Category Archives: Newsletter

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: July 2023, NO. 214

The calm after the fantastic NEMLA meeting at the Stan Getz Library, Berklee College of Music

Table of Contents

Message from the Chair
Spring 2023 Hybrid Meeting Notes
NEMLA Membership Renewal
EDIJ Committee Report
Nominating Committee Report
Noteworthy News
Chris Schiff Gives Baccalaureate Address
Marci Cohen’s New Role
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

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Message from the Chair

Dear NEMLA,

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.

Hope page of the website of The Music in The Music of Black Americans

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!

Current EDIJ Framework:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MqtfVgRfrFlHiXcpxN97p0CZnrMz6d8BFFbO_239Oyw/edit?usp=sharing

Feedback Form: https://forms.gle/bHDCUN1M3WyBexLQ8

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 by Patrick 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 by Memory 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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in the fall, winter, spring, and summer.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Hannah Ferello
hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: March 2023, NO. 213

from dreamstime.com

Table of Contents

Message from the Chair
Proposal for Changes to By-Laws
Spring 2023 Meeting Call for Proposals
NEMLA Membership Renewal
EDIJ Committee Report
Establishing Collaboration with Other Organizations
Noteworthy News
The Music in The Music of Black Americans
NEMLA Dinner at MLA
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

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Message from the Chair

Dear NEMLA,

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 meeting on July 1st. 
  • No officer shall be eligible for more than two consecutive terms in the same office.

ARTICLE VIII.A. COMMITTEES

  1. 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

  1. There shall be a minimum of two meetings a year.
  2. There shall be a business meeting in the Spring of each year.
  3. The fall meeting shall be virtual. The spring meeting may be virtual, hybrid, or in-person. 
  4. Meetings shall be called by the Executive Board with at least two weeks’ notice.
  5. A quorum shall consist of a majority of members present at any meeting.
  6. 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 mail submitted 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, the RILA 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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in the fall, winter, spring, and summer.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Carol Lubkowski
clubkows at wellesley.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: December 2022, NO. 212

Photo by lil artsy https://www.pexels.com/photo/magic-glass-snow-globe-in-christmas-market-3403884/

Table of Contents

Message from the Chair
Summary of the Fall 2022 Meeting
Noteworthy News
MLA and SUCHO
Bennett Konesni
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

**************************************************

Message from the Chair

Dear NEMLA,

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. 

Photo of Bennett Konesni

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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in the fall, winter, spring, and summer.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Carol Lubkowski
clubkows at wellesley.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: August 2022, NO. 211

Music festival abstract art vector background. Design with musical instruments, geometric shapes and glasses. by danjazzia. Adobe Stock

Table of Contents

Message from the Chair
— Fall Meeting Save the Date
Spring 2022 Meeting Summary
Secretary-Treasurer’s Report
Committee News – EDIJ Committee
Noteworthy News
Tribute to Jean Morrow
Remembering Michael Ochs
Welcome to Jay Colbert
Lush Life: A Jazz Story
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

**************************************************

Message from the Chair

Dear NEMLA Colleagues,

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 Librarianship in 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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in the fall, winter, spring, and summer.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Carol Lubkowski
clubkows at wellesley.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: April 2022, NO. 210

Ben Collins – unsplash.com

Table of Contents

Message from the Chair
Spring 2022 Meeting Announcements
NEMLA Election Information
Noteworthy News
Richard S. Hill Award
Rulan Chao Pian Exhibit
MLA Sheet Music Interest Group
World Concertina Day
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

**************************************************

Message from the Chair

Dear NEMLA Colleagues,

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.

Submissions may be made via this form (links to external site). The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 6, 2022.

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 cartoons of pirates, 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 practically everywhere in 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
Higgins headshot
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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in September, December, March/April and June/July.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Carol Lubkowski
clubkows at wellesley.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: December 2021, NO. 209

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/swedish-ice-orchestra-2/index.html

Table of Contents

Message from the Chair
Fall 2021 Meeting Summary
Committee News
EDIJ Committee
Nominating Committee
Technical Services Committee
Noteworthy News
Orwig Music Library
NEMLA Oral History: Pam Juengling
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

**************************************************

Message from the Chair

Dear NEMLA members,

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

_____________________________________

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 Party Playlist

  • 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 first local resource we’ll spotlight is from The Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice:

“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.”

___________________________________

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

______________________________

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:

006The 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).
007Originally, 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:

344Sound characteristics (for streaming audio)
347Digital file characteristics
380Form 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:

518Date/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.” 
516Type of computer file or data note
506Restrictions on access note
588Source 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

____________________________

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

_____________________________________

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
Higgins headshot
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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in September, December, March/April and June/July.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Carol Lubkowski
clubkows at wellesley.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: August 2021, NO. 208

photo by Ricardo Gomez Angel – www.unsplash.com

Table of Contents

Message from the Chair
Spring 2021 Meeting Summary
Secretary/Treasurer’s Report
Committee News
Fall 2021 Meeting Preview
Noteworthy News
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

Message from the Chair

Greetings, NEMLA members.

I am delighted to have accepted the position of chair of NEMLA. I want to thank Lisa Wollenberg for leading us through a challenging year both personally and professionally. We are all entering a new normal as many of our institutions continue to serve patrons while others are ramping up for in person services for the first time in nearly 18 months. I hope that no matter where you fall on the spectrum you will look to your colleagues in NEMLA for support and encouragement. 

Our spring meeting was hosted via zoom with 102 registered participants from across the United States! I anticipate we will have another productive and energetic year ahead.

Allison Estell has decided to step down from her position as Member at Large. I speak for all of us in thanking her for the role she served in the last year. I hope a member of NEMLA will be interested in joining the NEMLA board in this capacity. I plan to reach out to the membership more widely in the early Fall. 

One of the Board’s primary focuses has been to find a home for the NEMLA archives. It was decided by the board to keep them at the Boston Public Library. A big thank you to Emily Levine for working toward this end to develop a home for the legacy of NEMLA.

We have much to do this year as we continue our work toward a more equitable and diverse community. I am delighted to announce that Patrick Quinn has agreed to serve as our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice Officer. I look forward to working with him. In our work this year, we will all continue to work toward an equitable response to racial violence and oppression.

Sandi-Jo Malmon
NEMLA Chair

Spring 2021 Meeting Summary – May 7, 2021

(Brief highlights condensed from notes by Allison Estell.  For further information, contact presenters. Email Jennifer Hadley with any corrections.)

President Lisa Wollenberg opened the meeting by welcoming attendees to NEMLA’s third all-virtual meeting.  She noted that although it has been a difficult year, we have learned a lot.  She suggested we all stop and reflect on our growth and put our new knowledge to good use, personally, professionally, and with NEMLA.  She thanked the Program Committee for another exciting program.

Developing a Music Librarianship Course Centered on Theory and Praxis in Critical Librarianship, Social Justice, and Diversity Work (Memory Apata, Dartmouth College; Liz Berndt-Morris, Harvard University; and Anna E. Kijas, Tufts University)

The goal of this working group was to design a course accessible in format, content, and cost, inclusive to everyone regardless of prior knowledge, and which addressed and challenged biases from a critical reflective practice.  In February 2020, the working group shared a white paper with MLA for feedback and then hired a course design consultant, Jeannie Chen, who had experience with distance learning.  They gave her a 15-week syllabus and asked for feedback on diversity, inclusion, and social justice, creating safe space, and acknowledging barriers to access. Jeannie’s recommendations included to integrate anti-racism principles throughout assignments, objectives, readings, structure (not just a statement at the beginning) and to create a brave space (need courage, rather than seek appearance of safety).  Action items included using community language (we/you, not third person), removing jargon, centering individual experiences, defining safe/brave, and distinguishing  between course goals and learning objectives.

Boston Rock City: A Linked Data Initiative (Christina Linklater, Harvard University; Peter Laurence, Harvard University; Christine Fernsebner Eslao, Harvard Library; Kate Mancey, Harvard University)

Arthur Freedman’s collection documenting live performances of local rock bands was donated to Harvard in December 2011.  It consists of 500 analog audio cassettes (1976-2000, most late 70s to mid-80s), which went to Loeb, and 1158 video recordings in various formats (1985-2011), which went to Harvard Film Archive. It also includes some set lists, tickets, flyers, and other artifacts.  The hope is to unify the two subcollections eventually. The finding aid is available here. Work on the collection included transcribing all the notes from the tape cases and updating permission agreements to account for streaming. As bands were contacted, they also offered metadata and new content.  Using wikidata/linked data allows for metadata to be shared beyond Harvard in any language and shows relationships between items (e.g., between bands/genres/venues, etc.). The team has scheduled an Editathon on May 21-22, 2021 and are planning various exhibitions.

Teen Music Maker Showdown (Ritse Adefolalu, Boston Public Library, Lower Mills Branch)

The Teen Music Maker Showdown was a statewide virtual youth music contest with a live online results show that Ritse organized at BPL with The Hip Hop Transformation (THHT, a Cambridge afterschool program) and four other youth organizations. There were cash prizes and the option to compose a song for BPL. The aim was to show kids that their art has value and should be treated professionally.  39 teens submitted 75 songs (each entrant was permitted up to three songs).  Networking and marketing were important to building this program. BPL teen services has a Twitch channel for gaming, live conversations, guest authors/artists, career exploration, and now teen-created content.  They held a Kickoff Twitch livestream on Feb. 5 with an overview of the rules and music production demos by a THHT student. They revealed the top ten at an Awards Celebration on March 5 with133 distinct attendees and 500+views of the recording.

Reframing the Music Classroom: Incorporating Anti-Racist Practices and BIPOC Voices: Collaborative Practices (Debra Mandel, Northeastern University)

As part of the university anti-racism initiative, each library department created goals and the Music Department created a statement of solidarity.  Professor Francesca Inglese received a grant to aid music faculty to center BIPOC and to gather resources to create anti-racist music classrooms.  Debra was part of the project team and provided library support, instruction in Leganto, and recommendations as selector. Two student researchers (2nd-year and 4-year undergraduates) were hired to drive much of the work.  They created a resource subject guide and six biweekly newsletters to highlight resources, and presented to a RISE conference at NEU.  Daphne Brooks and Terri Lyne Carrington were invited as guest speakers. The project highlighted a collaboration among faculty, students and a librarian, raised engagement and awareness, and showed students their work was valued.

Musical Political Parody in Presidential Elections (Emily Spitz, former 2019 Library of Congress Librarian in Residence and participant in developing a music instruction audiobook for patrons of the National Library Service for the Print Disabled)

Emily shared many examples of the longstanding practice of musical political parody beginning with the Revolutionary War (Yankee Doodle is a parody itself and was parodied a lot), “The Battle of the Kegs” by Francis Hopkinson, a Tippecanoe and Tyler too parody, folk tunes parodying Whig candidates, anti-war parodies, the use of Gilbert and Sullivan’s HMS Pinnafore, a “Good Night Ladies” parody, the use of “Pretty Woman,” and musical political parodies on late-night TV.

Beginning the Journey Towards Inclusive and Anti-Racist Metadata and Description (Anne Adams, Harvard University; Andrea Cawelti, Harvard University; Jennifer Dunlap, Harvard University; Jennifer Hadley, Wesleyan University; Rebecca McCallum, Wesleyan University; Hannah Spence, New England Conservatory)

Rebecca spoke about how to plan an evaluation of your metadata.  It is important to incorporate multiple viewpoints,­­ seek outside counsel/expertise if necessary, and see what other organizations are doing, e.g., Cataloginglab.org, #critcat.  Especially consider subject headings referring to people and how the absence of important terms might affect discovery.  Anne Adams spoke about initiatives to update controlled headings at Harvard and MLA CMC (Core ), for example, changing illegal aliens to undocumented immigrants locally and a LCMPT project to examine gendered medium of performance terms. Jennifer H. discussed how Wesleyan’s Music Library and World Music Archives are evaluating the use of “World music” and “Folk music” as subject terms. The definitions have changed over time. Staff will clarify local procedures, create instructions for student catalogers, and decide whether to review copy cataloging, and how much retrospective cataloging to do. They will also examine other headings, such as “Indians of North America” and “Popular Music”. Andrea and Jennifer D. discussed a project to apply inclusive and descriptive cataloging to American minstrelsy materials and correct problematic headings. Sometimes legitimate headings are applied incorrectly; lack of scope notes can be frustrating.  Jennifer shared recommended terms and tips for doing this work. For example, do not use African American wit and humor for works of/about minstrelsy; only use African Americans—Music when music is actually African American music. Hannah shared the committee’s Links and Resources document for inclusive, anti-racist metadata.  There was no time for group discussion, but the committee hopes to discuss the topic more at a future meeting and invites discussion on the NEMLA listserv. (See committee notes below.)

Listening Party (Peter Laurence, Harvard University)

Below are some of the tracks we enjoyed together:

  • The Exciters, “Life, Love & Peace”
  • Jesse Montgomery, “Strum,” perf. by members of LA Philharmonic
  • Idles, “Grounds”
  • Natalia Lafourcade and (many many) others, “Un Derecho de Nacimiento”
  • Queen, “I Want To Break Free”
  • Tori Amos, “Silent All These Years”
  • Pamela Z, “Ink” perf. by Volti
  • Seratones, “Power”
  • Zakkiyah, “Shades of Black: The Hip-Hopera”
  • Chris Kando Iijima, Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto, and “Charlie” Chin, “We Are the Children”

Business Meeting minutes

  • Call to Order
  • Committee news/openings
    • Publications – Announcement of Jennifer Hadley as the new Newsletter editor
    • Instruction – No news to report
    • Education and Outreach – No news to report
    • Technical Services – No news to report
    • Nominating – EDIJ position is looking for a chair
    • Program – Thanks from Sandi-Jo to the program committee
    • Oral History – All quiet….
    • Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, & Justice – details were mentioned at the beginning of the spring meeting by Lisa Wollenberg. Committee is looking for a chair and will be assembling the committee after that.
  • Secretary/Treasurer report: Brendan Higgins
    • Report attached (see below)
  • Archivist report: Emily Levine
    • Found a new space for NEMLA archives – Brockton Public Library (thanks to Paul Engel) (Note: See change above.)
    • Archivist will be reviewing our current standards for collecting materials
    • More work to be done on processing, but with more access to materials, she hopes to integrate the archival materials into Newsletter and other outreach venues
  • Chair report: Lisa Wollenberg
    • Retiree recognition
      • Carolyn Johnson and Ray Schmidt
      • Provided flowers to both retirees
    • Fall joint meeting
      • Looking to work with other MLA chapters for a joint meeting
    • Discussion on proposed by-laws amendments http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/new-england-quarter-notes-march-2021-no-207/#Proposed-Bylaws-Amendments
      • No discussion from members. Board will move forward on amendments
  • Election results, announcement of new board members: Brendan Higgins
    • Vice Chair/Chair-Elect – Memory Apata
    • Secretary -Treasurer – Carol Lubkowski
  • Handover to new Chair
    • Sandi-Jo accepts the “gavel”
  • Old Business
    • None
  • New Business
    • None
  • Meeting adjourned

NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer Report 5/7/21

Savings Account: $4,006.89
Checking Account: $6,132.93

Grants
1) MLA chapter grant – Music Librarianship course development
Initial funds $1,150.00
Funds used $175.00
Current remaining $975.00

2) Oral History Grant
Current remaining $450.51

Membership
Total active membership: 74
New membership: 11
Gross income from membership: $774.00

Fall Meeting Summary – October 23, 2020
Held over Zoom
81 total attendees registered
No income or expenses

Spring Meeting Summary – May 7th, 2021
Held over Zoom
102 total attendees registered
No income or expenses

Submitted by Brendan Higgins, former NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer

******************************

Secretary/Treasurer’s Report

Membership

Thanks to all who have renewed their memberships already this year! For those who have not yet renewed, instructions are below. All dues are collected through the Music Library Association website.

Annual Membership:
Regular membership: $12.00
Student/Retired membership: $6.00

**This year we are again extending to members that are on furlough, unemployed, or are experiencing other financial hardships the option of choosing the Student/Retiree price for your normal membership. We’re using the honor system for this option and won’t be asking for confirmation of your eligibility. 

Instructions for Renewing Members Who Have an MLA Site Profile

You have two options. (Either way, you will be asked to log into your existing user profile first. Please do not create a new profile!)

  1. Pay for MLA and NEMLA memberships in one transaction.  
  2. Pay for a NEMLA membership alone

For NEMLA members who have previously purchased a multi-year membership, you will still have to “renew” your NEMLA membership through the MLA website this year, in order for us to maintain accurate membership records. I have sent you individual emails with a discount code that will allow you to renew without paying the fee. If you have any questions about the current status of your membership or the renewal process, please email Carol Lubkowski at clubkows at wellesley.edu.

Bylaws Amendment

The proposed Bylaws Amendments to create an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Officer and Committee passed unanimously with 34 votes.

Submitted by Carol Lubkowski, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer

*******************************

Committee News

Seeking volunteers for open positions

There are currently many open positions in the NEMLA structure. We want YOU to fill one! No prior experience necessary. All terms are for two years except where specified. Please contact the appropriate person below for more information or to volunteer.

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice Committee
·       2-3 members needed
·       Contact: Lisa Wollenberg, Lwollenbe at hartford.edu

Member at Large
·       Chair of the Education and Outreach Committee and voting board officer. Term begins immediately and ends Spring 2022.
·       Elections to be held next spring for the full-term position, which will hold office Spring 2022 to Spring 2024.
·       Contact: Sandi-Jo Malmon, smalmon at fas.harvard.edu

Nominating Committee
·       1 member needed (starting after the October meeting)
·       Contact: Chris Schiff, cschiff at bates.edu

Program Committee
·       1 member needed
·       Contact: Memory Apata, memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu

Submitted by Lisa Wollenberg

*******************************

Technical Services Committee

At the spring online NEMLA meeting, the Technical Services Committee presented a panel discussion on “Beginning the journey towards inclusive and anti-racist metadata and description.” As part of preparing for that panel, the group created a shared Google Doc of “Useful links and resources for moving towards inclusive and anti-racist metadata.”

We’re hoping this will be a living document, with new links and resources added over time. There are so many resources and articles out there. If you see something you think should be added to the list, please email one of us, and we’ll add it to the shared document.

If you have questions about any of the specific sections of the presentation, please email us.
Anne Adams: anneadams at fas.harvard.edu
Jennifer Hadley: jthom at wesleyan.edu
Andrea Cawelti: cawelti at fas.harvard.edu
Jennifer Dunlap: jennifer_dunlap at harvard.edu
Rebecca McCallum: rmccallum at wesleyan.edu

If we had been able to instigate a discussion, we would have asked the following questions. If you feel inspired, feel free to do a little discussing on the NEMLA listserv!

  1. Is your institution already taking steps to alter any of its metadata, and if so, what are you all doing?
  2. What tools or resources (in addition to the shared Resource page) would be helpful for the NEMLA Tech Services committee to create and post? In what ways do NEMLA members want to collaborate to work on these metadata issues?

Submitted by Rebecca McCallum

***************************

Fall 2021 Meeting Preview

We are delighted to announce a joint fall chapter meeting among the New England, Texas, and Atlantic chapters October 8-9, 2021, online. (Our first non-contiguous chapter meeting!?) The chapter chairs have met and decided to join forces for a virtual gathering. Our chapters’ individual needs are somewhat different, but we felt it was to our mutual advantage to congregate all together for what we hope will be a dynamic virtual meeting.

Call for Presentation Proposals 

The joint program committees of our three chapters are accepting proposals for presentation at the virtual fall meeting on October 8-9, 2021. Presentations should be 30 minutes in length, not including time for questions. If you submit a proposal for a longer presentation and there is not enough room on the program, you may be asked to consider reformatting your topic for a lightning round session. While all proposals will be considered, we are especially interested in presentations addressing the following topics: 

  • Special collections  
    • Live or pre-recorded tours/showcases/demonstrations 
    • Teaching with special collections 
    • Scholarly work produced using your institution’s special collections 
  • Music libraries during the COVID-19 pandemic  
  • Diversity, equity, & inclusion in music libraries 

Lightning Round Sessions

The purpose of lightning round sessions is to quickly share a concept or project. Sessions should last no more than 10 minutes. 

How to Submit

To propose either a full-length or lightning round session, please submit the names and contact information for all presenters along with an abstract of 100-300 words describing your presentation via this form by September 3, 2021. Presenters will be notified of their acceptance into the program by September 10, 2021. 

All best,

Rahni Kennedy, Chair, Texas Chapter of the Music Library Association < rbkennedy at smu.edu >
Memory Apata, Vice Chair/Chair-Elect, New England Chapter < Memory.R.Apata at dartmouth.edu >
Winston Barham, Chair, Atlantic Chapter < wkb5j at virginia.edu >

********************************

Noteworthy News

Debra H. Mandel Retired

Congratulations to Debra Mandel, who retired as Director of Northeastern University Library’s Recording Studios on July 1, 2021!

Debra began working in the new Snell Library in July 1990 as the Media Center’s Operations Administrator and was promoted to Head a few years later. In 2007 the Media Center’s listening, viewing and borrowing services were transformed into the Digital Media Design Studio (DMDS) for multimedia creation and instruction. In 2014 the DMDS was reconfigured and relaunched as the Recording Studios.

Prior to Northeastern, Debra worked at Wentworth Institute, Lesley College, Billerica Public Library, Quincy College and Noble & Greenough School. She held pre-MLS jobs at Boston University, Harvard, the National League of Cities and Tufts New England Medical Center.

Debra served as the Music library liaison at Northeastern for approximately 15 years. These are some of her music career highlights:

  • Donated Northeastern’s remaining vinyl collection to the Boston Public Library shortly after they had a flood
  • Managed collection development of music in all formats
  • Collaborated with Prof. Dennis Miller to create a special visual music collection on DVD
  • Taught music information literacy classes, sometimes in collaboration with University Archives and Special Collections
  • Launched new audio digitization, podcasting, audio and video music production services
  • Collaborated with Green Line Records and other student groups for studio production and live streaming performances
  • Created a listening area for the Solomon Jazz Collection on vinyl
  • Collaborated on the creation of the digital Holocaust and Genocide Awareness Archive which includes musical performances of Gideon Klein Scholars
  • Partnered with students and Prof. Francesca Inglese for the “Reframing the Music Classroom” research guide project

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:
(Currently Vacant)
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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in September, December, March/April and June/July.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Carol Lubkowski
clubkows at wellesley.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: MARCH 2021, NO. 207

Message from the Chair
Proposed By-laws Amendments
Spring 2021 Ballot
Spring 2021 Meeting Information
Secretary/Treasurer’s Report
Noteworthy News
>> includes: Orwig Music Library
— Carolyn Johnson — Avery Boddie
— Ray Schmidt — Wellesley job posting
— “Protect the Pack”
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

photo by Olga Subach – www.unsplash.com

Message from the Chair

Greetings, NEMLA!

In the last few weeks, it seems that each new day has marked a one-year anniversary of a different COVID-caused upheaval. It’s been one year (or more) since many of us attended an in-person concert, closed our libraries, started working from home, were furloughed or laid off, held our first all-virtual meetings and instruction sessions, and much more. For many, 2020 was the most turbulent and challenging year of our lives. But amid the turbulence, we have all grown a great deal. NEMLA has also grown, and I would like to reflect on some of our chapter accomplishments over the past year.

First, we held two incredibly successful virtual meetings, and have a third on the way. Our spring 2020 meeting was one of the first all-virtual library conferences during the pandemic, and I think we set a fantastic precedent! I’m proud to have been a part of it, and grateful to the many committee members, board members, presenters, and attendees who have made all these virtual meetings possible. Thank you!

Second, we received a chapter grant from MLA to design and implement a Music Librarianship course, as many New England library students don’t have access to music librarianship coursework through their own institution. Our working group has already started drafting a syllabus, hired a course design consultant, and are moving closer to making that course a reality.

Finally, we are taking real steps to creating more equity, inclusion, and diversity in NEMLA and the music librarianship profession. After collecting survey data and holding several open discussions with NEMLA membership, the board has approved language to amend the by-laws in order to add an Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) officer and corresponding EDIJ committee to the organization. (See amendments below.) If these amendments are approved by the NEMLA membership, that officer and committee can get to work tackling the inequities and systemic oppression that have excluded and continue to exclude too many people from our organization, profession, and institutions. I hope you all take the time to review the amendments, then bring your questions and concerns to the upcoming business meeting discussion.

Although the challenges of the last year were certainly not what I expected for my first term as chapter chair, I have learned a great deal (as have we all), and I’m incredibly grateful to my colleagues from NEMLA and the University of Hartford for their support along the way. I am also very much looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish in 2021!

Lisa Wollenberg
NEMLA Chair

Proposed By-laws Amendments

The following are proposed amendments to the NEMLA by-laws, as approved by the executive board. There will be time to discuss these amendments during the upcoming NEMLA business meeting at our May 7 conference. Ballots for voting on the amendments, including any revisions made during the meeting discussion, will be distributed soon after, and the amendments will be made official if they pass a two-thirds vote.

[Note: Existing by-laws text is plain, additions are highlighted in yellow, and deleted text is in red/struck out.]

Addition under Article IV. Officers:

  • There shall be an 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.

Amendment and addition under 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, and 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.
    • [A through F unchanged]
    • G) Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Committee
      • The EDIJ Committee shall be chaired by the EDIJ Officer, and shall consist of at least two other members. Committee members should represent a diversity of identities and perspectives. Efforts should be made to include people from groups not well represented elsewhere in the NEMLA structure (Board, committees).
      • The committee shall lead efforts in EDIJ issues, including but not limited to:
        • Within NEMLA and the music librarianship profession, identifying and supporting efforts to dismantle barriers to the participation and advancement of members from historically underrepresented groups.
        • Supporting other NEMLA committees in their efforts to dismantle barriers to equity, diversity, inclusivity, and justice in each committee’s subject area.
        • Liaising with organizations beyond NEMLA to support broader EDIJ efforts affecting music and libraries.

Spring 2021 Ballot

The Nominating Committee is pleased to present the slate of candidates for this year’s election: 

Vice Chair/Chair Elect

Terry Simpkin 
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.

Memory Apata 
is the Music and Performing Arts Librarian at Dartmouth College and would be honored to serve the NEMLA community as Vice Chair/Chair Elect. She has a B.A. in Vocal Performance and German from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a Masters in Library and Information Science from Simmons University. Memory served as Newsletter Editor for NEMLA from 2017 through 2020. She was a 2018 recipient of the Kevin Freeman Award and the Bibliothek & Information Deutschland Grant. She has presented her professional contributions at the conferences of NEMLA, MLA, and IAML. In 2020, she won the MLA Best of Chapters Award for her paper, “Social Justice Dialogue in the Music Library: Adapting the Brave Space Model for Outreach Events.” Her book chapter on the same topic appears in Scholarship in the Sandbox (ACRL, 2019). Along with co-writers Anna Kijas of Tufts and Liz Berndt-Morris of Harvard, she is currently working on the NEMLA Music Librarianship Education Task Force to develop an online course in music librarianship. Outside of academia, Memory maintains an active musical life, performing jazz, opera, and musical theater.

Secretary/Treasurer


Carol Lubkowski 
is the Music Librarian at Wellesley College; previously, she was the Public Services Librarian at the University of Hartford’s Allen Library.  She would be honored to serve NEMLA as Secretary/Treasurer.  Carol received her BA in music from Wesleyan University, her MM in music composition from The Boston Conservatory, and her MLS from Indiana University. Carol is currently the coordinator for MLA’s Contemporary Music Interest Group.  At MLA 2016, she and Misti Shaw presented “How Much of BML4 is Available Online? Some Genre/Format Preliminary Findings”. At the 2020 New Music Gathering, Carol, Tom Bickley, Greg MacAyeal, and Lingwei Qiu presented “Getting Your Music into Libraries: How and Why”.  Carol has also published four reviews in Notes.  Her interests are the music of living women composers, feminist punk, and the future of audio recordings in libraries.

Anne Adams is the Senior Music Cataloger for music materials at Harvard University’s Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library. Dr. Adams is chair of NEMLA’s Technical Services committee, and heads the Vocabulary Maintenance Task Group as part of MLA’s Cataloging and Metadata Committee Vocabularies Subcommittee.  She has worked on NEMLA’s and MOUG’s program committees and has served as a member of the CMC Encoding Standards subcommittee and the BIBFRAME taskforce.  A former assistant professor of voice at St. Olaf College, she holds a DMA in voice and a master’s in music theory from the University of Michigan and undergraduate degrees in voice and German studies from Oberlin College and Conservatory, in addition to an MLIS from Simmons College. Dr. Adams is also a freelance translator (German to English) and voice teacher, and has three kidlings at various stages of done-ness.

Submitted by Sarah Funke Donovan, Chair of the Nominating Committee

Spring 2021 Meeting Information

All times are in Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4).

The New England Music Library meeting this spring is scheduled to take place virtually on Friday, May 7, 2021 from 10 am – 4:15 pm.

Registration link: https://forms.gle/59cw3MVt7Vz2faTm8

10:00 am – 10:15 am: Opening Remarks

10:15 am – 11:00 am: Developing a Music Librarianship Course Centered on Theory and Praxis in Critical Librarianship, Social Justice, and Diversity Work

  • Memory Apata, Dartmouth College
  • Liz Berndt-Morris, Harvard University
  • Anna E. Kijas, Tufts University

Building on the efforts begun by NEMLA members in 2018, the Music Librarianship Course working group has been developing a syllabus for a course that is centered around the principles of critical music librarianship with a particular focus on social justice and antiracist practices. This working group applied and received an MLA Chapter Grant for FY21 that will support a planning stage that will enable a Music Librarianship Course working group of the New England Music Library Association (NEMLA) chapter, with feedback from the Music Library Association (MLA) and the wider library community, to develop an accredited online music librarianship course and explore scenarios for delivery and implementation of the content. This initiative will address the barrier to access for credit-bearing courses in music librarianship for Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) students attending programs without a specific specialization in music librarianship, as well as center approaches and praxis for diversity and social justice work.

In this presentation, members of the Music Librarianship Course working group will provide an overview of the work completed thus far on the development of this course and how the chapter grant funding is being used to support our work. We will share insight into the principles and outcomes guiding the creation of the syllabus and most recently, the collaboration with a consultant whose efforts will focus on instructional design elements and who will interrogate the course content from a diversity, equity, and inclusion lens. We will also provide an opportunity for feedback from colleagues who will be present at the chapter meeting.

11:00 am – 11:15 am: Break

11:15 am – 12:00 pm: Boston Rock City: A Linked Data Initiative

  •  Christina Linklater, Harvard University
  • Peter Laurence, Harvard University
  • Christine Fernsebner Eslao, Harvard Library
  • Kate Mancey, Harvard University

The subject of our project is the Arthur Freedman Collection, an audiovisual archive capturing over four decades of Boston rock music performances. Beginning in the late 1970s, Arthur Freedman (born in Newton, Massachusetts in 1957) attended and recorded countless shows, maintaining an enormous archive in his home. In 2012, Arthur Freedman donated his collection to Harvard Library. It is now fully catalogued and will soon be available to stream online.

Harvard Library has enhanced access and description for this collection by welcoming band members to provide setlists, personnel listings and posters that can be used to develop the finding aids. We now seek to draw on the expertise of local music fans to develop a Wikidata presence for the collection that can be used to synthesize its data into a resource of equal interest to scholars and fans. With this initiative, we are testing ways in which Wikidata and other structured data repositories can be used to cultivate and capture community knowledge.

This work is being conducted by three Harvard Library staff members who approach the Arthur Freedman Collection from three distinct perspectives, reaching across our normal boundaries to collaborate on a project that will benefit librarianship and Boston rock history. Peter Laurence (Librarian for Recorded Sound and Media, Loeb Music Library) received the collection, created the finding aid, and has reached out to band members for permission to stream their recordings.

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm: Business Meeting

12:30 pm – 1:15 pm: Lunch

1:15 pm – 2:00 pm: Teen Music Maker Showdown

  • Ritse Adefolalu, Boston Public Library, Lower Mills Branch

This year, the Boston Public Library held a statewide youth music contest called the Teen Music Maker Showdown. The project was conceived and co-organized by Ritse Adefolalu, Children’s Librarian at BPL Lower Mills Branch, and originally sprung from a conversation he had started with a local hip hop artist on Twitter. This direct message chat soon grew into a partnership between the library and several community organizations and educators. Pursuing cooperation with the library’s Communications Department from the project’s outset allowed Adefolalu and his co-organizers to implement a strong marketing campaign across print news, radio, and social media outlets. The contest itself was one month long, and featured 3 main events: a kickoff livestream, a private Zoom workshop with professional musicians, and a livestreamed awards ceremony on Twitch, a platform popular with the target audience. The project team used a combination of licensed and free software to design a musically themed graphical layout for the livestreams. Despite the obstacles of remote programming, the contest drew a total of 75 submissions from 39 teenagers across Greater Boston, and the Awards Ceremony had over 100 live viewers.

2:00 pm – 2:30 pm: Lightning Talks

 Reframing the Music Classroom: Incorporating Anti-Racist Practices and BIPOC Voices: Collaborative Practices

  • Debra Mandel, Northeastern University

This presentation focuses on a FY’2021 grant project awarded by Northeastern’s College of Art, Media and Design “to support research on social justice and anti-racism.” Written by Northeastern Assistant Professor of Music, Francesca Inglese, “this project aims to shift music studies at Northeastern by providing the tools to center voices of BIPOC in our research and our classrooms…”  $5000 was awarded to hire two student researchers and a guest speaker to talk about anti-racism in music.

Working alongside Francesca Inglese and myself were two student researchers, Rose-Laura Meus and Avery Kelly, who created subject guides to gather scholarship by BIPOC in Music’s various music sub-disciplines and recommend readings and multimedia to “aid music faculty in the creation of an anti-racist music pedagogy.” In addition, Rose and Avery created a bi-weekly newsletter to spotlight relevant readings and media presentations.

This talk will highlight the project team’s approaches, processes and accomplishments and the different perspectives each member brought to the virtual table. Perhaps this project can serve as a model for music librarians looking to systematically study and showcase resources to support research on social justice and anti-racism and build more inclusive collections. The value of librarians teaming up with faculty and students outside the classroom to discover and share resources and voices on these topics cannot be overstated.

 Musical Political Parody in Presidential Elections

  •   Emily Spitz, former 2019 Library of Congress Librarian in Residence and participant in developing a music instruction audiobook for patrons of the National Library Service for the Print Disabled.

Scandal, intrigue, and malfeasance are integral to the American political landscape. Since the days of our founding fathers, musical political parodies express the diverse opinions of the electorate and inject humor and opposing perspectives during presidential elections. Tracing the evolution of political musical parody from 18th century broadsheets and convention asides to the conflicting opinions of today’s internet stars, this presentation examines the role of musical political parody in American culture.

2:30 pm – 2:45 pm: Break

2:45 pm – 3:30 pm: Beginning the Journey Towards Inclusive and Anti-Racist Metadata and Description

NEMLA Technical Services Committee

  •  Anne Adams, Harvard University
  • Andrea Cawelti, Harvard University
  • Jennifer Dunlap, Harvard University
  • Jennifer Hadley, Wesleyan University
  • Rebecca McCallum, Wesleyan University
  • Hannah Spence, New England Conservatory

The panel will present a series of lightning talks on initiatives within the Music Library Association and the various institutions represented, addressing issues of diversity, inclusion, belonging, and anti-racism in metadata.  Many of our institutions are at the beginning stages of this work; we are hoping this session will foster discussion and input from other NEMLA attendees. In addition to a broad overview of issues surrounding bias in metadata, and pointers to some of the many resources available on the subject, panelists will present on a specific process involving Minstrel music and shows, and on a discrete initiative within the MLA-CMC related to gender, as well as a few other institution-specific projects.  There will be an opportunity for discussion and questions at the end of the panel.

3:30 pm – 4:15 pm: Listening Party

  •  Peter Laurence, Harvard University

NEMLA Secretary/Treasurer’s Report

Membership

Thanks to all who have renewed their memberships this year. As we often do, NEMLA received a slight bump in membership following the MLA conference. We currently have 75 active members, including nine new members. 

Renewal season will begin in June/July, so be on the lookout for the calls to renew for the 2021-22 year. If you have any questions about the current status of your membership or the renewal process, please email Brendan Higgins at bhiggins@berklee.edu

Submitted by Brendan Higgins, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer

Noteworthy News

Orwig Music Library

The Orwig Music Library at Brown University will be undergoing a major systems renovation in Summer 2021, and thus will remain closed to the public.  (The music library closed at the start of the pandemic and has been closed ever since.)  Current projected reopening is September 2021. –– submitted by Laura Stokes, Performing Arts Librarian, Orwig Music Library, Brown University

Carolyn Johnson Retiring

Carolyn Johnson will be retiring as Connecticut College’s Music Librarian as of July 1, 2021.  She began as a part time librarian in August 1985, eventually moving to full time.  Her last day in the Greer Music Library is June 30, just short of 36 years! 

Here are a few highlights from her career:  

  • cataloging Connecticut College’s Historical Sheet Music Collection and the L. Mae Stephenson MacIntosh Sheet Music Collection (approx. 3,000 titles)
  • initiating a project that led to a grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation to digitize titles in the public domain from the Historic Sheet Music and MacIntosh collections and post them in the Digital Commons repository. (Note: Each year additional titles are digitized as they fall into public domain.)
  • building a collection of sheet music by Jesse Greer
  • managing the “refresh” of the Greer Music Library in 2005
  • and, perhaps most importantly, fostering a wonderful relationship with the Music Department and students (Tip: putting goodies out during exam times and Halloween helped!)
Avery Boddie New Music and Media Program Head at the Lewis Music Library

Avery Boddie is the new Music and Media Program Head and head of Lewis Music Library at MIT libraries, supporting the intersection of Music and technology and Media.  He comes most recently from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he was the Music and Dance Librarian. 

He’s excited about returning to the East Coast, and Boston in particular, not only because MIT is his dream job and he loves Boston’s culture and history, but he’s also a longtime fan of the New England Patriots.  His favorite types of music include disco, 70’s and 80’s funk (Chic, Evelyn “Champagne” King, Gloria Gaynor, Sylvester, Chaka Khan), and 90’s hip hop, and he likes to run every day, bake, and is currently learning German on Duolingo.  Welcome, Avery!

Ray Schmidt Retiring

Ray Schmidt, Assistant Director for Discovery Services at Wellesley College, is retiring in June 2021. Prior to his time at Wellesley, he was the music cataloger for the MIT Libraries (1995-2007). At Wellesley, his responsibilities have included music cataloging as well as supporting public services at the Music Library. As a member of the Music Library Association, he served on the Bibliographic Control Committee’s Authorities Subcommittee, the Content Standards Subcommittee of the Cataloging and Metadata Committee, and the RDA Music Implementation Task Force. 

Job Posting: Cataloging/Metadata Librarian at Wellesley College

Wellesley College seeks a knowledgeable, forward-looking, team-oriented Cataloging & Metadata Librarian to support user discovery of library resources at Wellesley College and beyond.  The Cataloging & Metadata Librarian makes the Library’s collections accessible through the description and intellectual organization of these collections, following current standards and best practices for cataloging and metadata. Music cataloging experience preferred.

A full position description with instructions for applying can be found here: https://wellesley.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/wellesley-staff/job/Wellesley-College/Cataloging-Metadata-Specialist_R0000476.
Submitted by Ray Schmidt, Wellesley College.

Northeastern University Library’s Recording Studios’ Staff and Students Record “Protect the Pack

This past winter, full-time staff members, co-ops, and student employees of the Northeastern University Library Recording Studios joined their collective musical powers to record “Protect the Pack,” a song inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. The entire project from songwriting to final mixes were produced virtually. The Recording Studios have been closed since March 13, 2020.

In addition to spreading the word about the importance of face masks and physical distancing to keep the campus community safe, the recording also serves as an example of the type of audio recording capability and support available to Northeastern students, faculty, and staff who need to make recordings while in quarantine.

Cover art of “Protect the Pack” by The Snell Family Band

The group, which calls itself The Snell Family Band includes full-time  Studios’ supervisor Jonathan Iannone,  co-op Chris de Pierro, and part-timers Ben DeUrso, Patrick Sayers, Jared Zimiroski, Isaac Schutz, and Craig Short. The Band began the project in late November 2020 and completed the initial recordings before the December break. Final mix and updates were completed by the end of February 2021, with cover art and credits by Antonio Banrey, the Recordings Studios’ Digital Media and Video Coordinator The group also recorded a video on Zoom about the creation and recording process.

 A link to both “Protect the Pack” and the Zoom video, The Making of Protect the Pack” can be found in the Studios’ Showcase: https://recordingstudios.library.northeastern.edu/.

During this past year, The Recording Studios has hosted a number of online workshops and one-on-one editing sessions, helping students, faculty, and staff create and edit high-quality audio and video recordings in their homes. Recordings of these workshops are available in the Digital Media Toolkit.

Submitted by Debra H. Mandel, Director, Northeastern University Library Recording Studios

NEMLA Officers

Chair:
Lisa Wollenberg
Public Services Librarian
Allen Library
University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Ave
West Hartford, CT 06117
lwollenbe at hartford.edu
Office: (860) 768-4840
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect:
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
Malmon Headshot
Past Chair:
Sarah Funke Donovan
Associate Archivist for Digital Assets
Boston Symphony Orchestra
301 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
sdonovan at bso.org
(617) 638-9452
Secretary-Treasurer:
Brendan Higgins
Faculty Liaison and Outreach Librarian
Berklee College of Music
1140 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02215
bhiggins at berklee.edu
617-747-8525
Higgins headshot
Member-At-Large:
Allison Estell
Associate Director for Access & Organization
Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons
Wentworth Institute of Technology
550 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
estella at wit.edu
(617) 989-4746
Estell Headshot
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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in September, December, March/April and June/July.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom@wesleyan.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Brendan Higgins
bhiggins@berklee.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: december 2020, NO. 206

Message from the Chair
Secretary/Treasurer’s Report
Fall 2020 Meeting Minutes
Spring Meeting Preview
Seeking Nominations/Committee Members
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

Message from the Chair

Dear NEMLA,

I would first like to give a very big THANK YOU to all of our board and committee members who have kept NEMLA moving forward throughout the chaos we’ve experienced in 2020! We held two very productive virtual conferences, had a successful round of membership renewals, brought our Instruction Committee back to full membership, and have made important steps in advancing our efforts with diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. And with that in mind, I have a few important updates:

First, the board is planning on creating a new position: the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Officer. From the feedback we received from the Diversity Committee survey this summer and subsequent discussion at the fall meeting, it seemed like the majority of NEMLA members supported making this position an official voting position on the board. However, establishing a new voting officer requires a change to the by-laws and an election (more on that below), which will take over a year. The board can create new positions at any time, but only for non-voting special officers. Since we want to start our EDIJ work without delay, the board plans to approve the special officer position to begin in spring 2021. Please consider serving in this position! If you’re interested, contact Sarah Funke Donovan, Chair of the Nominating Committee.

In the meantime, we will also work on amending the by-laws to create a permanent EDIJ Officer as a voting member of the board. We are already working on the by-law amendments, and once the board has approved them, the text will be sent to all NEMLA members to be discussed at the business meeting this spring. Ballots will then be sent to all members for a final vote. Assuming the amendments are approved, candidates will be on the 2022 election ballot, and the new EDIJ Officer (voting member of the Board) should take office at the spring 2022 meeting.

We also plan to establish a corresponding EDIJ Committee. It is the duty of the chair to create new committees, and I plan to do so as soon as we have the special officer in place to chair that committee. The official committee charge will be another part of the by-law amendments to be discussed at the spring 2021 meeting, so stay tuned!

Again, thanks to all of you who give your time in service to NEMLA, and a special thanks in advance to those who will devote their time to these very important issues of equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice. We all must play a part in breaking down our current systems and rebuilding them to include the many diverse people who have been excluded for far too long. We all benefit from the ideas and perspectives diverse people bring to the table, and I am incredibly pleased to see NEMLA moving forward with this difficult and essential work.

Thank you!

Lisa Wollenberg

NEMLA Chair

NEMLA Secretary/Treasurer’s Report

Submitted by Brendan Higgins, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer

Membership

Thanks to all who have renewed their memberships since our July renewal period.  We currently have 58 active members, who have officially registered through the MLA website.  Membership dues totaling $768.00 were received from MLA, as well as grant monies won by the Music Librarianship Education Task Force. If you have any questions about the status of your membership or the current process, please email Brendan Higgins at bhiggins@berklee.edu.

Fall Meeting

There were 82 registered attendees for our fall meeting, which was held via Zoom online. This includes 17 attendees outside the New England region. Since the meeting was held online and required no registration fee, there is no income nor are there expenditures to report for this meeting.

Fall 2020 Meeting Summary

Submitted by Allison Nowicki Estell, Member-At-Large

The New England Music Library Association’s Fall Meeting took place over Zoom on Friday, October 23, 2020.  This was NEMLA’s first meeting specially dedicated to diversity, equity, inclusion and antiracism in music libraries and our collections.  Participation ranged from about 30 people at the beginning and end, to a peak of more than 50 during a substantial portion of the day.

In lieu of an opening speech, Chair Lisa Wollenberg led us in a relaxation and mindfulness breathing exercise to move away from the day-to-day stresses of our individual lives and to come together as a group for the meeting.  She acknowledged the challenges we have faced and the changes we have gone through individually and collectively throughout 2020 and applauded our learning and perseverance.  This set the stage for the board’s report on the NEMLA Diversity Survey that was conducted over the summer.

Lisa presented the results of the Diversity Survey, while NEMLA Archivist Emily Levine moderated chat and questions.  There were 17 respondents to the survey; one person identified as a BIPOC, and one preferred not to answer that question.  Key takeaways:

·        Most respondents supported a diversity committee, but only two were interested in serving on it.

·        Most respondents thought the Chair of the committee should be elected and should be a voting member of the NEMLA Board. 

·        Respondents were pretty split on whether non-NEMLA members or people from outside New England should be allowed to serve, unless it was clear that an individual could bring some special viewpoint or expertise to the committee. 

·        As for the committee’s charge, respondents favored focusing on underrepresentation in NEMLA’s membership, the profession, and our collections, but there was also support for focusing on our users, composers we collect, and collaboration with the MLA on diversity issues.

·        In trying to determine how the board could get people to participate on this committee, some survey respondents spoke up and said that the reason they didn’t express interest in serving was because the goals and responsibilities of the committee weren’t sufficiently clear, and they weren’t sure they would be able to commit the time.

·        Procedurally, if the Chair of the committee were to be a voting member of the board, we would need to change the bylaws (at the spring 2021 meeting), which could potentially push the formation of the EDIJ committee into 2022.  Ideas to get around this included having roundtables in the interim to try to come up with the charge for the committee, and appointing an ex officio EDIJ officer to the board.

·        As for the name of the committee, popular choices included Anti-racism, DEI (Diversity Equity, and Inclusion), Diversity & Inclusion, and JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion).  The first (Antiracism) was seen as potentially too narrow for the work of the committee in the long run; after initially focusing on antiracist work, people felt that the committee should be able to branch out into gender, accessibility, and other issues.  But the last (JEDI) did start to see some support; in addition to people approving of the inclusion of the term “Justice,” there was also some enthusiasm about the prospect of committee members’ receiving light sabers. 

After this, Jared Rex introduced Nurhak Tuncer of Elizabeth City State University, for her presentation, Immigrant Music Librarians in the U.S.  Originally from Izmir, Turkey, Nurhak has been in the United States for 13 years, but she began this study back in 2018 in order to explore whether she was the only one grappling with a quest for belonging, and to bring a different perspective to the definition of diversity.  This nationwide survey was conducted over five months in 2018, using Survey Monkey to collect anonymous responses to 30 multiple-choice questions with open-response options.  Distributing the survey over ALA email lists, MLA-L, Music OCLC, and Facebook groups, she received 638 responses and 420 people completed the survey in its entirety.  Respondents were more likely to be female, highly educated, in the US for decades, and holding leadership positions; many came to the US for family or educational reasons.  Nurhak observed that immigrants are clearly making contributions to the library profession with their diverse backgrounds, and so now is the time for conversations about how to include these colleagues in our discussions on diversity and inclusion.  Then she led us in an activity using Google Suite’s Jamboard.  Participants enthusiastically responded to Nurhak’s prompts on whether we regarded ourselves as immigrants and whether we retain the cultural nuances of our ancestors in our identity somehow. 

After a short break, we were treated to an Overview of Wesleyan’s Indian Music Collection, by Jody Cormack Viswanathan and Aaron Bittel of Wesleyan University.  Originally scheduled as one of two lightning talks, we were not under time pressure to move quickly through these engaging musical examples because the second speaker (Dr. Tom Moore of Florida International University) was unable to join us for the meeting and present his talk.  Jody and Aaron shared the cultural diversity of one of Wesleyan’s collections; materials from the promotion and celebration of the Navaratri (Nine Nights) Festival.  After providing historical background for Wesleyan’s celebration of this festival, they presented videos showcasing a range of musical styles (some integrating dance), commenting that even Indians marvel at the musical and cultural diversity in their country.  Jody and Aaron stressed the importance of collecting for diverse culture, as well as country or language.  In addition to the performances, they showed marketing and outreach materials from the collection, including posters and photos.  They are currently working on a grant proposal to digitize the whole collection.  The performances and materials we were exposed to are a representative microcosm of the diversity of Wesleyan’s collection and the music in these cultures.

After a lunch break and breakout meetings for NEMLA committees, Memory Apata reminded us that her term as Newsletter Editor is coming to an end in December.  Memory shared that getting involved with NEMLA as the Newsletter Editor was transformational, helping her decide to pursue her library degree and really engage with music librarianship as a career. 

Following this ringing endorsement of the Newsletter Editor role, Ruthann McTyre of Yale University, as representative of the Music Library Association’s Strategic Planning Committee,  led us in a discussion about the future of the Music Library Association, with particular attention to the MLA’s plans to address diversity, equity, and inclusion in the organization.  Ruth ran the session as a focus group to enable the New England Chapter to provide input into this planning.  The questions she asked included: What brought you to MLA and music librarianship?  What is MLA doing well/could be doing better?  How could MLA get broader participation in committees, including paraprofessionals?  MLA membership continues to decrease; what can MLA do to stop/reverse this?  What does MLA need to do to create a sense of belonging for everyone, especially underrepresented groups?

These questions yielded ideas and questions from attendees on a variety of topics:

·        Accessibility at in-person meetings, both in terms of support for people with hearing differences, and remote access for those who cannot afford to attend in person

·        MLA has had some great sessions around DEI, and the topic of how to attract a more diverse membership has turned into a deeper discussion about support and promotion.

·        Ideas about how to maintain and extend the mentoring program 

·        Could we stave off decreasing MLA membership by reaching out to other performing arts librarians?

·        Should we decenter English as the primary language at MLA conferences?

·        We need to understand that inviting more people into MLA will and should change its culture, rather than forcing new members to assimilate into the organization as it is currently.  Are there any affinity groups in MLA currently?  If not, should we create these?

MLA’s strategic plan will cover the next 10 years, with specific action items for 2- to 3-year projects.  The Committee will distribute a survey in advance of MLA’s spring meeting, and the results will be discussed in a town hall meeting on the topic.  Ruthann invited anyone who wanted to give input to the strategic planning process, or who has questions or concerns about the process, to email her directly or to contact the chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, Holling Smith-Borne. 

After this discussion and a short break, Program Committee Chair/Vice-Chair Sandi-Jo Malmon expressed her appreciation for the hard work of the Program Committee in organizing the Fall Meeting.  I’ll follow her lead and mention here how much attendees appreciated their efforts. 

Next, Rebecca McCallum introduced Kerry Masteller and Liz Berndt-Morris, both of Harvard University, who presented We’re Still Here!: Teaching Research Remotely.  This session provided three case studies of library instruction developed during the pandemic:  

·        The first was a general music class with over 100 students learning both synchronously and asynchronously. Instruction in this course focused on research strategies.  Liz and Kerry used Zoom polls interspersed with the live session, and a shared Google docs for students to document their search process and reflect on what worked or didn’t work. 

·        The second case study was an undergraduate seminar, smaller and synchronous. Assignments included a comparison of network maps created from Grove 2001 and 2018 articles on Felix Mendelssohn, as well as a guided assignment on Amy Beach to explore contemporaneous sources such as newspapers and concert programs; Liz and Kerry also held drop-in sessions outside of classtime. 

·        The third case study was an introductory graduate seminar, with library instruction provided asynchronously to the students.  Liz and Kerry focused on the research process, including its affective elements; students were encouraged to share struggles and road blocks in a shared Google doc, and Liz and Kerry also reached out via Slack and Canvas. 

Liz and Kerry have generously shared the handouts from these three instruction sessions at: bit.ly/NEMLAStillHere.

As a bookend to Lisa’s meditative exercise in the morning, Peter Laurence of Harvard University hosted another activity of communal self-care: a virtual listening party.  This shared musical event was a way to continue our tradition of ending meetings with a concert and reception.  In addition to providing a common experience, the listening party format allowed for “audience” participation: Peter kicked things off with “Ghetto Soundwave” by Fishbone, and then he drew from attendees’ suggestions.  Peter presented the YouTube videos via Zoom screenshare; he usually uses the platform twoseven [https://twoseven.xyz/] for his listening parties, but it doesn’t play nicely with Zoom.  The theme was songs of protest, but the energy in much of this music was a testament to resilience and hope.  For those of you unable to attend this session (or who want to recreate the memory), here’s what we listened to together:

·        Fishbone, “Ghetto Soundwave”

·        Florence Price, “Sketches in Sepia,” performed by Samantha Ege

·        Curtis Mayfield & The Impressions, “People Get Ready”

·        Rebelmatic, “Please Don’t Shoot”

·        Rhiannon Giddens, “At the Purchaser’s Option”

·        Bob Marley, “Get Up Stand Up”

·        John Lennon, “Imagine”

·        Janelle Monae, “Mr. President”

·        Stevie Wonder, “Visions,” performed by Cécile McLorin Salvant

·        Marvin Gaye, “What’s Going On”

·        Sixx:A.M., “Life Is Beautiful”

·        John Prine, “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore”

·        Hadag Nahash, “Shirat Hasticker (The Sticker Song)”

·        Manu Chao, “Clandestino”

These tracks captivated 27 attendees until the very last note. 

Many thanks to Chair Lisa Wollenberg, the Program Committee, and all of our presenters for a varied and engaging day of learning, contemplation, and fellowship. 

 Spring Meeting Survey/Call for Proposals

The New England Music Library Program Committee is seeking proposals for our spring virtual meeting, scheduled to take place online on Friday, May 7, 2021.  This one-day conference is an opportunity for New England-based music librarians and library staff to discuss topics related to all aspects of music librarianship and music scholarship.  

As with the fall conference, the Program Committee is especially interested in proposals – either full length (40 min.) or lightning rounds (10-15 min.) – related to the following topics:

  • Diversity (or the lack thereof) in music librarianship, including topics relating to inclusive descriptive practices, description of world music, collection building, outreach, etc.
  • Protest music, including protest/parody music (e.g. Randy Rainbow, Tom Lehrer, Bob Marley, Childish Gambino)
  • Music by composers from diverse and/or under-represented groups
  • Popular musics such as blues, jazz, reggae, hip hop, etc.
  • Suggestions and best practices for providing remote services to patrons

Proposals for topics not on this list will also be happily considered.   

If you would enjoy speaking on one of these topics, or have another topic in mind, please submit your proposal to smalmon@fas.harvard.edu by Friday, March 19, 2021.  

For more information, please contact Sandi-Jo Malmon at smalmon@fas.harvard.edu or 617-823-3270.

Finally, the program committee is interested in providing meaningful social opportunities at the spring meeting. To that end, the committee has created a survey to gain feedback from the membership. Please share your thoughts via the linked Google Form.

Program committee members:

Sandi-Jo Malmon (chair)

Rebecca McCallum

Jared Rex

Terry Simpkins

Call for Nominations

We are now accepting nominations for the following officer positions on the NEMLA Board:

Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect (3 year term): 

  • 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. 

Secretary-Treasurer (2 year term)

  • Record the minutes of all meetings and preserve all official records and reports of the chapter;
  • Keep an up-to-date membership list and notify the members of all meetings;
  • Conduct correspondence of the chapter as may be required;
  • Prepare an annual budget, maintain chapter accounts, and report on status of these accounts at each board meeting;
  • Represent the organization in all financial matters, including collecting dues, receiving payments, and making authorized expenditures

Thank you for your consideration. Please email Sarah Funke Donovan, Chair of the Nominating Committee at sdonovan@bso.org if you have any questions about these positions or would like to nominate yourself or someone else for one of these positions.

NEMLA Officers

Chair:
Lisa Wollenberg
Public Services Librarian
Allen Library
University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Ave
West Hartford, CT 06117
lwollenbe at hartford.edu
Office: (860) 768-4840
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect:
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
Malmon Headshot
Past Chair:
Sarah Funke Donovan
Associate Archivist for Digital Assets
Boston Symphony Orchestra
301 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
sdonovan at bso.org
(617) 638-9452
Secretary-Treasurer:
Brendan Higgins
Faculty Liaison and Outreach Librarian
Berklee College of Music
1140 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02215
bhiggins at berklee.edu
617-747-8525
Higgins headshot
Member-At-Large:
Allison Estell
Associate Director for Access & Organization
Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons
Wentworth Institute of Technology
550 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
estella at wit.edu
(617) 989-4746
Estell Headshot
Newsletter Editor:
Memory Apata
Music & Performing Arts Librarian
Paddock Music Library
Dartmouth College
Hopkins Center, HB 6245 Hanover, NH 03755
memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu
(603) 646-3234
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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in September, December, March/April and June/July.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Memory Apata
memory.r.apata@dartmouth.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Brendan Higgins
bhiggins@berklee.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.

NEW ENGLAND QUARTER NOTES: JULY 2020, NO. 205

Message from the Chair
Spring 2020 Meeting Summary
NEMLA Town Hall on Racial Justice
Fall 2020 Meeting Preview
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information

Message from the Chair

Greetings, NEMLA members.

I am struggling to begin this message without some version of the now cliché “in these unusual and challenging times…” But indeed, the past few months have brought changes and challenges to almost every aspect of our personal and professional lives. I sincerely hope this message finds all of you safe and well. NEMLA has faced and continues to face our own set of unique challenges, and the Board and NEMLA committees have adapted and acted to keep us moving forward. We converted our spring meeting to a virtual format, and successfully hosted that meeting with attendees from across the United States and Canada, plus Serbia and Qatar! We have also adjusted our membership dues for the 2021 fiscal year, so that members facing financial hardship have the option to join or renew at the student/retiree rate.

The Board’s primary focus now is NEMLA’s response to racial violence and oppression. Thank you to those of you who attended and participated in our June 26 Town Hall meeting or submitted ideas via our Google form. The Board has taken these ideas under consideration in how we will move forward. Our statement and initial action steps follow here and will be posted on the NEMLA website.

The New England chapter of the Music Library Association stands in solidarity with our members and members of the communities we serve who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). We wholeheartedly condemn acts of racial violence, murder, oppression, and injustice that too frequently target BIPOC in our society.

We recognize that NEMLA is a part of the systems that have historically excluded, marginalized, and held back BIPOC in libraries, music, education, and society as a whole. There is much work to be done by individuals, institutions, and organizations to break down systemically racist and inequitable practices. We are committed to actively taking part in this work, to move towards a society that is truly diverse, inclusive, equitable, and just for all people.

Therefore, the NEMLA Board has agreed to the following immediate action items:

  1. Adopt a theme of diversity and anti-racism for the Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 NEMLA meetings.
  2. Establish a new NEMLA Diversity Committee to address issues of systemic racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The membership and charge for this committee will be determined after collecting input from New England music library workers.

As the second action item notes, we have not yet decided on the membership or official charge for the new Diversity Committee. The Board was not comfortable making these decisions in our small, exclusive, and notably un-diverse group. We wish to collect input from diverse voices to inform our decisions and make this process more transparent and inclusive for the people we serve and represent. Therefore, we have created a short survey to gather input on the new committee. I encourage everyone to complete the survey, and to do so with honesty and careful thought. The deadline for survey completion is September 25, 2020. We plan to assemble the results in the following weeks and share them during our Fall 2020 meeting.

Access the survey here: https://forms.gle/gSigLGDpXVbLyQ5s9

The work of removing systemic racism from our organization and our society is time-consuming, challenging, and uncomfortable. But the rewards of building new, anti-racist systems are great, and the costs of standing still are even greater. I have seen NEMLA and its members accomplish many things, and I trust that together we can make progress. I look forward to undertaking this work with all of you.

Lisa Wollenberg, NEMLA Chair

Spring 2020 Meeting Summary

Marci Cohen, Boston University, adapted from the CAML Review

NEMLA had just opened registration for its spring meeting, scheduled for April 17, when COVID-19 caused widespread shutdowns. Rather than cancelling the event, the board decided quickly to make the meeting an online event, recognizing the opportunity to showcase program chair Lisa Wollenberg’s fruitful work to a wider audience than those who might have traveled to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Symphony Hall under normal circumstances. While not the first event to pivot this way, it was among the earlier ones.

At the peak, the event had approximately 130 participants, twice the usual attendance of our Boston meetings. Normally, the chapter would announce its meetings to the broader Music Library Association community primarily as a courtesy; this time we did so knowing we could attract the far-flung. The attendees included not only current NEMLA members but also former members who had left New England, our music library colleagues across the US and Canada, and even one logging in from Serbia and another from Qatar.

The event required preparation because most were new to Zoom in March and April. I hosted and provided tech support for the Zoom meeting in my final act as past chair. I offered to do practice runs with all presenters, confirming that they could connect to Zoom, and reminded them to have a phone and phone number handy as audio back-up. With one presenter, we learned together how to share computer audio. I did a sound check with different microphones for the concert performers. I chose licensed music to stream during the meeting down times so that attendees would know their audio was working. After studying Zoom’s best practices documentation, I recruited two coworkers as cohosts to handle tech questions from attendees and tamp down on potential Zoom bombing, but both tasks proved unnecessary.

Although we could not meet at the BSO, Tony Fogg, William I. Bernell Artistic Administrator and Director of Tanglewood, provided opening greetings as the BSO’s representative. Next was a panel discussion on library management, “I Have an MLS, Not an MBA!” Nina Davis-Millis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Paul Engle, Brockton Public Library; Ruthann McTyre, Yale University; and Holly Mockovak, Boston University, each presented opening thoughts before taking questions from the audience.

Conveniently, the business meeting did not require any votes from the membership. Officers and committee chairs delivered their reports. Outgoing chair Sarah Funke Donovan could only metaphorically pass the gavel to incoming chair Lisa Wollenberg.

The afternoon started with two shorter presentations. New England Conservatory’s Leonard Martin combined his insight as a cataloger with his knowledge of chopped and screwed, vaporwave, and ambient musics to discuss these subgenres and cataloging issues in dealing with musical subgenres. Aaron Bittel and Jennifer Thom Hadley shared their success stories and lessons learned in hosting public events in Wesleyan University’s music library. In lieu of a physical tour, Bridget Carr, Director of Archives and Digital Collections, gave a slideshow overview of the BSO archives.

Setting up a webinar would have required institutional approval, but the ability to immediately schedule a Zoom meeting for up to 300 participants also had the unexpected benefit of allowing full interaction among attendees. With microphones and chat open for informal discussion, we replicated the opening and closing receptions of our in-person meetings, announcing them as BYO bagel and bottle. We took greatest advantage of this for an open session on COVID-19 work, which filled a scheduling gap left by a presentation that could not be shifted online. Members of the program committee moderated the discussion, with participants unmuting to talk and others having a lively chat thread where people shared questions, ideas, and resources. Topics included identifying tasks to keep employees productive from home and lessons learned in the switch to teaching information literacy in an online environment.

We held onto our traditional end-of-meeting concert. Father and daughter Joel and Lily Moerschel performed Duo V from 6 Duos for 2 Cellos, op. 156, by Friedrich August Kummer. The best microphone they had available was less than ideal, so the sound was sometimes glitchy, but it was quite moving that we could all still enjoy live music together, even remotely.

By May it was commonplace for live events of all kinds to switch to remote presentation. But in April, as everything was first shutting down, it was uplifting to pull off the meeting and engage so many of our colleagues in meaningful ways.

NEMLA Town Hall on Racial Justice

Notes submitted by Sarah Funke Donovan

The NEMLA Board hosted a virtual Town Hall meeting for the NEMLA community on Friday, June 26, 2020. The purpose of this meeting was to solicit ideas for action items that our particular community can take in the work against systemic racism. The board has drafted an anti-racism statement and seeks to include specific steps that will effect positive change within our profession and the communities we serve.

Ideas presented at the meeting included the following:

  • Changing recruitment strategies, such as visiting high schools.
  • Changing organizational culture, such as individual staff taking responsibility to learn/educate themselves on microaggressions, apologize for mistakes, correct ignorance, and approach conversations with an attitude of humility.
  • Expanding our understanding of the following:
    • Modes of teaching
    • Curriculum
    • Cataloging language
    • Highlighted collections
    • Purchasing decisions
    • Acceptable formats for purchasing and preservation
  • Developing an anonymous survey to gather stories on racial experiences within the NEMLA community.
  • Creating library messaging, website design and programming that is welcoming rather than intimidating.
  • Developing a personal plan for individual members to work towards addressing anti-Black racism.
    • Recognizing the systems of which they are a part
    • Developing a NEMLA plan from individual plans
  • Setting aside space and time at meetings to discuss advocacy and action.
  • Including topical presentations and/or outside speaker trainings at meetings.
  • Providing structure and support for members to advocate within their institutions. 
  • Providing opportunities for education on problematic pieces of music

Resources Mentioned during the Town Hall

Fall 2020 Meeting Preview

The NEMLA Program Committee has specifically designated the meetings this year to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism in Music Libraries and our Collections. 

At this time, we are seeking proposals for our fall virtual meeting, scheduled to take place online on Friday, October 23, 2020.  This one-day conference is an opportunity for New England-based music librarians and library staff to discuss topics related to all aspects of music librarianship and music scholarship.  

The Program Committee is especially interested in proposals – either full length (40 min.) or lightning rounds (10-15 min.) – related to the following topics:

  • Diversity (or the lack thereof) in music librarianship, including topics relating to inclusive descriptive practices, description of world music, collection building, outreach, etc.
  • Protest music, including protest/parody music (e.g. Randy Rainbow, Tom Lehrer, Bob Marley, Childish Gambino)
  • Art music by composers from diverse, non-majority groups
  • Popular musics such as blues, jazz, reggae, hip hop, etc.
  • Suggestions and best practices for providing remote services to patrons

Proposals for topics not on this list will also be happily considered.   

If you would enjoy speaking on one of these topics, or have another topic in mind, please submit your proposal to smalmon@fas.harvard.edu by Friday, August 21, 2020.  

For more information, please contact Sandi-Jo Malmon at smalmon@fas.harvard.edu or via phone at (617)-823-3270.

Program committee members:

Sandi-Jo Malmon (chair)

Rebecca McCallum

Jared Rex

Terry Simpkins

NEMLA Officers

Chair:
Lisa Wollenberg
Public Services Librarian
Allen Library
University of Hartford
200 Bloomfield Ave
West Hartford, CT 06117
lwollenbe at hartford.edu
Office: (860) 768-4840
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect:
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
Malmon Headshot
Past Chair:
Sarah Funke Donovan
Associate Archivist for Digital Assets
Boston Symphony Orchestra
301 Massachusetts Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
sdonovan at bso.org
(617) 638-9452
Secretary-Treasurer:
Brendan Higgins
Faculty Liaison and Outreach Librarian
Berklee College of Music
1140 Boylston St.
Boston, MA 02215
bhiggins at berklee.edu
617-747-8525
Higgins headshot
Member-At-Large:
Allison Estell
Associate Director for Access & Organization
Douglas D. Schumann Library & Learning Commons
Wentworth Institute of Technology
550 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
estella at wit.edu
(617) 989-4746
Estell Headshot
Newsletter Editor:
Memory Apata
Music & Performing Arts Librarian
Paddock Music Library
Dartmouth College
Hopkins Center, HB 6245 Hanover, NH 03755
memory.r.apata at dartmouth.edu
(603) 646-3234
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

Publication Information 

New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in September, December, March/April and June/July.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/

Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Memory Apata
memory.r.apata@dartmouth.edu

Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Brendan Higgins
bhiggins@berklee.edu

Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00

Return to the New England Music Library Association home page.