Table of Contents
Message from the Chair
NEMLA Spring 2024 Meeting Preview
Call for Nominations for NEMLA Positions
March 2024 NEMLA Chapter Meeting Summary
Noteworthy News:
— Liz Berndt has joined NYU
— New Book Chapter Publication and Conference
— MLA Award Winners
— A glimpse of MLA 2024
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information
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Message from the Chair
Dear NEMLA members
Even though the forecast calls for a foot of snow this weekend, I can officially say “Happy Spring” to everyone. I hope your semesters are going well.
It was great to see many new and familiar faces at the post-MLA chapter zoom meeting. There was some terrific conversation about presentations from the meeting that were particularly inspiring, as well as a bit of excitement concerning our spring chapter meeting on May 31. The range of interests and knowledge in this group is truly phenomenal.
There will be more information about the upcoming spring meeting elsewhere in this newsletter, but I know the program will be timely and fascinating. Thanks again to Judy Pinnolis and Marlene Wong for making this happen.
Finally, we are still in need of a NEMLA archivist. Please contact me (tsimpkin@middlebury.edu) if you are interested.
Have a terrific remainder of the semester!
Kind regards,
Terry Simpkins
Director, Discovery and Access Services
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT
tsimpkin@middlebury.edu
NEMLA Spring 2024 Meeting Preview
Save the Date! NEMLA Spring Meeting on May 31, 2024 at Smith College
The Program Committee of NEMLA has been working hard to create an interesting and timely program for members for this Spring’s Annual Meeting being held May 31, 2024 at Smith College. Thanks especially to the efforts of local arrangements by Marlene Wong! The program will have several components. In the morning will be a series of presentations on “AI and Music” and in the afternoon will be the Business meeting, lunch, and a wonderful musical presentation on Sacred Harp music by Tim Eriksen.
The keynote speaker in the morning will be Dr. Christopher White, Associate Professor of Music Theory, UMass Amherst on “Why is AI so Bad at Music? (at least so far)?” followed by two librarians on a panel called “AI in Libraries and Industry”. Elise Gowan, Science Librarian at Smith College will address “AI in Libraries: Confronting Change and the Future of Creativity,” and Caleb Hall, Music Technology and Digital Media Librarian at MIT will speak about “AI Music Tools and Their Impact on the Music Industry.”
In addition, there will be a brief book discussion by Judy Pinnolis with musicologist and author Steve Waksman –about his newly acclaimed and award-winning music history Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé.
The day is scheduled so that there is ample time to visit and tour many of the interesting sites and museums at Smith. It should be quite an interesting and fun day — so plan ahead to come in person, see friends, hear some great music, eat good food, and learn useful and interesting facts about the dramatic changes on our near horizon with AI in music libraries. Registration will open on April 8, so look for the Registration form on the NEMLA website in the near future! A schedule of the day has been published on our website for upcoming meetings. I personally hope to visit the Smith botanical plant house — since I am definitely ready for some Spring! Hope to see you there!!
Submitted by Program Chair, Judy Pinnolis, Associate Director, Instruction and Engagement, Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee
Call for Nominations for NEMLA Positions
NEMLA is seeking nominations for the following positions in our upcoming election.
Members may nominate themselves and/or others using the 2024 Nomination Form. Nominations must be submitted no later than April 19, 2024.
Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect (July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025):
- Performs the duties of the Chair in the latter’s absence.
- Serves as Chair of the Program Committee.
- Also serves as an ex-officio member of the Education & Outreach Committee.
- The term of office shall be one year after which the Vice-Chair shall succeed to the office of Chair and then Past-Chair, meaning a commitment of three years.
Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Justice (EDIJ) Officer
- Serves as Chair of the EDIJ Committee.
- Leads the chapter’s EDIJ efforts to identify and dismantle barriers to equity, diversity, inclusivity, and justice within NEMLA and related organizations.
- The term of office shall be two years.
Member-at-Large
- Acts as liaison to relevant professional organizations in New England (such as the New England Library Association (NELA), the six state library associations, the New England chapter of ACRL (ACRL/NEC), and the New England chapter of the American Musicological Society) primarily to promote information exchange and outreach.
- Serves as Chair of the Education & Outreach Committee.
- Writes summaries of the biannual NEMLA meetings to be published in NEMLA newsletters.
- The term of office shall be two years.
Web Editor (board-appointed/non-elected position)
- Maintains the NEMLA website, listserv, and Board listserv.
- 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.
NEMLA Archivist (board-appointed/non-elected position)
- Collects and preserves documents, photographs and other materials of enduring historical value produced by and about the NEMLA chapter
- Develops and maintains a records retention schedule to ensure materials worth preserving are deposited into the chapter archives on a regular basis
- Serves an unlimited number of consecutive terms
Questions about the nomination process or duties of the positions open for election may be sent to Memory Apata, Chair of the Nominating Committee at Memory.R.Apata@Dartmouth.edu.
Submitted by Memory Apata, Music and Performing Arts Librarian, Dartmouth College
March 2024 NEMLA Chapter Meeting Summary
On March 6, 2024, NEMLA members gathered virtually for a Chapter meeting in conjunction with the national MLA meeting. The meeting opened with details regarding NEMLA’s upcoming Spring Meeting, to be held at Smith College on Friday, May 31, 2024. The program includes multiple sessions on the use of AI in music, a Sacred Harp event, and the annual business meeting. Registration will open in late April. There will be a dinner planned on Thursday night for anyone arriving early in Northampton. There was also discussion of hiking Mount Holyoke on Saturday.
Attendees also spent time sharing their experiences at the MLA conference. Shoutouts were given to NEMLA members who gave presentations and/or served in official roles during MLA. Remote conference attendees reported a varied experience with streaming. It was noted that many presenters added their slides to CVENT for future access, and that once posted, the quality of the recordings will likely be much higher than the quality of the streams. Finally, NEMLA members were encouraged to consider applying for the various open MLA committee positions. It would be great to see more NEMLA representation in the wider MLA community!
Submitted by Hannah Ferrello, NEMLA Secretary-Treasurer
Catalog and Serials Librarian, New England Conservatory
Noteworthy News
Liz Berndt has joined NYU
Liz Berndt’s last day at Harvard was March 5th. She has taken the position of Librarian for Music at New York University Libraries. She’ll be splitting her time between Boston and NYC while working hybrid for the foreseeable future.
Submitted by Liz Berndt, Librarian for Music, NYU
New Book Chapter Publication and Conference
Judy Pinnolis was invited to give the opening talk at the Digital Humanities conference “Building a Database of Recorded Music Data for Analysis, Research, and Access” at UCLA in Los Angeles on March 7, 2024. She based her talk on her recently published chapter, “Jewish Music Sound-Recording Collections in the United States” which appeared in The Oxford Handbook of Jewish Music Studies, published in October, 2023 by Oxford University Press.
Submitted by Judy Pinnolis, Berklee College of Music/The Boston Conservatory at Berklee
NEMLA MLA Award Winners
Congratulations to Anna Kijas, who was presented with the A. Ralph Papakhian Award at the MLA conference! “The A. Ralph Papakhian Award is given to recognize extraordinary service to the profession of music librarianship over a relatively short period of time. The Board MLA unanimously voted to confer the Papakhian award on Anna E. Kijas for her efforts to preserve the cultural heritage of Ukraine as it struggles against the Russian invasion through the co-founding of the organization Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online or SUCHO” (MLA News).
Congratulations also to Avery Boddie, who won the Richard S. Hill award is an annual award for the best article on music librarianship or article of a music-bibliographic nature, along with co-authors Jessica Abbazio and Ellen Ogihara! Their article “Music Libraries and an Expanding Repertory: Suggested Strategies for Building Diverse Music Library Collections” appeared in in Notes, volume 78, number 3 (MLA News).
Read more and see photos in the MLA newsletter.
(Note from the editor: If I’ve missed anyone from NEMLA, let me know and I’ll add them!)
A glimpse of MLA 2024
NEMLA Officers
Publication Information
New England Quarter Notes is published quarterly in the fall, winter, spring, and summer.
Back issues may be accessed from:
http://nemla.musiclibraryassoc.org/resources/newsletters/
Address all correspondence concerning editorial matters to:
Jennifer Hadley
jthom at wesleyan.edu
Inquiries concerning subscription, membership and change of address should be directed to:
Hannah Ferello
hannah.ferello at necmusic.edu
Membership year runs July 1st to June 30th.
Regular Personal Membership:$12.00
Student and Retired Membership:$6.00
Institutional Membership$16.00
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