Brandeis, a professor at Simmons, and as the Library Director at Harvard’s Loeb Library, while also a senior lecturer on music. During Michael’s tenure as library director at Harvard University, Richard F. French, class of 1937, endowed a music library chair, the Richard F. French Librarian in the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library. It was the first music library chair in the United States. After he left Harvard, he served as the music editor for W.W. Norton through 2001. He never left his profession as a researcher, editor, or his interest in librarianship.
Michael gave more than 14 presentations to music librarians, both nationally at MLA, at chapters, and for other groups; published 9 scholarly articles and served as editor for two major publications, including Music Librarianshipin America in 1991. In addition, he published another 15 scholarly articles in Notes, the MLA Newsletter, and 6 book reviews for MLA. He served as Editor of Notes from 1987-1992.
He was a longtime member of the American Musicological Society, serving on the board of directors from 2000-2002. For over 40 years, Michael served librarianship as an organizational leader, serving in numerous capacities of the Music Library Association, including on the board of directors from 1977-1978, and as president from 1993-1995. He served on many committees, including the New England Chapter (1968-69): Committee on Bibliographic Description (1971–73); MLA Administration Committee (1975–76); MLA Finance Committee (1976–78); and MLA Publications Committee (1983–87). He also most recently served as a member of the MLA/AMS Joint Committee on RISM (2014-2017). Michael served as chair for the Research Libraries branch of IAML from 1987-1990. Very notably, Michael served greater librarianship by establishing the U.S. RISM office at Harvard in 1985, and by establishing the Music Librarianship program at Simmons University in 1986.
At meetings, and conferences Michael was always most welcoming to many younger librarians, including me, at MLA, inviting me to join with his friends for late night drinks and chatter. Michael’s personal generosity to MLA extended in the establishment of the Michael Ochs Endowed Fund for Notes, and in 2015, provided a matching grant of $5000 to raise additional money for the Michael Ochs Endowed Fund.
In most recent years, we’ve been among the many beneficiaries of the musical achievements Michael has given by his recreation and reconstruction of the music for the Yiddish operetta Di goldene kale (The Golden Bride). In some of the early stages of his work, Michael and I exchanged emails about Yiddish theater music and his research, and he enjoyed coloring them with a smattering of Yiddish. Michael generously gave an early talk about this production at our Jewish Music Roundtable in Texas a few years before the project was completed.
We learned about the early stages of the project and how he conducted his research, piecing together an old piano-vocal score with a libretto found at YIVO, with a lead sheet, and then with some orchestral parts found in other archives. Afterward, sewing together the old pieces of the operetta, as well as translating it, Michael constructed and realized a full score. It was a stunning achievement piecing together this long-forgotten piece of ethnic Americana. There was an initial concert performance with piano at CUNY in 2015, followed by a performance with orchestra at Rutgers in August 2016. In New York City, the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s production ran for 80 performances. I was able to see the live production in New York, where Michael greeted me, and we relished and celebrated his achievement.
Not only did the show run to critical acclaim, receiving two Drama Desk nominations, but Michael also published a production-ready two-volume score. This recreation was so fabulous in particular because Michael understood the musical nuances of Yiddish theater so well.
As we reviewed all these achievements, Sandi and I realized once again that we have lost a person of great importance to MLA, to music at W.W. Norton, to music librarianship, and to us.
Submitted by Judy Pinnolis and Sandi-Jo Malmon
Welcome to Jay Colbert!
I’m Jay Colbert, and I started as the new Library Director at the Longy School of Music of Bard College on June 27th. My professional background is in metadata and cataloging, but I’ve always wanted to work in a music library. I’m interested to explore what being a librarian means in a conservatory, and I’m excited to be part of Longy’s ongoing efforts to diversify its repertoire and center music as social change. I’m also interested in investigating how digital humanities and other digital projects might play a role in the services I offer to students, staff, and faculty.
Submitted by Jay Colbert
Working with a Connecticut College First Year Seminar — Lush Life: A Jazz Story
In the Fall 2021 semester, Connecticut College’s music liaison librarian Andrew Lopez worked with Associate Professor of Music Dale Wilson’s first year seminar called Lush Life: A Jazz Story to create a playlist of Duke Ellington songs to be played on the College’s radio station, WCNI 90.9 FM. Near the end of the semester, by which time students had spent several months reading about and discussing the life and music of Duke Ellington, students were asked to select one Duke Ellington song each to contribute to the class playlist, and prepare a brief introduction explaining the reason for their selection. Students rehearsed their introductions and shared their song selections in the casual setting of a fireside holiday lunch in Buck Lodge in the Connecticut College Arboretum. Lopez used the Greer Music Library to source high quality audio files to assemble the playlist, which was shared with WCNI disc jockey Wil [with one L] Reed, who gratefully shared about an hour of his Thursday afternoon radio show with the class on December 16, 2021.
*** Enjoy listening to the full broadcast here. ***
Submitted by Andrew Lopez
NEMLA Officers
Chair: Memory Apata Music and Performing Arts Librarian Paddock Music Library Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu (603) 646-3129
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Terry Simpkins Director, Discovery and Access Services Davis Family Library Middlebury College Middlebury, VT tsimpkin at middlebury.edu
Past Chair: Sandi-Jo Malmon Librarian for Collection Development Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA smalmon at fas.harvard.edu
Secretary-Treasurer: Carol Lubkowski Music Librarian Wellesley College Wellesley, MA 02481 clubkows at wellesley.edu (781) 283-2076
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Instruction and Reserves Coordinator Boston University Boston, MA 02215 pquinn6 at bu.edu (617) 358-8523
Member-At-Large: Emily Colucci Library Assistant in Access Services Circulation & Audio/Video Departments George and Helen Ladd Library Bates College Lewiston, ME ecolucci at bates.edu emcguitar at gmail.com
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu (860) 685-3897
NEMLA Archivist: Emily Levine Reference Librarian Public Library of Brookline 361 Washington St Brookline, MA 02445 elevine at minlib.net (617) 730-2370
Website Editor: Peter Laurence Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University Cambridge, MA laurenc at fas.harvard.edu
Happy Spring! I hope you are able to enjoy the beginning of spring with good health amidst the background of Covid. I also hope we can all bring our collective consciousness to act on the important issues that surround us across the globe including the war in Ukraine.
It was a great pleasure to see so many NEMLA colleagues at MLA online this year! Instead of our yearly outing for dinner we tried a games night. Zoom fatigue set in, but those of us who attended had fun! I was also quite pleased to see NEMLA members well represented on the national program. Keep an eye out for the call for proposals for MLA 2023 in St Louis!
Please mark your calendars for the NEMLA Spring/Summer meeting. Vice Chair/Program Chair Memory Apata and the Program Committee are working together on an exciting program, so be sure to check out the details below. The meeting will be held online in two sessions, on the afternoon of June 9th and morning of June 10th, 2022. You will note the details as listed below. The meeting will also include our annual business meeting with reports from members of the board.
As chair of the nominating committee, Lisa Wollenberg has recruited an excellent slate for Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, EDIJ Officer and Member at Large. Please see the candidate biographies in this issue and vote when you receive your ballot.
I am happy to report on behalf of Patrick Quinn, our EDIJ officer. The committee is in the early stages of developing an EDIJ glossary of terms including challenges about how to best collect and define terms in a way that is truly diverse. I am honored to participate in a leadership role for an organization that has taken on this meaningful and important work in such a responsible and thoughtful way.
Sandi-Jo Malmon Chair, New England Music Library Association
Spring 2022 Meeting Announcements
The NEMLA Program Committee is pleased to announce that our virtual spring meeting will be held in two sessions on the afternoon of June 9th and morning of June 10th, 2022.
We invite submissions for the program from the NEMLA membership, as well as non-members (including faculty, student workers, paraprofessionals, LIS graduate students, undergraduates, etc.). The committee is particularly interested in submissions on the theme of local collections, including:
Unique collections exhibits or tours,
Projects/scholarship related to a unique local collection or object,
Lightning talks highlighting a single item in a collection,
Projects/scholarship related to the representation of underrepresented groups in collections,
Collaborations and projects with student workers and/or student researchers using local collections at your institution,
Models of teaching using local collections,
Other topics not listed.
We encourage presentations of all lengths including full presentations (45 minutes), brief presentations (20 minutes), lightning rounds (7 minutes), or other durations.
Submitted by Memory R. Apata, Music & Performing Arts Librarian, Dartmouth College
NEMLA Election Information
Spring 2022 Ballot
The Nominating Committee is pleased to present the preliminary slate of candidates for this year’s election. Please note that nominations are still being accepted through Friday, April 22.
Vice Chair/Chair Elect
Terry Simpkins is currently Director of Discovery & Access Services at Middlebury College in Vermont, overseeing the areas of Collections Management, Interlibrary Loan, Circulation/Reserves, and Systems. In addition, he is a co-owner of Flourish Music Metadata Solutions (http://www.flourishmusic.net/), a music contract-cataloging business, and has worked as a music cataloger in both the academic and contract-cataloging environments for almost 25 years. He currently serves on the NEMLA Program Committee, and in the past, has served as a member and/or chair of several Music Library Association committees, including the Authorities Subcommittee, Bibliographic Control Committee, Descriptive Cataloging Subcommittee, and the Task Force for the 2011-2020 MLA Strategic Plan. He has served as President of the Vermont Consortium for Academic Libraries (VCAL) and as a member of the Eastern Academic Scholars’ Trust (EAST) Executive Committee. Terry has an M.M. from Westminster Choir College in Organ Performance, and is an avid ragtime/novelty piano player and rock and roll drummer.
Member at Large
Emily M. Colucci is a Library Assistant in Access Services at Bates College. Emily received her B.S. in Music with a concentration in Classical Guitar Performance from Molloy College and her M.L.I.S. from the University of Rhode Island. In graduate school, Emily worked as an Information Services Tech I at the Community College of Rhode Island in Newport and completed two internships—one in collection development and cataloging at the Music Resource Center at the University of Rhode Island, and one in reference and collection development at the Orwig Music Library at Brown University. Both of these internships cultivated her passion for cataloging print and audiovisual music materials, as well as digitization and preservation for audiovisual resources. Emily continues to foster these interests in her work at Bates College by collaborating on projects pertaining to the library’s print music, audiovisual, and digital collections with Matthew Banning, Sharon Saunders, and Christopher Schiff. Emily has been an active member of both MLA and NEMLA since 2016. She currently serves as the New England Liaison for the Music Library Students and Emerging Professionals (MLStEP) organization, and a member of MLA’s Content Standards Subcommittee. Emily is excited for the potential opportunity to serve as NEMLA’s Member-At-Large, as she embraces the opportunity to further her professional liaison experience within the NEMLA and MLA organizations.
EDIJ Officer
Patrick Quinn (he/him/his) has been active in NEMLA since 2018 and currently serves as NEMLA’s EDIJ Officer ad interim as well as a member of the Instruction Committee. He currently works as a Reserves and Instruction Coordinator at the Boston University Music Library. At MLA 2020, he co-presented Music isn’t the Universal Language: Library Instruction for ESL Students with Marci Cohen and adapted that presentation for ACRL-NELIG 2021. Together, they are further adapting the original presentation to be published as a book chapter on inclusive music library instruction. In addition to his professional activities, Patrick continues to research and advocate for expansion of musicological study outside the Western Classical canon with a particular focus on Disco and the genre’s connection to the queer and BIPOC communities in the United States. Patrick holds degrees from the University of New Hampshire (B.A. Music Performance, ’14), Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music (M.M. Oboe Performance, ’16), and most recently from Simmons University (M.L.S., ’22).
Submitted by Lisa Wollenberg, chair of the Nominating Committee
Noteworthy News
Richard S. Hill Award to NEMLA members
NEMLA members Liz Berndt-Morris and Sandi-Jo Malmon have been awarded the Music Library Associations’ Richard S. Hill Award for the best article on music librarianship or of a music-bibliographic nature, for their co-authored article, “Surveying Composers: Methods of Distribution, Discoverability, and Accessibility of their Works and the Corresponding Impact on Library Collections.” Fontes Artis Musicae, vol. 67, no. 2, 2020. Click here for more information about the Hill award.
Exhibition honoring Rulan Chao Pian
The Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library is pleased to announce an exhibition honoring the life and work of Rulan Chao Pian (April 20, 1922 – November 30, 2013), professor, scholar, and ethnomusicologist. She was born into a family of Chinese scholars and musicians, studying both in China and in the United States. She received her B.A. and M.A. in Western music history from Radcliffe College in the 1940s, and a Ph.D. from Harvard in 1960 in East Asian Languages and Music. She taught both Chinese language and music at Harvard, and in 1974 she was named tenured Professor, one of the first women to attain this rank and the very first Chinese woman professor at the university. The exhibit will open on April 20, 2022, the centenary anniversary of Rulan Chao Pian’s birth, and will feature material she collected throughout her life and donated to the music library after her retirement in 1992. Included among these are photographs, rare published books and recordings, original ethnographic field recordings, and other material from her life, research and teaching.
Submitted by Sandi-Jo Malmon, Interim Richard F. French Librarian, Librarian for Collection Development, Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Harvard University
MLA Sheet Music Interest Group
The MLA Sheet Music Interest Group, coordinated by Andrea Cawelti, had an unusually active conference in two panels and the annual interest group meeting. The first panel, The West in Sheet Music, involved Laurie Sampsel (Estelle Philleo’s Sheet Music: Setting the West to Music), Mary Kay Duggan (Ethnic Communities in California in the words and cover images of Early Sheet Music), Dylan Burns and Kathryn Miller (Dreams of the West in the Sheet Music of the Seattle’s Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition), and Janet Bradford (Art at the Keyboard: Sheet Music Covers and Their Stories: Pictures are worth a thousand words). The second panel, Still Bound for Glory: bound volumes and what they continue to teach us, built on the 2018 Portland panel, Bound for Glory, and involved Kerry Masteller as our fab web helper (a HUGE thanks to Kerry for her much-needed help), Andrea Cawelti (Introduction), Karen J. Olson (Bound Volumes in the Classroom), George Boziwick (Emily Dickinson’s Music Book and the Musical Life of an American Poet), Virginia Whealton (An early 19th century Jewish merchant family makes music in Norfolk), and Candace Bailey (19th century women of color and music, and a database to meet them). The interest group meeting was quite informative, and those with an interest in sheet music can consult our meeting notes here.
Submitted by Andrea Cawelti, Ward Music Cataloger, Houghton Library, Harvard University
World Concertina Day, or What Some of Us Do That Passes for Fun
originally published in the Wesleyan Collections Staff News
One of the things I choose to do with my free time is play music on squeezy instruments with buttons. One of these squeezy things is the concertina, which is often confused for an accordion, which it technically isn’t; this common misunderstanding really rankles the concertina players, but nobody else seems much bothered by it, least of all the accordion players. It’s also frequently assumed to be much older than it is, making appearances in Game of Thrones and about a million cartoonsofpirates, among other places. (If you really want to troll a concertinist, refer to the instrument they’re playing as “a little pirate accordion”.) In reality, a few different instruments that were called, or came to be called, concertinas were invented in various parts of Europe in the 1820s and 1830s. It’s an instrument born in the First Industrial Revolution that hit its peak in the Second Industrial Revolution, and thereafter faded away, until it was picked up again in the 1970s by that bane of traditional musicians everywhere, Boomer folk revivalists.
Anyhow, although these days it’s still a pretty niche instrument, it’s a niche instrument in a growing number of places around the world, from South Africa to Japan and from Bolivia to Baden-Baden. Oh, and Ireland — they’re practicallyeverywherein Ireland. And so this past February 6th, on the 220th birthday of the guy who invented one of the things we call a concertina (but who is better known in the field of electrical engineering for something he didn’t actually invent), an outfit called the International Concertina Association organized an event called World Concertina Day. Timed almost perfectly to coincide with the peak of the first Omicron variant of Covid, most of the events happened online and are still available to view, which is great because there’s really only so much concertina music you can subject a human to in a single day before it crosses the line and becomes a violation of the Geneva Conventions.
Image credit: public domain, from the archives of publisher Pearson Scott Foresman via openclipart.org, modified by Aaron Bittel. CC-BY
In the grand scheme of things there still aren’t that many concertina players, and even fewer of us who also have basic video editing skills, which perhaps explains how I found myself spending a weekend in early January assembling various submissions into one of those video concerts. I also wrote and recorded a little ditty for that concert myself, and not that nice, cheery Irish stuff I usually play, either. No, says I, there doesn’t seem to be enough (read: any) abstract, atonal music for concertina in the world, and Someone’s! Got! To! Change! That!
Around the time I was writing that piece I stumbled on a video of another newly-written piece for concertina, also in a contemporary classical style but much sweeter and more professionally composed. And because two data points definitely indicate a trend, I put on my music librarian hat and decided that Wesleyan, with its storied contemporary music program, needed to have this contemporary classical concertina trend reflected in its music library collections. (We did already have concertina scores, but they’re pieces from the instrument’s Victorian heyday.) So I contacted the composer, Timothy Johnston, who it turns out is a Ph.D. student at the University of Cardiff, to ask where I could buy a copy of the score for the library. Tim generously responded that it wasn’t published yet but he’d be happy to print, bind, and send us a copy at cost. And so, soon Wesleyan University Library will be the first library to hold a copy of Johnston’s Nocturne, no doubt a harbinger of the coming craze for contemporary classical concertina compositions, on our shelves. Tell all the concertina players you know!
Thanks to Aaron Bittel, Director of the World Music Archives & Music Library, Wesleyan University, for allowing his article to be republished here.
NEMLA Officers
Chair: Sandi-Jo Malmon Librarian for Collection Development Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University 3 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 smalmon at fas.harvard.edu (617) 998-5415
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Memory Apata Music and Performing Arts Librarian Paddock Music Library Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu (603) 646-3129
Past Chair: Lisa Wollenberg Public Services Librarian Allen Library University of Hartford 200 Bloomfield Ave West Hartford, CT 06117 lwollenbe at hartford.edu (860) 768-4840
Secretary-Treasurer: Carol Lubkowski Music Librarian Wellesley College Wellesley, MA 02481 clubkows at wellesley.edu (781) 283-2076
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Instruction and Reserves Coordinator Boston University Boston, MA 02215 pquinn6 at bu.edu (617) 358-8523
Member-At-Large: Brendan Higgins Faculty Liaison and Outreach Librarian Berklee Libraries Boston, MA bhiggins at berklee.edu
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu (860) 685-3897
NEMLA Archivist: Emily Levine Reference Librarian Public Library of Brookline 361 Washington St Brookline, MA 02445 elevine at minlib.net (617) 730-2370
Website Editor: Liz Berndt-Morris Music Reference and Research Services Librarian Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University 3 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 eaberndtmorris at fas.harvard.edu (617) 998-5310
I am delighted to share the wonderful news that Brendan Higgins will serve in the role of Member-at-Large until the elections in the spring and Susan Skoog is serving as NEMLA’s videographer.
A wonderful fall began with our first ever joint online meeting! It was a great opportunity for us to learn from the members of the Atlantic and Texas Chapters. We all had the unique privilege of a day of sharing with our colleagues in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, the District of Columbia and Texas. There was so much commonality that I had to remind myself of all of the places we zoomed in from! I do hope this kind of collaboration will arise again. A special thank you to Vice Chair/Chair Elect, Memory Apata, for her leadership engaging members in organizing the meeting. Topics ranged from DEI, Digital Scholarship, Access and Discovery to Special Collections. The Listening Party has become a welcome activity to end the meeting
The work of the chapter is off to a good start. I will mention three specific things in this brief report. As I stated in the spring newsletter, the NEMLA board has agreed to keep the NEMLA archives at the Boston Public Library. There is still a bit of paperwork to complete and an agreement to sign, but we are on the road to successfully depositing our archive. The EDIJ committee had its inaugural meeting in November. I encourage members to reach out to Patrick Quinn to engage further. I am confident this important EDIJ work will be life changing. I am hopeful that an Oral History committee could get re-invigorated this year. Please reach out directly to me if you are interested!
My best wishes for a safe and peaceful holiday season,
Sandi-Jo Malmon NEMLA Chair
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Fall 2021 Meeting Summary – October 8, 2021
The meeting started off with an introduction from the various chapter heads. As host, Memory Apata provided the initial greetings and provided technical information. She then passed it to Rahni Kennedy from the Texas chapter, who provided a bit of the story behind the joint meeting. It was an idea that he had proposed, which NEMLA’s Lisa Wollenberg supported and began the collaboration. Next to speak was the Atlantic chapter’s Winston Barham, who provided the land acknowledgement, including the lands from each of the represented chapters. Finally, Sandi-Jo Malmon provided some information about the day’s program and reminded folks to stick around for the ever-engaging listening party at the end of the meeting.
The Music Encoding Initiative: Projects for Discoverability, Access, and Performance, presented by Maristella Feustle, University of North Texas, and Anna Kijas, Tufts University
The first presentation of the day was a perfect reflection of the joint aspect of the meeting, for it featured NEMLA’s Anna Kijas and the Texas chapter’s Maristella Feustle. They provided a brief primer on music encoding and the applications of encoding music in XML format, including two examples of recent projects. Maristella described a UNT project encoding a set of rare scores in their Jean-Baptiste Lully Collection. She illustrated how the data was easily used to develop a portion of the rare opera into an arrangement for guitar ensemble, which was subsequently recorded, thus bringing life to the lesser known Lully work. Anna spoke about the Rebalancing the Canon project centered around creating incipits for composers of diverse identities. The project initially considered encoding entire works, but her team decided to focus on creating incipits first, which allowed them to avoid copyright limitations. Both acknowledged that the pandemic had initially disrupted the momentum of the projects, but they quickly became ideal remote projects for their staff and, especially, their student library assistants.
Moving Beyond World Music: An Exploration of Non-Western Music Cataloging Practices in Higher Education and Where to Go from Here, presented by Alastair Canavan, Alexandria Public Library
Coming from the fact that materials from the Western classical music tradition largely dominate performing arts library catalogs, Alastair explored how librarians choose to classify and describe works outside of that tradition. Through study and exploration of several library catalogs, he notes that there are discoverability issues for non-Western music, both in the metadata provided by catalogers and from the limitations of OPACs or discovery search systems. Some catalogers have previously relied on the generic subject term “world music” when little was known about the style or it was difficult to determine region. Moreover, some search engines do not allow for limitations by language or genre form headings, which would greatly improve discoverability of these types of materials. Alastair suggests that catalogers should revisit existing records, when possible, and ensure that subject terms include additional terms, like “popular music,” “folk music,” and geographic information about the music or possibly the creator. The presentation expanded into a lively Q&A discussion, which included topics like the limitations of LC genre/form headings and the ceaseless work that all music librarians must do to ensure our catalogs promote discoverability of all forms of music.
Music in the Margins: Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Through the Music Library, presented by Tim Sestrick, West Chester University
Building upon the meeting’s theme of diversity and inclusion, Tim explored how librarians are addressing the problem of systemic racism and the exclusion of diverse voices within our libraries. He ruminated on how librarians are both consciously and unconsciously handling these systemic issues and proposed that we take an “activist mentality” by responding to the requests and events that are happening now. One solution is to collaborate with the students, which led him to the Music in the Margins project, a collaboration with music library interns.Their work began as a blog which highlighted marginalized composers and musicians, then led to a panel discussion with faculty concerning the Euro-centric and male-dominated canon. This work led to discussions with the School of Music about programming works from diverse voices in their ensembles.
Lightning Talks
The Directory of Digital Scholarship in Music: reconciling usefulness and sustainability in an online directory, presented by Francesca Gianetti, Rutgers University
In the first of three lightning presentations, Francesca Gianetti discussed the work that has gone into creating the Directory of Digital Scholarship in Music. The directory provides a snapshot of how Digital Humanities projects can look in the music field, whose scholarship often still deals with print scores and recorded sound that can be challenging to present in a digital medium. In addition, she acknowledges that such projects – and even the directory itself – require time, funding, and other resources, which can affect a project’s scope and usefulness.
Increasing Music Accessibility for Patrons with Print Disabilities, presented by Blaine Brubaker, Kristin Wolski, and Sabino Fernandez, University of North Texas
The next presentation was pre-recorded by Blaine Brubaker, Kristin Wolski, and Sabino Fernandez at UNT and discussed a host of valuable software and other technologies to aid music students with visual disabilities. They highlight the application of MusicXML to create Braille scores and various software options for blind or low vision musicians, such as music readers, screen readers, and composition tools. They encourage all music libraries to install such software on their patron workstations and work with their institutions’ accessibility services office to promote these specialized library services.
We Cosset Our Special Collections: But Who Cares?, presented by Donna Arnold, University of North Texas
The last presentation of the lightning talks came from Donna Arnold at UNT, who provided an overview of the special collections housed in their library. The scope of these materials is large: piano rolls, Schoenberg correspondence and music manuscripts, Duke Ellington and Stan Kenton collections, Dallas Opera memorabilia. Despite the richness of the collection, the presenter lamented the minimal attention the materials have received among scholars and the local community. Yet there have been valuable collaborations with faculty to have the materials part of the music research curriculum. These outreach efforts should be at the forefront of any libraries with special collections, for they can sustain and grow a collection.
Value added: Music teaching and Scholarship with MIT special collections, presented by Jonathan Paul, MIT
Staying within the world of special collections, Jonathan Paul presented on the application of archives and special collections materials for research and teaching. Two collections that he highlights are the robust Herb Pomeroy Jazz collection and MIT music library’s Oral History collection, which is beautifully indexed and fully searchable. The Herb Pomeroy collection contains scores, parts, and audio recordings from the teacher/trumpeter/band leader, as well as notebooks from his time studying with Joseph Schilinger and his music teaching materials. His legacy makes the collection valuable for students and scholars studying jazz pedagogy and history, yet Jonathan remarks that intriguing comparisons could be made between this and other local collections, such as those at Berklee College of Music and Harvard University. These suggestions led to a discussion among the attendees about how collaborations between local special collections might encourage deeper scholarship from researchers and excellent outreach opportunities.
Maybe You Should Talk to a Music Librarian: Introductory Thoughts From Librarians Supporting Music Therapy Programs, presented by Karen Berry, Radford University, Jessica Abbazio, University of Minnesota, and Brendan Higgins, Berklee College of Music
The final presentation for the day was another cross-chapter presentation, delivered by Karen Berry, Brendan Higgins, and Jessica Abbazio, from ATMLA, NEMLA, and MLA Midwest chapters, respectively. Their presentation evolved out of discussions around their role as music librarians who assist the music therapy departments at their institutions. That field can be a mix of music and health sciences, which means that it requires different research skills and involves databases and literature outside the normal music collection. After describing some of their individual challenges at their institutions, they elaborated on the various problems and anxiety that music librarians might encounter in this role and offered solutions based on their experiences. Recognizing that other music librarians might benefit from further discussions, they proposed that an MLA Interest Group might be of value to the greater community.
Chapter meetings
Following the day’s presentations, the individual chapters met in breakout rooms for chapter meetings. Since NEMLA holds their business meeting at the Spring meeting, the time was spent providing NEMLA updates. Sandi-Jo led the discussion with updates about the board and special officers: Patrick Quinn was chosen as our first officer for Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice, Brendan Higgins elected to temporarily take over the role of Member-at-Large after Allison Estelle opted to step down, and Susan Skoog is serving as NEMLA’s new videographer. In other news, Emily Levine is in discussions to have the NEMLA archives maintain their custodial home at the BPL. Sandi-Jo wants to revive the Oral History project, not only to capture the insights from some of our retiring members, but possibly document the thoughts of some members that are early in their career. Finally, Memory opened up a discussion about the Spring meeting and whether it should be held online or in-person.
The meeting concluded with another enjoyable Listening Party, hosted by Peter Laurence, Harvard University.
Submitted by Brendan Higgins
Listening PartyPlaylist
Roebuck “Pops” Staples – Black Boy
The Clash – Know Your Rights
Lakshmi Shankar recital at The City College of New York — October 17, 1968.
New York Disco Orchestra – Reverie (Debussy)
Great Leap / Nobuko Miyamoto – “Mottainai – don’t waste what Nature gives you…”
Solange feat. The-Dream and BJ The Chicago Kid – F.U.B.U.
Sinead O´Connor – Live at Madison Square Garden
Undine Smith Moore – Before I’d Be a Slave
Gil Scott-Heron – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Official Version)
Submitted by Peter Laurence
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Committee News
EDIJ Committee
The EDIJ committee had their first meeting at the beginning of November and discussed several topics to help define the scope and future projects for the committee to undertake. Notable discussion points include:
A follow-up survey to the Summer 2020 EDIJ survey
This would help us track continued support for EDIJ initiatives in members’ institutions and in NEMLA and how that has or has not manifested into institutional action. We can use this to then provide recommendations to members on how to move forward in the current climate.
Crowdsourcing an EDIJ glossary of common terms
This could be a valuable resource for the music library community to understand the most relevant definition of words that are often used in EDIJ discussions. With greater common language understanding, we can help define our organizational goals and institutional recommendations with clear, concise, and understandable language.
Creating or providing educational materials on EDIJ topics to our members
We may be able to collect relevant national MLA resources, resources provided by grant funding, or freely available resources in one place for members and member institutions to reference more quickly and easily.
Understanding and increasing the impact of land acknowledgement statements
We can aim to provide clear recommendations for members and institutions on how to create effective land acknowledgement statements that can point to resources about the occupied land. By understanding more about how institutions create these statements, we can also provide resources or recommendations on how to leverage them effectively so that the statements have some greater impact.
The committee is looking forward to the challenging work ahead and will be meeting again soon. Keep an eye out for our next meeting announcement and feel free to join! The EDIJ committee also still has plenty of room, so if you are interested in joining the work of the committee, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the current chair, Patrick Quinn at pquinn6 at bu.edu. If you have comments, questions, or suggestions about our work, please feel free to reach out to any of our members.
Patrick Quinn (Chair, 2021-2023), pquinn6 at bu.edu Yamil Suarez (2021-2023), ysuarez at berklee.edu Jennifer Hadley (2021-2023), jthom at wesleyan.edu
“The Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice has launched a Bandcamp page highlighting the pioneering compositions of women in the field, including those at Berklee. The page includes original scores from the 10 women who were awarded the first-ever Score Compilation Grant, which allowed recipients to create digital collections of their scores in the Berklee Library. The inaugural recipients of the grant were Melissa Aldana B.M. ’09, Courtney Bryan, Marilyn Crispell, Ingrid Laubrock, Nicole Mitchell, Tineke Postma, Michele Rosewoman, Shamie Royston, Angelica Sanchez, and Helen Sung—all of whom are highlighted on the Bandcamp page.”
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Nominating Committee: Seeking volunteers for open positions
We are now accepting nominations for the following officer positions on the NEMLA Board:
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect
Performs the duties of the Chair in the latter’s absence.
Serves as Chair of the Program Committee.
Serves as an ex-officio member of the Education & Outreach Committee.
The term of office shall be one year, after which the Vice-Chair shall succeed to the office of Chair and then Past-Chair, meaning a commitment of three years.
Member at Large
Acts as liaison to relevant professional organizations in New England (such as the New England Library Association (NELA), the six state library associations, the New England chapter of ACRL (ACRL/NEC), and the New England chapter of the American Musicological Society) primarily to promote information exchange and outreach.
Serves as Chair of the Education & Outreach Committee.
Writes summaries of the biannual NEMLA meetings to be published in NEMLA newsletters.
The term of office shall be two years.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Officer
Serves as Chair of the EDIJ Committee.
Leads the chapter’s EDIJ efforts to identify and dismantle barriers to equity, diversity, inclusivity, and justice within NEMLA and related organizations.
The term of office shall be two years.
Web Editor (non-elected position)
Maintains the NEMLA website, listserv, and Board listserv.
Serves as an ex-officio member of the Board.
Serves as a member of the Publications Committee.
The term of office shall be two years.
Terms of office begin immediately after the spring meeting. Members must be in good standing and current with their dues. The Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect must also be a member of the national Music Library Association. Nominations are welcome through January 31, 2022.
If you would like to nominate yourself or a fellow NEMLA member for one of these positions, or if you have any questions, please contact one of the Nominating Committee members:
Lisa Wollenberg, Nominating Committee Chair, Lwollenbe at hartford.edu Sharon Saunders, ssaunder at bates.edu Anne Rhodes, anne.rhodes at yale.edu Anna Kijas, anna.kijas at tufts.edu
Thank you for your consideration!
Submitted by Lisa Wollenberg
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Technical Services Committee
Cataloging Pandemic Performances: Zoom ahead with these tips!
In the past year and a half, many of the schools where we work have been presenting their concerts, recitals, lectures, and other events as streamed videos on Zoom, YouTube, or other online services. Several members of NEMLA’s Technical Services committee, in particular members from Berklee College of Music (Kristen Heider), Wesleyan University (Rebecca McCallum), and the New England Conservatory of Music (Hannah Spence), have been grappling with catalog records for these streamed events.
In general, the document OLAC Best Practices for Cataloging Streaming Media Using RDA and MARC21, Version 1.1, April 2018 is still the standard to follow, and will hopefully provide answers to any thorny questions you have. For the most part, there is actually nothing radically different between cataloging a Zoom- or YouTube-streamed event and cataloging any other streaming media file. A few of the differences we have noticed, though, include:
Varying sources of information about the event: Since many concerts were not open to live audiences, there were no printed programs, and finding adequate sources of information about the event often requires some online detective work
Varying file types and technical specifications: Audio- or video-capture methods may have been different than what was established in a school’s performance space pre-pandemic. Therefore, file types or digital specifications may be different than expected. (If you’re not sure what the technical specifications for a file are, you can use the free online tool MediaInfoOnline to determine those specifications.)
Multiple locations for one event: If a concert was performed and recorded in a particular space on campus, the 518 field (date/time and place of an event note) will look much like 518 fields from before the pandemic. However, if the video includes speakers or performers who are joining a video-call from remote locations, you may not have one specific location to list. One solution is to simply enter “various locations via Zoom” or a similar note.
For those catalogers who are not used to working with streaming media materials, here is an overview of the fields often included in catalog records for online audiovisual files.
Fixed fields:
006
The 006 field is a place to code characteristics that don’t fit into the usual LDR or 008 fields. For online audio and video content, the 006 helps indicate that the item is a computer file (006 pos 0=m), that it is online (006 pos 6=o), and that it contains sound (006 pos 9=h).
007
Originally, 007 fields were designed to code physical characteristics of resources, but they can expand to include some technical aspects of non-physical resources too. One benefit of 007 fields is that you can include multiple instances of an 007 field, to code for different aspects of a resource. Most online audiovisual material will include an 007 for its electronic nature, and another 007 for either its audio nature or its video nature.
Note: As is true for physical materials, the fixed field coding should distinguish between musical audio files and nonmusical audio files (such as lectures, panel discussions, clinics, etc.)
3XX fields: 3XX fields generally describe the physical or technical specifications of a resource. In addition to the standard 336, 337, and 338 fields you will see in most RDA records, there are a few other 3XX fields commonly in use for audiovisual materials:
344
Sound characteristics (for streaming audio)
347
Digital file characteristics
380
Form of work (mostly used for streaming video)
Note: There is also a field 346 for Video characteristics, but this field tends to be used most often for physical video recordings, not computer-based video files
5XX fields:
518
Date/time and place of an event note (already in common use for physical audiovisual materials). It can be a freeform note or can be divided into specific subfields $d (date), $o (other information), and $p (place). Most of our recordings have been recorded in one particular place, but some events we are cataloging were captured on a platform such as Zoom, with performers joining from multiple locations. One solution is to define the location as “various locations via Zoom.”
516
Type of computer file or data note
506
Restrictions on access note
588
Source of description note
Here are some examples of the previously discussed fields you will see in records for streaming online audiovisual resources. Technical specifications, uncontrolled note field wording, and 856 subfield $z wording may vary from one institution to the next.
For streaming audio (musical) recordings 006 m|||||o||h 007 sr|nsnnnnnnnnd 007 cr#nnannnaanun 300 1 online resource (streaming audio files) 336 performed music $b prm $2 rdacontent 337 computer $b c $2 rdamedia 338 online resource $b cr $2 rdacarrier 344 digital $g stereo $2 rda 347 audio file $b MP3 $f 96 kHz $w rda 518 (info about where recorded, when streamed, etc) OR various locations via Zoom 516 Streaming audio 588 The concert program pdf and audio files 506 Available to [institution name] users only 655 Live sound recordings $2 lcgft 856 40 $z Click to access streaming audio (Authorized [institution name] users only) $u [URL for the audio file] 856 42 $z Click to access program notes $u [URL for the program]
For streaming video files 006 m|||||o||h 007 vz#czazzu 007 cr#cnannnmuuuu 300 1 online resource (streaming video files) 336 two-dimensional moving image $b tdi $2 rdacontent 336 performed music $b prm $2 rdacontent 337 computer $b c $2 rdamedia 337 video $b v $2 rdacarrier 338 online resource $b cr $2 rdacarrier 347 video file $2 rdaft 380 Filmed performances $2 lcgft 518 (info about where recorded, when streamed, etc) OR various locations via Zoom 516 Streaming video 588 The concert program pdf and video files 506 Available to [institution name] users only 655 Concert films $2 lcgft 856 40 $z Click to access streaming video (Authorized [institution name] users only) $u [URL for the video file] 856 42 $z Click to access program notes $u [URL for the program]
Finally, if you’d like to view a few full record examples, here are some OCLC numbers you can search for:
From the Eastman School of Music: OCLC #1250320812 (streaming audio, musical performance)
From Indiana University: OCLC #1244757236 (streaming video, musical performance)
From the New England Conservatory of Music: OCLC #1259362857 (streaming audio, musical performance)
From Berklee College of Music: OCLC #1261763480 (streaming video, interview)
Submitted by Rebecca McCallum
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Noteworthy News
Orwig Music Library updates
The Orwig Music Library at Brown University has reopened, following a major renovation in Summer 2021. Although the stacks layout is basically the same as before, we (the staff) are enjoying the new HVAC (including functional thermostats) and upgraded life safety systems, in addition to a touch of new paint and carpet. We also wish Senior Library Specialist Sheila Hogg a happy and peaceful retirement after 45 years of service to Brown. Peter Riedel is our newly hired Senior Library Specialist. Welcome, Peter!
Submitted by Laura Stokes
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NEMLA Oral History – Interview with Pam Juengling
Pam Juengling retired from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2017 after spending 35 years there as a music librarian. She started her library career as an undergraduate student worker at Minnesota State University, Mankato while studying organ performance, music education and German. Encouraged by her supervisor Kiyo Suyematsu, she went on to earn her MLS from SUNY Geneseo, studying music librarianship under Ruth Watanabe at Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester. As a library student, she attended the first of many MLA meetings in Boston in 1978. After graduating, Juengling became a music librarian at the recently founded Northern Kentucky University. She moved on to UMass in 1982. Juengling joined the Midwest chapter of MLA while in Kentucky then NEMLA with her move to Massachusetts, serving on committees in both chapters. She served twice on the NEMLA board, as member-at-large and secretary/treasurer, and hosted a meeting. She was a member of MOUG from its inception and served as its secretary/treasurer, served on the Naxos Music Library Board and the EBSCO Music Advisory Group. She contributed several chapters to the 2nd edition of A Basic Music Library, published by ALA in 1983.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
MARCI COHEN: It is Tuesday, January 9th 2018. I am in the Hadley, Massachusetts home of Pam Juengling. She has recently retired from University of Massachusetts, and I am interviewing her today for the NEMLA and MLA oral history. I see that you graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Is that where you grew up?
PAM JUENGLING: I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis, which was about 90 miles northeast of Mankato. I looked at a variety of schools, and the University of Minnesota was the obvious one, right in town. I was looking particularly at organ performance, focused on the applied teacher. University of Minnesota was just too close to home. I visited several colleges, as kids do. I didn’t really know much about Mankato, but it just clicked. So, I went to Mankato and studied organ performance and German. Somewhere along the way my dad said, “Now what are you going do with these degrees in organ performance and German?” I hadn’t really thought about that. So I said that I will add the teaching component, and I’ll teach. I did pick up the education block and was certified to teach K through 12 music, both choral and instrumental, and 7-12 German. And I absolutely hated student teaching. I just hated it. If it had been just pure music and teaching I think it would have been fine. I wasn’t ready for all the discipline and lack of attention and bureaucracy, and it just really made for a bad experience. But at the same time I had seen a sign in the window of the music library. I was in the performing arts building and in the music library a lot. And the sign read, “Student help wanted.” “Why not? You could always use a few bucks.” I’m in the building all the time anyway, I knew Miss Suyematsu, too, who became my good friend Kiyo. I thought she would be fine to work for, so I stopped in and was hired.
And Kiyo took a real interest me in me because I was interested in what was going on in the music library. It developed into more than just a student position. I had more responsibility, and she took interest in many of her students who were technically inclined. This was when we still had card catalogs, reel-to-reel tapes, LPs. So anyone interested in having an ability in languages, technology, good solid background in music who could take on more – and I was one of those lucky people. I had more responsibility there, and she asked if I was interested in helping the music catalogers search for copy. And I said, “Music cataloger? Copy? I don’t even know what you are talking about.” This was the mysterious place where materials came from, ready to go. OCLC was pretty new at that time.
I would have been at Mankato from ‘73 to ‘77. I searched NUC copy back in the old days of printed books, many, many of them, from the National Union Catalog. And the subset of music. I also got to start searching OCLC copy, and if I thought I had a match my job was to print it off, insert the printout in the item and set it aside for the cataloger. Which seemed like a pretty big deal for me at the time, and now of course thousands of people do that thousands of times a day! But I thought this was very cool. Nancy [Olson], who was the music cataloger and the non-print cataloger, went on to found the OLAC group [Online Audiovisual Catalogers]. She was a mover and shaker in her field. I was really lucky to work with her as well as with Kiyo.
Both of these women took an interest in me, trained me, directed me, and as graduation approached it was especially Kiyo who said that there are extension courses that the University of Minnesota offered at Mankato. Would you be interested in taking them? And I said that I don’t even know what library science is and what you do. I mean you boss us around, you supervise us, I don’t really know what you do.So I learned what a librarian does, especially in a special discipline in music librarianship. So I took a few courses and it was just fine.
Kiyo said, “I think when you graduate you should look at a graduate program in library science. Make sure there’s a special program in music, because you don’t want just the generalist training, you want music, and here’s the one I think you should go to, SUNY Geneseo in collaboration with the Eastman school.” Which of course I had heard of, and Ruth Watanabe.
I did end up going to Geneseo. I had an assistantship there working for the children’s literature faculty member. I thought, “Kiddie lit?” but the professor was excellent in her field. Margaret Poarch, no longer living. She served on Caldecott Award Committees and other award committees, consultation committees, curriculum committees, and was an important reviewer. Anyway, she taught bibliography classes, literature classes, and I was typing up lists and lists and lists and gathering up books and just being a general assistant. Not doing any teaching because it wasn’t my field. But I learned a lot about how somebody who is really outstanding in her field handles correspondence and prepares for classes, and this was all very interesting. She was absolutely a delight, eloquent and funny – she was from the south, had a charming accent, and treated me so nicely. It was just such a nice package. And then we remained friends after I worked for her and graduated.
I had some good people who were helping me and took an interest in me, my interests and my skills. So that’s the background of how I started out in Minneapolis to Mankato to Geneseo, NY. The experience at the Sibley Library in the Eastman School was invaluable, of course.
When I went to Rochester the first time just to go check it out, I went to Eastman – the old Sibley Library – found a door, walked in, found a place where I could ask for help and said, “I’m trying to find the library,” and this nice woman was standing nearby. “Oh, are you looking for the Sibley Library? I’m going that way, you can follow along with me.” Well, it turned out to be Ruth Watanabe! And of course I knew the name but didn’t know what she looked like, but she was a big factor in choosing to go to this program. The music librarianship program was offered jointly through the SUNY Geneseo Library School and the Eastman School. There were summer seminars and also some internships. There were only five or six of us who were in that class. We had some classes at Geneseo taught by the one of the music historians in the music department, John Kucaba, who loved what he was teaching. He’d been doing this a long time, and he’d seen a lot of music librarian students come and go. It was a trip through music bibliography, day one to the present.
When my program was ending and we all started looking into jobs, I applied for a whole bunch of positions and had two interviews. One was at Northern Kentucky University, and I thought, “Kentucky, I’ve never been there.” I thought it was the South. I thought it was probably not the most progressive place, probably an old, run down campus. But I learned this was a new regional campus – there was already an Eastern Kentucky University and Western Kentucky University but there’d never been a campus in the North, so this university was founded in maybe 1968, 1970. Brand new campus, sparkling architecture, beautifully kept, everything hung together, well planned. I went there in 1978, and there was money to develop the campus, to build library collections, to hire people. And there really wasn’t any music person in the library at all, so even though the job I interviewed for was music and non-print cataloger, they really needed someone with a music background who could also do reference and instruction – library instruction was developing at the time. Small music faculty, but good people, and the Fine Arts building was right next door to the library which was really convenient. It was in suburban Cincinnati – I was six miles from downtown Cincinnati, so I didn’t really feel like I was living in Kentucky — in the hills of Kentucky, in the rural South — this was suburbia. Right across the river was Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, part of the University of Cincinnati, an outstanding music institution, lots of arts organizations, the Cincinnati Symphony, Cincinnati Opera, and a good chamber orchestra.
I learned a lot and I was given a lot of responsibility. That’s the advantage in a small place that’s still growing — if you think you can do it, do it. And serving on committees, learning how the academic scene works — and doesn’t work — that’s valuable to learn, too.
But after about three years, I felt I had learned about what I was going to learn there, and the size of the music program, and it was really hot summers for a Northerner, and right in the Ohio River Valley, humid besides. And I thought, “If I change jobs, then I can find something in the North, that would be great.” I think it was through the MLA placement service, or just the newsletter that listed jobs. One day I saw the Massachusetts listing, University of Massachusetts. And in the mail came a little piece torn out of the New York Times, about the same job listing at UMass Amherst, from Margaret Poarch, the children’s librarian whiz I had worked under: “Thought of you.” We were still touch, and she knew how I was doing, and some things were good and some things not so much, and that I probably belonged in the North, and ready for a bigger experience.
So within a few days, I felt that job was comin’ at me. Well, I need to apply, and I thought, “Oh, University of Massachusetts.” I didn’t even know which school this was actually. I was confusing it with Amherst College, which to this day people confuse. Hardly the same, but — and schools in Boston, and I really wasn’t sure — Amherst, Amherst, and Belle of Amherst, oh that Amherst, and Emily Dickinson. Then it was easier to look up, get information about what the place might be and I thought, “It’s probably more similar to the University of Minnesota. Big land grant school, big music department. This is the big time. I don’t know if my experience in Kentucky, three years going on four, is gonna be enough.”
The music library was in the Fine Arts Center, which is a good thing. It was immediately adjacent to the music department. There was a good collection. It was a big music library, lots of audio visual equipment. There were some staff, student help. Heard and read good things about the faculty, and I could see from the main library, this is the big time. I wondered if I could even cut it. But they wanna interview me, I’ll do it.
Went through my paces with the interview. And at lunch, finally got to meet a member of the music faculty. But then I felt like I really found a soul mate. A real musician. And they desperately needed a music librarian, and he had seen my resume so [he] knew I had had appropriate training, and I was getting involved in professional groups, and this thing called OCLC, I was in and I was using it, and that was just the wave of the future. And he became an advocate right away. It was John Jenkins.
MC: Did you envision when you started there that you were going to be spending the rest of your career?
PJ: I had no idea that I’d turn out to be a lifer. I figured I’d been four years in Kentucky, so probably another four or five years here, and then we’ll see what the next adventure is. But by then you know you’re getting a little bit older and — so I was 27 when I came. So into your early 30s, and you start making a life for yourself. The friends you develop became more substantial friends. And the activities I was in, my life became here, not just my job.
The going did get tough in the early ‘90s. Budgets were cut. The administration, the state administration was such that they were not looking so favorably on higher ed, public higher education. When you have BU, when you have Harvard, why do we need to fund public higher education? That continues to be an issue now. And I’d say, well, not everybody gets into Harvard. Not everybody can afford MIT. And so many of our legislators are products of the excellent private schools in Massachusetts, from one end to the other, from Williams to Boston. So until there was a little more understanding of public higher education and the costs, which of course now is on everyone’s mind, times got really tough. We had a library director that many of us had difficulty with, and I had more than my share. And I thought, “Maybe it is time.” So around 1990 I applied for a job. The only job I’ve applied for since I came to Massachusetts. I was granted an interview, but it sent me to the South and I think the interview was in November. It was 90, 92 degrees and I thought, “What, I should have my head examined? What was I thinking?” So, I didn’t think the interview went all that well, and I don’t think it would’ve been a good fit, but fortunately we could tell right in the interview. I think they thought the same thing. I thought, “This is just not a happy match.” So, that was that.
It was a good learning experience, and decided I have to remember this is my job. It’s my career. It’s my profession. It’s not my life. And when there are difficulties at work, as there always will be, just like sometimes there are difficulties in life, just remember it’s your job, and you get to leave at five o’clock, and then you have a life. And it doesn’t mean you’re any less professional or that you care any less, or that you don’t work just as hard. It becomes one facet of your whole person and your whole life. And it was a real important lesson for me to learn, that I have a problem at work, I don’t have a problem in my life.
And other colleagues, I think, figured that out too. And some of us just backed off a little bit from that 115% commitment that we thought was the right thing to do. Maybe not, maybe 100% is enough. And we have a life, and that’s what sustains you and gets you through difficult times at work, and this too shall pass. And she left, and we got a new director that was just fine. And I thought, “Well, I’m really glad I didn’t bail on what otherwise was a pretty good situation for me. At work and living where I live, and in the area where I live. I’m really glad I stuck it out and learned this important lesson.”
MC: How did your job duties change over the years?
PJ: When I started at UMass, the music library was one of three branch libraries. There were two other science libraries, and a self-contained branch in the Fine Arts Center. There were, variously, three or four staff members, bunches of student assistants. There were 20, 22, sometimes more, students to supervise. So, I supervised the supervisor. There was a fair bit of administrative work, selecting materials.
All of this was when OCLC was underway and way active, but we didn’t yet have an online catalog. We were still filing cards in a card catalog. We got microfiche prints of a union list of serials among the Five Colleges. It was called Pioneer Valley Union List of Serials. Once a month a new fiche would come and we stuck those in a notebook and that’s how you looked up journals and holdings. We had one computer in the library for staff use, because what would the public do with it? And we just took turns looking up this, looking up that, but there wasn’t that much you could really look up, so a lot of it was access to OCLC.
No databases in music at that time. There were mediated searches of some of the big, big conglomerates, but I wasn’t involved in that. There were specialists at the main library who studied that and the search protocols for that. It was very complex. You made an appointment with the database librarian, so that changed.
But one nice [thing] from the very beginning, I was always invited to attend the music department faculty meetings once a month. If I had something to say I was on the agenda, otherwise I sat and listened, and I learned a lot about the curriculum, about the faculty, about the students. They really made me feel a part of the department even though administratively I was part of the library. They were always kind to me, nice to me, treated me professionally, treated me with respect, became friends.
And when I heard from some of my other colleagues that, “How do you possibly get invited to the department meetings?” I don’t know. When I came, “Here’s the key to the mailroom, and all the meetings are on the first Thursday.” How lucky I was! And learned a lot, and really my heart and soul was with the music department. Administratively, I was always with the library, but that was so fortunate, and I hear so many people, “Boy, I wish the chemistry department would invite me,” or, “I asked to come in.” “No, these are closed faculty meetings. You can’t.” So, I didn’t know how good I had it that way.
[A big change] was students coming to do their listening and viewing on 35, 40 listening/viewing stations: LPs, reel-to-reel tapes, cassette tapes. Most of that didn’t circulate. They may not have had the equipment themselves anyway, but they had to come and sit and do their listening. We evolved eventually to CDs. I was aware of the development of this new thing called CDs and learned about it at NEMLA, and just in the professional literature and I thought, this is something we need to keep an eye on, and I think this is gonna catch on. I made my case and said, I think we should buy a few of these machines and start buying a few CDs, and “Well, okay, you’re the music librarian. If you think so.” And it was all part of other technology rearing its head, and we were so lucky that the music library was able to be part of it. So, I was seen as really cutting edge and forward thinking for saying, “Yeah, this CD thing, I think we want to get in on this.”
MC: I saw that you spoke at a 1986 NEMLA meeting. You did a talk on compact discs as a hot topic.
PJ: It was. It was at Smith College, and we each took a little piece of something. Yeah, this was cutting edge stuff. And other people shared at NEMLA as well. I certainly wasn’t the first. But the care and feeding of CDs, and what kind of labels can you put on them, or can you write on? Will the labels come off inside the machine? Will they throw the balance off? We were learning all that. And it was something that was very practical, up my alley. With running a music library, supervising staff, supervising students, we need to know: can you stick a label, can you write on them? And [I] did some investigation and all of a sudden I was certainly not an expert, but someone that NEMLA would say, “Well, could you share that with us?” And it’s just an informal little thing, I said, well sure.
And so I think technology, without a doubt, had the greatest impact on my job, of eliminating card catalogues and moving to an online environment. And the change in the way we listen, to coming in and sitting down with LPs or tapes, to CDs which then became more practical to circulate, and then eventually with streaming. And students are walking across the campus plugged into their phone and doing their listening assignment. How well are they doing? I don’t know. Are they doing other listening that is more substantial and the score is in front of them? I hope so.
Meeting with classes has changed tremendously from bringing a stack of books and telling them, “Now this resource has this, and here’s the call number. You’ll need this,” to “Well, let’s take a look at the latest version of the library website,” and “Where have we hidden whatever you need to find, and what is it called?” And then digging into databases, into electronic resources. That’s just a tremendous change in instruction and what the students need to know and how they do their work, as well as campus and beyond resources — IT departments and writing centers, and all that sort of thing. That kind of support wasn’t available, at least not readily available or known to those of us in the library. So we became much more broad in our services.
MC: How about the balance between cataloging and public services, did that shift at all?
PJ: I did shift. When I came, there had been a music cataloger. Unfortunately she had an illness and had died, and people were mourning her as one would expect. Administration or those in charge of the affected departments were unsure of exactly which way to go. And they just said, “Well, let’s get the music librarian hired. Then we’ll see about the cataloging or what we should do or combine with something.” Turned out that my background, just because my first job happened to be cataloging, music cataloging and non-print, and there was no other music person so I took on the other music librarian duties that I was capable of doing, the cataloging. And I’d worked with OCLC, and I knew how to search and copy, and copy editing, and original cataloging, and gone to workshops that the chapter or OCLC offered, so I could do that.
And I didn’t know any better, so I said, “Oh, sure!” So I was in one building to run the music library and another building for the cataloging department to do music cataloging. And soon found out these are both full time jobs. And when you’re new, you don’t want to complain or make it appear that those old doubts about, “I can’t do this. I’m not cut out for this, I’m not good enough. I don’t have the background for this big institution.” So, just kept trying to do my best, but I ended up behind [in] both places. And finally had to go to one of my assorted bosses. And I also, because I did selection, we had a separate collection development division, and I reported to three associate directors for what was called public services, technical services and collection development. So I went to one boss and said, “I can’t do this. I can’t say nobody can do this, but I can’t do this.” “Well, that’s not a surprise. We had a cataloger before. We should get a cataloger now.” And I thought, thank heavens.
And so we did hire a music cataloger, and she knew what she was doing. She just needed to find out how we do it. So once she was hired, trained, and I told her “Here’s what I know and can share with you,” I was back in the music library and collection development. And we were lucky to have a music cataloguer all the rest of my career. So that was under two years, I think, before I cried wolf and said, “I can’t do this.”
MC: I don’t think it’s considered crying wolf, with what you had to take on. You mentioned that you had a lot of student workers that were coming through. Do you know if any of your students workers went on to become music librarians?
PJ: I do. I remembered some of them because I see them at professional meetings, either New England or national meetings. When I retired I posted a little message on MLA-L and on the New England listerv, NEMLA-L, that I’ll be retiring from UMass. And I’ll have to say, the messages I got back from colleagues. Some were just a brief, but some went into great detail and sent a whole page of, “You may not remember me, but I was a music student at UMass, and I came into your office and said, I just don’t know what I’m gonna do with this music degree,” — I’m thinking of someone in particular — “and I love it but I’ll never make a living at it, and what do you do, and how did you learn how to do this?” That person now is a music librarian at a very distinguished institution and making a name for himself, and professionally active. I got a few like that. And as word spread, not just through the music library world, but the music world, some of the students I worked with wrote “I wouldn’t have gotten my masters if it weren’t for you,” or “I never would’ve passed my comps.” And I hate to say there are so many students and they all kind of blend together, but there are so many students and I don’t remember all of those individual instances. It’s because that’s what we do. That’s what I did, and I took it seriously at the time, and I knew the students and would try to go to their senior or graduate recital. And then it’s over and done and I kind of forgot, and I don’t think that’s heartless, I think it’s just there were so many students. And in 35 years.
And then the students who worked in the music library, too. Some of those were music students, some were not. But they learned about the libraries and thought, “You know, this might not be a bad gig. So how did you do this?” and because UMass didn’t have a library school, many of those students didn’t even know there was something called library science. And you’d go off and get preferably a masters degree, ALA accredited. And that’s how it’s done.
But, especially when I retired, some of the messages I got, and I’d almost forgotten, not necessarily the person, but our exchange, or that I really made a difference with them. And I’ll tell you, dab away a few of the tears — that was so sweet and so thoughtful. Sometimes it happens at thesis or dissertation time, and you read the acknowledgements, “And I thank these people,” “And in the library.” And we kind of expect that, not take it for granted. But it was at retirement when some of those really lovely messages came through. I thought, “Yeah, there is another generation that I helped make a difference,” and that’s not in your job description. That’s just one of the many benefits and perks that comes from working with some good people.
MC: Going along with that, I wanted to talk about your involvement with MLA. You mentioned that Kiyo really mentored you at your first MLA meeting that was in Boston in ‘78. You want to talk about how you got involved in MLA?
PJ: Kiyo Suyematsu was the music librarian at Mankato who was so helpful to me, took an interest in me, and I don’t even know if I knew the word “mentor” at the time. But that’s exactly what she did and what she was. And when I was in library school we heard about the importance of professional organizations, ALA, and for us, the little group of music library students, MLA. And their meeting was coming up in February of ‘78. Yes, the blizzard of ‘78 meeting in Boston. And I was in Rochester, Geneseo. That’s not that far away. And the library school had some professional development grant money for students. And of course I hardly knew what professional grant money even meant at that time. But you could apply for a meeting, and I thought, well why not? People are telling me you should get involved or go to MLA, and it’s not very far away. I talked to [Kiyo] about it and she said. “Oh yes, we’ll room together, I’ll show you around. Oh, it’ll be great. Apply for the money.”
So I did, and I got some funds, and flew to Boston, which just seemed like the big time to me, to be going to this conference, missing classes. I didn’t even have to drive. The conference was at the Copley Plaza, which is one of the most elegant, lovely hotels ever. And especially to a student, wow. There was all that snow. The worst of the storms were over but it was still piled up. I mean, just trying to cross the street, where the curb cuts are, you crawled up and over piles of snow. But I’d never been to Boston before so that was pretty impressive. Never been to a professional meeting before. Never stayed at a hotel like the Copley Plaza.
So my eyes were wide open. But Kiyo was right there, took care of me and, “Well, we have to go find some dinner, and let’s see who else wants to go.” So I met the people that were her friends, her colleagues, not just from the Midwest chapter. But she’d been around a long time and knew people. Some of those people I looked at at later meetings and I thought, “I met you in 1978 when I was a student just following behind Kiyo, and you were her friend and her colleague, so I met you.” And we went out to eat, and I just listened to them and took it all in. And they were such nice, collegial people that I’d run into them in the hallway, “Oh, hello, Pam, how’s it going? Do you like MLA?” And some of the big names, I’d read their publication in Notes or they’d written “the book,” and there they were. Just at the same conference I was at. Oh!
There were a lot of very meaty discussions. the things I was supposed to be learning in school, professional librarians were still discussing these things and dealing with them. One of the issues, and I’m pretty sure it was at that Boston meeting, was to not allow smoking during MLA meeting sessions. And I look back on it now and think, “Smoking in the meetings?” Another issue was meeting in states that had not ratified the ERA, Equal Rights Amendment. This just sounds like it’s out of the dark ages. Smoking in meetings, but these were big discussion topics.
There was a movie night. The movie was Desk Set. So we were invited for a fun evening. Come to Desk Set, and we’ll have popcorn and if you wanna come in your jammies, that’s fine. I thought, “Well, I am a student and pretty intimidated by this whole thing so I will not be in my jammies,” but I think it’s ok to say Suki Sommer came in her funny jammies, those little kid pajamas that have the feet. Big slippers she was carrying. A teddy bear or something. And she was so much fun anyway. But here’s this big name from New York Public and she’s coming in these kid pajamas and carrying a stuffed animal and I thought, “This is gonna be okay.”
So we ate our popcorn and watched Desk Set. And then at that time there was a closing banquet, usually with dancing afterward. Some of that continues now, but this was a formal banquet in a very formal ballroom and people really dressed up for it. I have no idea what the meal was, but I was really impressed. And then there was a little chamber ensemble for ballroom formal dancing. And there are some really good dancers in MLA. And just watching all that, these people who dress in funny pajamas and come to the movie and then they’re in elegant dress and doing ballroom dancing. This is a whole package deal, not just the sessions and learning a lot. This is an interesting group.
There was a tour of the city, so people were there to have fun, too. We hopped on buses and went to Harvard and MIT and the Christian Science mother house. Walked through that big globe (the Mapparium), and also got to see a little bit of the city. Somebody was always scouting out a restaurant, “Oh, let’s go try this. It’s really interesting.” So we went to Durgin-Park and things that typify the city. Now, that’s just what you do when you go to MLA. It’s “Okay, we’re gonna have some fun, and we’re gonna find good restaurants, and let’s get a little group, and let’s go see the city, and let’s go shopping. And buckle down and do our work, too.”
It was pretty heady for a student. And then, part of this grant was to go back and then tell your colleagues about it. So part of the class session, music bibliography, I gave a little report on the meeting and how impressed I was, and here’s some of the stuff I picked up. So I’d like to think maybe that helped some other people who hadn’t pursued it say, “Yeah, I’d better check this, I’d better at least join and I better go to some of the meetings.” So that was my first one.
MC: And obviously you continued. You mentioned that you contributed several chapters to the 1983 second edition of Basic Music Library.
PJ: Uh huh. And I think that was probably just a request in a newsletter. I was working in Kentucky at that time and when A Basic Music Library was finally published, I was then at UMass. But I was doing part of the professional activity. Community involvement, professional activity, how do you do your job, all those things that you’re evaluated on, but that I wanted to do. That’s what real music librarians do. And that’s what my colleagues were doing in their own areas of librarianship or other subject specialties. Worked with the editor and, what chapters did I have some background in, and could I actually draw on some expertise, and it pays to work on what you know.
I worked on that. And then when it was published, we were now into 1983 so I was at Massachusetts. Then the new kid looked good because [I had] contributed chapters to this thing published by ALA. I kind of got credit in both institutions, and that didn’t hurt. Yeah, it was a lot simpler then. I look at what we’ve gone through now to get the latest Basic Music Library. Oy. It was a lot simpler at that time. But it wasn’t the massive project that it is now either.
MC: Is there anything else that you want to have covered that we have not discussed yet?
PJ: I landed in a very good profession with good people. I hear people, especially not in the academic world, but some in academic, too, who are surprised by the strength of MLA and music librarians, what a tight group we are, how well we know each other. Our materials have very specific needs when we talk about electronic systems, whether it’s ILS, an integrated library system, or data[base]. And we’re usually the first to say, “But it’s not gonna work for uniform titles,” or “Well, we have to designate the material because you can’t just search for this composer and title if you can’t also indicate you’re looking for a score or recording.” And we’re the ones who are speaking up.
And I think we were one of the first, if not the first, special user group that was an outgrowth of OCLC. MOUG, The Music OCLC Users Group. And I think we were a model of what special interest people look for in a user group, and form a user group, and what they demand from their utilities and from their services. And part of that is because we know each other, because MLA is so tight and longstanding. I don’t know that many other fields that well, but I can’t think of anything that has the strength and longstanding commitment that MLA does.
And if you’re a subgroup of ALA, that’s a little different than being your own group and controlling your own destiny to some degree. With an outstanding journal and newsletters. And then we were one of the first, I think, to really develop a listerv, MLA-L, so that we could talk to each other more easily. And have directories so that we could call for help. Before we had electronics, you’d get on the phone and, “Well, I know that person at BU. I just need the phone number,” ‘cause there was no web. So, to find that and call and get some help.
And I think that just put me in a circle of good people, qualified people, passionate people about music and about libraries. And we’re a helping profession. We’re a service profession. And overall, that’s been my experience. People want to help. They want to help their students, they want to help their faculty, they want to help their community, and they want to help their colleagues. So, I did well. I landed in a good profession and in good places.
Submitted by Marci Cohen
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NEMLA Officers
Chair: Sandi-Jo Malmon Librarian for Collection Development Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University 3 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 smalmon at fas.harvard.edu (617) 998-5415
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Memory Apata Music and Performing Arts Librarian Paddock Music Library Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu (603) 646-3129
Past Chair: Lisa Wollenberg Public Services Librarian Allen Library University of Hartford 200 Bloomfield Ave West Hartford, CT 06117 lwollenbe at hartford.edu (860) 768-4840
Secretary-Treasurer: Carol Lubkowski Music Librarian Wellesley College Wellesley, MA 02481 clubkows at wellesley.edu (781) 283-2076
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice: Patrick Quinn Instruction and Reserves Coordinator Boston University Boston, MA 02215 pquinn6 at bu.edu (617) 358-8523
Member-At-Large: Brendan Higgins Faculty Liaison and Outreach Librarian Berklee Libraries Boston, MA bhiggins at berklee.edu
Newsletter Editor: Jennifer Hadley Library Assistant Music Library and World Music Archives Wesleyan University Middletown, CT 06457 jthom at wesleyan.edu (860) 685-3897
NEMLA Archivist: Emily Levine Reference Librarian Public Library of Brookline 361 Washington St Brookline, MA 02445 elevine at minlib.net (617) 730-2370
Website Editor: Liz Berndt-Morris Music Reference and Research Services Librarian Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library Harvard University 3 Oxford Street Cambridge, MA 02138 eaberndtmorris at fas.harvard.edu (617) 998-5310
