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Coverage of theChicagoMeeting(Part 2)
MMLLAAN E W S L E T T E R
Inside:President’s Report . . . . . . . . . . 2Annual Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Committee Reports . . . . . . . . . 10New Members . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Roundtable Reports . . . . . . . . 15
Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . 16MLA Online Directory . . . . . . 18
No. 157 May–June 2009 ISSN 0580-289-X
2 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
Chapter Reports
Ruthann McTyre, MLA President
Allow me to pick up where Ileft off in the last issue of theNewsletter—appointment let-
ters. I’ve sent seventy-one of them sofar. Mind you, I’m not complaining.Getting all those letters sent wasproof of the continuing vitality ofMLA and our ability to (quoting JohnCleese) “adopt, adapt and improve”as the structure morphed into its newform as recommended by the MLATask Force on Committee Structure.When you look at the revised struc-ture you will also note that we havedone away with Standing or SpecialCommittees as specific categories.This change also grew out of one ofthe recommendations of the taskforce; it is the amendment whichwas voted upon and passed in thefall election. As a reminder, thenewly revised Article VI is printedhere (see the accompanying textbox). It is gratifying to see the workof the Task Force on CommitteeStructure become part of the fabricof MLA. My thanks to that group fortheir foresight and their creativity.Their work has gone a long way to-wards refreshing how the work ofMLA is being accomplished.
Another interesting perk ofworking on the Administrative Struc -ture was spending so much timewith our new online mem-bership directory. I re-ferred to it so many timesover the last few weeksthat on some days, I kept itopen for the entire day,bouncing in and out of itfor verification of member-ship, e-mail addresses, and so on.Our friends at A-R Editions have cre-ated a wonderful utility for us in thisdirectory. Jim Zychowicz and ourTreasurer/Executive SecretaryMichael Rogan continue to think ofmore ways to make it even moreuseful for all of us. Of course, we
will all have theopportunity to use the directorywhen we all renew our dues verysoon.
The Executive Board will bemeeting at A-R Editions in Middleton,Wisconsin during the first week ofJune. At that meeting we will beworking on the budget for fiscal year2009–2010 and addressing actionitems submitted by special officersand committee chairs.
We will also welcome to theboard meeting our new Develop -ment Officer, Jim Cassaro. Jim’stenure as Notes editor is nearly at anend, and not being one to rest on hislaurels, he applied for this key posi-tion as one of MLA’s Special Officers.Jim brings with him substantial de-velopment experience, along with adeep understanding of the workingsof our association, having served asTreasurer and, of course, President.Paula Matthews, our first Develop -ment Officer, did a great deal to-wards raising awareness among themembership and I have every confi-dence that Jim will build on thatfoundation. I look forward to work-ing with him; I just hope I can keepup!
There were four applicants forthe position, all of whom broughtimpressive credentials, making the
search committee’s taskboth a pleasure and a challenge. Thanks to PamBristah, search committeechair, and committee mem-bers Ginny Danielson,Laura Gayle Green, PeterMunstedt, and Misti Shaw
for their speedy and excellent work.Sincere thanks go to all the appli-cants as well. The decision to applyfor such a position doesn’t comelightly and I appreciate their willing-ness to “step up.”
continued on page 4
President’s Report MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION
Board of DirectorsOfficers
RUTHANN MCTYRE, PresidentUniversity of Iowa
PHILIP R. VANDERMEER, Past-PresidentUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
KAREN LITTLE, Recording SecretaryUniversity of Louisville
MICHAEL ROGAN, Treasurer/Executive SecretaryTufts University
Members-at-Large 2008–2010
PAUL CARYBaldwin-Wallace College
NANCY LORIMERStanford University
LOIS KUYPER-RUSHINGLouisiana State University
Members-at-Large 2009–2011
LINDA FAIRTILEUniversity of Richmond
STEPHEN MANTZUniversity of Colorado–Boulder
JENN RILEYIndiana University
Typeset by A-R Editions, Middleton, WI.
MLA NEWSLETTERStephen Mantz, Editor
The Newsletter is published four times a year:September–October, November–December, March–April, and May–June, by the Music Li brary Associ a tion,c/o A-R Editions, Inc.; 8551 Research Way, Suite 180;Middleton, WI 53562, and is issued to its membersfree of charge.
The purpose of the Newsletter is to keep themembership of the Association abreast of events,ideas, and trends related to music librarianship. Allcommunications and articles are welcome. Addresscorrespondence to:
Stephen MantzUniversity of Colorado at Boulder
Waltz Music Library, 184 UCBBoulder, CO 80309-0184
The deadline for submitting copy to the editor for issue number 158 (September–October 2009) isAugust 21, 2009. Submissions in Microsoft Word sentvia e-mail attachment are preferred.
On the cover: Sign at the Chicago Theater. Photo: Gerry Szymanski
Our friends at A-R Editionshave created a wonderful
utility
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 3
Annual Meeting
Anne ShelleyUniversity of Iowa
The final plenary session of the78th annual MLA meeting, “What’sNext? The Compact Disc as a ViableFormat in the Future of MusicLibraries,” was driven by thethoughts of five panel members,each with varied backgrounds relat-ing to the session topic. Panelistsspoke to their own unique experi-ences regarding changes in mediaformats and, specifically, the rele-vancy of the compact disc to librariesin the not-so-distant future. Prior tothe session, the panelists were askedto consider three questions:
1. What is the likelihood that thecompact disc will cease to be a vi-able format?
2. If CDs do cease to exist, whatwill take their place?
3. How will current practices bealtered in response to this shift informat?
Session moderator GregMacAyeal of Northwestern Univer -sity recalled discussions on upcom-ing challenges in audio collectiondevelopment that emerged at theprevious national meeting. He statedthat libraries have been aware of anevolving business model, yet “onlyrecently have we realized that wehave to respond.” MacAyeal thenturned to the panelists for their perspectives.
As a professional violinist andactive soloist with thirteen albums toher name, Rachel Barton Pine’sremarks reflected her role as both aconsumer and a performing artist.Pine took the position that, at leastfor now, compact discs are a neces-sary medium. She focused on two ar-eas in which download-only audiofiles are lacking as compared to com-pact discs: sound quality and de-scription, two attributes of recorded
sound that are vital to arguably everymusical genre, but especially so inregards to classical recordings. Shealso commented on the fact thatportable audio players typically dis-play minimal metadata when, again,certain genres may require rich de-scription for the listener to have thegreatest context possible. While heropinions as a customer seemed toresonate with most attendees, Pinespoke more extensively about how itis important for an artist to have aphysical item to market at a concert,and that the benefits run both ways.Obviously, the artist can make aprofit in such a situation (Pine esti-mated that half of her album salesare made at concerts); in addition,listeners high on their enjoyment ofthe event have the convenience oftaking that artist’s work home withthem, after seeking personal advicefrom the performer on which albumthey should purchase and have per-sonally autographed. Pine does try tostay current when communicatingwith her fan base (she has a regularpodcast to prove it), but she doesn’tthink music can afford to go all digi-tal just yet. Recalling a complimen-tary e-mail she received recentlyfrom a violin student, Pine said, “If
she downloaded my [albums] insteadof buying them, I hope she went tomy Web site and read the booklets.”
Henry Fogel, Dean of theChicago College of Performing Artsat Roosevelt University, has a per-sonal audio collection of physicalmaterials that, at over 20,000 items,could rival the size of many institu-tional music libraries. He made thepoint that the compact disc will haveto remain a viable format because, inmany ways, the long-playing recordis still a viable format. The real ques-tion, according to Fogel, is whetherthe compact disc will remain theprinciple format or not. The musicindustry is currently entangled in amovement in which consumers de-mand several different choices—some want only a physical product,others want both physical and down-load-only recordings, and still othersare only interested in downloadedmusic—and the industry’s slow re-sponse to changes in technology hascomplicated matters further. More -over, the proliferation in recordingshas inadvertently harmed profes-sional musicians’ ability to make asubstantial profit from album sales.Fogel believes that many of the woes
continued on page 4
Compact Discs, Libraries and the Future
Plenary session panel
continued from page 3of the record industry can be attrib-uted to the overall increase in avail-able inventory; if a single piece ofmusic is represented on twenty dif-ferent recordings, each recording willnot sell as well as if there were onlytwo available recordings. And thoughsome may disagree on the physicaldurability of a compact disc, Fogelpointed out that when consumers began replacing long-playing records—which are easily scratchedand warped—with their more sturdydigital counterparts, fewer albumswere sold. Within technological ad-
vances lies a silver lining for lesser-known ensembles, he argued, for lo-cal groups now have a greater chanceof making quality recordings. “There’sno question,” said Fogel, “that theMannheim Symphony would sellmore than the Sioux Falls Symphonybecause they’ve had a chance torecord, even though the Sioux FallsSymphony may be better.”
Digi tal media consultant andnueMeta LLC President NicolasSincaglia suggested attendees con-sider the demise of a once-popularmedium from an historical perspec-tive, noting that change has been
one of the few consistencies. Soundrecording formats have been evolv-ing since Thomas Edison’s 1877 cap-tures on phonographic cylinders (theoutstanding medium for only thirtyyears as opposed to the eighty-yearreign of the long-playing record) andeventually recorded sound appearedin a variety of tape and disc mediums.The compact disc—durable, reliable,and portable—was a “huge techno-logical breakthrough” in 1982,though it did not become popularuntil the early 1990’s. It was, how-ever, just another new technology
continued on next page
4 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
Annual Meeting
Compact Discs, Libraries and the Future continued . . .
continued from previous pageIn closing, I’ll leave you with this
thought as we all look forward to theslower pace of summer:
“Rest is not idleness, and to liesometimes on the grass on a summerday listening to the murmur of water,or watching the clouds float across
the sky, is hardly a waste of time”—John Lubbock.
President’s Report continued . . .
MUSIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATIONCONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS
ARTICLE VI: COMMITTEES
A. The Board of Directors shall establish committees to consider affairs of the Association that require continuous orrepeated attention by members. A list of the committees and their charges will be maintained in the MLAAdministrative Structure. These committees shall be responsible to the Board of Directors, which will delegate suchpowers and functions to them as the Board finds desirable for carrying out the objectives of the Association.
B. The President, in consultation with the Board of Directors, has responsibility for appointment of chairs and mem-bers to the committees.
C. The Board of Directors shall authorize the dissolution of a committee when in the opinion of the Board its use-fulness has ceased. This decision and reasons for the dissolution shall be reported to the membership.
D. Task forces may be created and appointed by the President, in consultation with the Board of Directors, to perform charges as defined in letters of appointment. Each task force is by definition ad hoc, and shall continue inexistence until its purpose is accomplished or it is discharged by the President, in consultation with the Board ofDirectors.
E. Committee membership shall be open to all individual members of the Association and to all persons designatedas institutional representatives.
F. Each committee shall submit to the Board of Directors a written annual report of its activities that shall containany recommendations considered necessary or advisable. Additional reports may be submitted at the option of acommittee or as requested by the Board or the President.
Chris MehrensArizona State University
The “Hot Topics” session spon-sored by the MLA Education Com-mittee and co-moderated by RuthannMcTyre (University of Iowa) andTom Caw (University of Wisconsin-Madison), was attended by 195members. As in years past, the ses-sion offered lively discussion on a
variety of issues that have come tothe fore in music librarianship overthe past year, interspersed with mo-ments of great levity. Contributing tothe jovial mood was Tom Caw, whowill take over as moderator next yearfor McTyre, who will be fully in-volved with her activities as associa-tion president.
The session started off withNancy Nuzzo (SUNY at Buffalo) with
a “brief word” on JSTOR. She an-nounced that twenty music titleswould be added to the collection.She concluded by telling those pres-ent that if they would like to be in-volved with the process of selectingtitles to be added, to contact her viae-mail ([email protected]).
The next topic was submitted byfirst-time attendee Beth Fleming
continued on page 6
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 5
Annual Meeting
Compact Discs, Libraries and the Future continued . . .continued from previous page
created to overcome a deficiency orto provide a new benefit that waslacking in the previously ubiquitousformat. “When we talk about the de-mise of the CD, we should take alook at the flaws of that format andlook at the benefits of new formats,”said Sincaglia, ticking off drawbackssuch as the fact that a compact discis not self-describing (only minimaldata is present without liner notes), itis not network aware (relatively diffi-cult to share and transmit data), it isstatic, bulky, and provides minimalstorage space. From a tech nologist’sperspective, Sincaglia believes thecurrent shift away from physical for-mats is helping us to enter “a newera of connectiveness” in which in-formation can be transferred andshared more easily.
James Ginsburg, founder ofCedille Records and the ChicagoClassical Recording Foundation,shared his guidelines that proveone’s age is a powerful determinant:1. anything that is in the world whenyou are born is natural and ordinary;2. anything that is invented betweenthe ages of fifteen and thirty-five isnew and exciting; and 3. anything in-vented after age thirty-five is com-pletely unnatural. Because teenagersare driving the market, Ginsburg
said, “it’s a mathematical certaintythat the compact disc will cease tobecome a viable format [within fiveto ten years] and downloading willbe the primary means of delivery.”He speculated that, currently, classi-cal downloads are not necessarily areplacement for the compact disc;rather, downloadable audio is a wayto reach a new listenerbase. Gins berg noted, how-ever, that until Internetbandwidth is capable of de-livering downloadable au-dio at CD quality or higher,labels’ production practiceslikely won’t change verymuch. “It is important for library col-lections to have the highest qualitymusic possible,” he said.
D. J. Hoek, Head of the MusicLibrary at Northwestern University,shared his personal concerns regard-ing the intersection of downloadablemusic, libraries, and licensing restric-tions that prohibit libraries from dis-seminating that music to their users.He described music librarians as hav-ing an “interest in building, preserv-ing, and providing access to musiccollections” and that he has beenseeing more and more examples ofdesirable recordings that are onlyavailable as a downloadable file.“This is a great challenge to our pro-
fession,” said Hoek, recalling a spe-cific Grammy-nominated recordingof the Los Angeles SymphonyOrches tra, released by DeutscheGrammo phon, that was not madeavailable on compact disc. Hoekdrove home the point that, becausecurrent licensing practices prevent li-braries from stewarding this change in
format, “this recording is innone of our libraries.”Though libraries have al-ways been in the business(until now, perhaps) ofmanaging format changesand distributing items tousers, Hoek reminded atten-
dees that another key role of librariesis to preserve cultural heritage.“Preservation is a costly undertaking,”he said, “and we are more committedto this investment than the companiesthat produce these recordings.” Hoekalso concluded that audio subscrip-tion databases are not libraries’ ideal solution to this dilemma, primarily be-cause they do not reflect the carefulselection processes merited by theuniqueness of each institution. He en-couraged MLA to act quickly in addressing this glaring problem incollection development, and to raiseawareness alongside other profes-sional organizations that might holdsimilar interests.
A key role of libraries is to preserve
cultural heritage
MLA Members Explore Hot Topics in Chicago
Annual Meeting
6 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
continued from page 5(Kent State University). McTyre re-lated Fleming’s question: as a libraryand information science student with“a definite bent toward music librari-anship,” currently at an institutionthat offers “only one semester of music librarian-specific coursework,”she would like to see “more practi-cal manuals . . . written so thatstudents could learn more aboutmusic-specific library proce-dures.” In response, McTyre ob-served that all librarians have an ini-tial panic upon entering any new jobbut that, in her opinion, “when youreally learn your job” as a music li-brarian “is when you get your firstjob.” She likened the first job to asort of finishing school. She alsonoted that many library practices areunique to each individual institution.
When the floor was opened forcomment, a number of people, in-cluding Jana Atkins (University ofCentral Oklahoma), indicated thatthey were in agreement withMcTyre. John Wagstaff (University ofIllinois at Urbana–Champaign) re-lated a “useful discussion” he hadwith Michael Rogan (Tufts Uni -versity) and Rebecca J. Littman(University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee)about their respective music librari-anship courses and how they haveendeavored to tailor their coursecontent to the core competencies es-tablished by the MusicLibrary Association. StephenLuttmann (Uni versity ofNorthern Colorado) encour-aged posting questions tothe MLA-L, noting that expe-rienced music librarianswould “not let them fall” and that weare a “pretty nice bunch of folks.”Both Michelle Hahn (SouthernMethodist University) and MartyJenkins (Wright State University) em-phasized the importance of student
internships and practicums as ameans of acquiring certain skill sets.McTyre also suggested looking at theMLA Basic Manual Series and made acall for proposals for new publica-tions in the series.
The next topic was contributedby Bob Follet (Peabody Institute)—specifically creative ways to copewith budgetary concerns at thepresent time. Margaret Ericson(Colby College) suggested that ef-forts be made to foster regional con-tacts and networks so as to purchaseelectronic resources through consor-tia and to engage in cooperative collection development. RebeccaLittman related that the MilwaukeeSchool of the Arts has a differentialtuition program to meet the specialneeds of their students and encour-aged librarians to seek out sources ofnon-library funds. Kirstin Dougan(University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign) said that, at her institu-tion, they are being encouraged tobe creative and to start thinkingabout doing things in new ways. Sheis gathering data in order to assessstaffing models and ways of deliver-ing service. Steve Gerber (GeorgeMason University) related how theirstudent life division has a lot ofmoney and will use it to fund thestaffing of their libraries on a 24/7basis. McTyre suggested that perhapswe should start lobbying student
organizations.Submitted by Wendy
Sistrunk (University ofMissouri–Kansas City), thenext topic grew out of a“challenging” meeting of a technical services unit
where pronouncements were madeas to how scholars and musiciansuse a music collection. Sistrunknoted that at her institution that theyare entertaining the idea of puttingitems into storage, including the en-
tire score collection. Another con-cern that grew out of the meetingwas the questioning of the necessityof music cataloging, especially withthe availability of vendor records.Sistrunk then pointed out the falla-cies of these pronouncements, espe-cially with respect to self-publishedscores. The question, therefore,posed for discussion was why ismusic special and why do li-braries need music catalogers?Jenn Riley (Indiana University) em-phasized the need to collect data toprove the importance of music col-lections and how they are used.Holly Gardinier (Claremont Colleges)suggested using her dissertation oninformation seeking behavior as a resource. Jill Shires (University ofNorth Carolina at Chapel Hill) com-mented negatively on vendor recordsand recounted a conversation with avendor who did not know what RDAwas. Leslie Bennett (University ofOregon) noted that music librarianshave a good understanding of howour collections are used and that weneed to educate others (on the ad-ministrative level) in this regard.
The next topic was proposed byMark Blair (Texas State University)and centered on electronic audioreserves. He wrote, “. . . what in the world is the practical utility of e-reserves and what benefit is it to theinstructor if they have to track downpermissions after one semester, orpost completely new examples fromone semester to the next?” DianeNorton (Wabash College) reportedthat they use e-reserves and maintaina controlled reserve system. DavidGilbert (UCLA) said that this islargely a matter of risk managementand that you need to follow the ad-vice of your legal counsel. Blair hada follow-up question about whetherthe items mounted electronically
continued on next page
Music librariansare “a pretty
nice bunch offolks”
MLA Members Explore Hot Topics in Chicago continued . . .
MLA Members Explore Hot Topics in Chicago continued . . .
Annual Meeting
continued from previous pagewere also physically placed on re-serve, and the group collectively responded in the affirmative.
Zoe Rath (Berklee College ofMusic) contributed the next topic,which was centered on how many libraries were using Wiki’s andLibGuides. By a show of hands, itwas demonstrated that quite of fewinstitutions were using both.
The next topic was suggested byNancy Zavac (University of Miami).She asked, “are there music li-braries using WorldCat Local for their catalog and what areyour experiences (advantages/disadvantages)?” Bonna Boettcher(Cornell University) responded witha clear “thumbs down.” KathleenDeLaurenti (University of Washing -ton Bothell and Cascadia Com munityCollege) said that they are usingWorldCat Local and that there are a lot of issues with editions and authority control. Stephen Luttmann(University of Northern Colorado) inhis capacity as MOUG Vice Chair/Chair Elect indicated that MOUG wasworking on a series of recommenda-tions to give to OCLC with respect toproblems encountered when usingWorldCat Local. He also invited peo-ple to join MOUG and to send anyquestions/concerns his way.
McTyre then asked for a show ofhands of those who attended themorning’s plenary session on the via-bility of the compact disc and invitedDaniel Boomhower (Kent State Uni -ver sity) to comment on whatOhioLINK had done with respect to“purchasing content.” In his com-ments, Boomhower detailed the part-nership between OhioLINK andNaxos which enabled a local load ofthe “entire existing Naxos label’s catalog” as well as updates under aperpetual license for streaming ac-cess for all OhioLINK institutions.
The goal: to create a model for de-veloping, preserving and making accessible digital audio collections.McTyre mentioned her consortium’sdiscussions with the Center for Insti -tutional Cooperation and the use ofentrepreneurial funds for similar ini-tiatives. She suggested that MLAneeds to look at this as an organiza-tion and continue this conversationon MLA-L.
The next hot topic addressed alternatives to the annual confer-ence, especially in light of travelfunding issues. McTyre started offthe round by reading a commentsubmitted by Sue Weiland (Ball StateUniversity), where she observed “myability of shoot off my mouth at MLAhas served me very well over my career! But sooner or later we mayhave no choice. Going to an every-other-year live conference, with theoff year in some other medium,might be something to shoot for.” Inresponse, Stephen Luttmann warnedagainst bi-annual meetings becauseinstitutions do not budget for bi-annual meetings. Both AlecMcLane (Wesleyan Uni -versity) and Jenny Colvin(Furman University) recom-mended the use of virtualtechnology as a means tocut down on expenses. LisaLazar (University of Akron) observedthat she finds face-to-face meetingsessential and suggested that suchcost-saving measures as holdingcommittee meetings in hotel roomscould be an alternative. Bruce Evans(Baylor University) said that he hadattended the ALA midwinter meetingin Denver and suggested that wecould move to an all-committeemeeting format (in a big room or fewbig rooms) to reduce our conferencefootprint. Joe Boonin likened MLAmeetings to family reunions and saidthat he would personally do what-
ever he could to support the contin-uation of annual meetings. He alsoencouraged people to support theFreeman Travel Grant.
The final topic was centered onthe future of Music Librarianshipas a profession. McTyre started thediscussion by reading the followingmessage submitted by Ned Quist(Brown University): “This might be
as much a product of myage as any real hard reasonto believe that this is thecase, but does our profes-sion have a future? In mybleaker moods reading thelikes of Kevin Kelly and
even the recent article by VirginiaHeffernan in the Sunday’s New YorkTimes Magazine has made me won-der how much longer we have . . .and this probably applies to librari-anship in general as much as to mu-sic librarianship. With AtlanticRecords now showing larger incomefrom digital sales than from CD sales,will it be long before the last physi-cal medium for recorded music isgone—and all we’re left with are theundocumented downloads that arenot licensed for library use. Paper
continued on page 8
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 7
Does our profession
have a future?
Moderators Caw and McTyre
8 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
Annual Meeting
Rya MartinUniversity of Virginia
One of two Bibliographic Con -trol Committee open sessions at the Chicago meeting, the BCC NewsHour drew an audience of about 70on Saturday morning, February 21, tohear the latest in music catalogingand related areas. BCC Chair KathyGlennan led the session, with assis-tance from subcommittee chairsMargaret Kaus (Authorities), MarkScharff (Descriptive), Jim Alberts(MARC), Jenn Riley (Metadata), BethFlood (Subject Access), and severalinvited guests.
Subcommittee ReportsJim Alberts referred the group to
new proposals available at http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/list-p.html.Once implemented, 2009-01/1 willadd new fields to bring authority formats into line with FunctionalRequire ments for Authority Data(and thus RDA) requirements. Pro -posal 2009-01/2 will provide new
content designation for content type,media type and carrier type, with336, 337, 338 as repeatable fields re-placing the GMD.
Margaret Kaus reported thatAuthorities has been collaborating on RDA review via wiki. Margaret is ending her tenure as chair andDamian Iseminger will succeed her.Upcoming work will focus on workrecords and changes to authorityrecords necessitated by RDA adoption.
Mark Scharff and Descriptive areworking to determine the areas inwhich there is a lack of consensuson rules between RDA’s Chapter 6and the LC-12 proposals, prioritizingcore areas where differences need tobe resolved. They’re also consideringthe ramifications for music were thecurrent draft of RDA to become therule. ISBD Area 0, the proposed re-placement for the GMD, is also under discussion.
The remaining subcommittee re-ports are covered later in this sum-mary. Further details on any of the
subcommittee’s current activities are available at: http://www .musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/BCC-Historical/BCC2009/2009_documents.html.
Formation of the BCC MetadataSubcommittee
Jenn read the charge for thisnewly-convened group of eleven. As a new subcommittee, it is busyformulating a work agenda and wel-comes input from the membership.Basic operating principles include:promoting innovation; providing suf-ficient training opportunities; andmaintaining a balance between de-scriptive and other forms of meta-data. An immediate goal is drafting aproposal for a session on metadata atnext year’s MLA meeting.
Progress report on music form/genre project
Beth Flood reported that LC hasbeen working on form/genre proj-ects for moving images and radio
continued on next page
BCC News Hour: Breaking News and Reports in Music Cataloging
continued from page 7journals are fading from our shelvesand books may not be far behind.About the only thing left to make ourexistence justifiable is that electronic music stands have not yet caught on.Oh, I forgot, there’s always the li-brary as café. So maybe this questioncould be asked: Does our professionhave a future?”
In response, Jane Gottlieb(Juilliard) responded with a personalanecdote about the Presidential Inau -gu ration of Barack Obama and howshe was contacted because Juilliardhad the only copy of Margaret Bonds’arrangement of the spiritual This littlelight of mine. She recounted how she
facilitated getting the arrangement tothe singer (including permissions)and concluded that this reaffirmedwhy we do what we do as music li-brarians. Thomas Bell noted that inhis own work he has been encourag-ing faculty to demand more of theirstudents when it comes to research,as it is so much easier to find articlesin the electronic environment. Themusic librarian needs to becomemore engaged with faculty.
Pamela Pagels (SLIS student atIndiana University), who was attend-ing her first meeting, said the futureof the profession rests in the intrinsicvalue of what we do and that, in alot of what we do, we are truly edu-
cators and that we need to passalong our values to our students, fac-ulty, and coworkers. Matt Snyder(New York Public Library) said that,from the perspective of a public re-search library, the core concept thathas come down from on high is thatwhat is important to develop in a li-brary is unique collections, andunique collections justify why we dowhat we do. Stuart Simon (Universityof Wisconsin–Milwaukee) observedthat somewhere in what we do therehas to be a human element. So theprofession will not go away. Andwith that final comment, anotherwonderful Hot Topics session drewto a close.
Hot Topics in Chicago continued . . .
Grover BakerCenter for Popular Music, MiddleTennessee State University
Current resources that are beingignored and music that had beencensored were the focus of the Bestof Chapters session in Chicago. Forthose who may not know, the Best
of Chapters Competition “was cre-ated to honor presenters at chapterconferences for their excellent re-search and to allow a broader sharing of that valuable work.” Addi -tional details about the competitionare available at http://www .musiclibraryassoc.org/members/ bestofchapters.shtml.
David Day (Brigham YoungUniversity/Mountain–Plains Chapter)opened the session with “From IndieRock to Global Pop: Access to theMusical Press in the Twenty-FirstCentury,” in which he identified agroup of fifty magazines devoted to what he believes will be a major
continued on page 10
Two Presentations Represent the Best of Chapters
Annual Meeting
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 9
continued from previous pageand MLA has agreed to collaboratewith LC on the project to create mu-sic form/genre headings. As a pre-liminary step, LC will compile twoworking lists of terms (medium ofperformance and form/genre). AnMLA group will propose additionalterms for inclusion in the form/genrelist, and the two parties will subse-quently work to develop the syndeticstructure of the terms. Followingthat, perhaps by mid-2010, creationof 155 headings will commence.MLA members will be contactedthroughout the project for adviceand feedback. More information canbe found in the conference report ofthe Subject Access Subcommittee.
Update on Descriptive Catalogingof Rare Materials (Music)
Nancy Lorimer reported thatMLA/RBMS’s Joint Task Group onthe Cataloging of Rare Music Materialhas announced that the Music por-tion is next on the publication sched-ule. The draft, previously made pub-lic and available at http://jfletchr.bol.ucla.edu/DCRM/DCRM_opener.htm, will undergo official review inthe near future. Two reviewers areneeded for each area; RBMS will relyon MLA members for expert reviewof content. Some examples are stilllacking, so reviewers are encouragedto help fill in those gaps, if possible.
Playaways Joint Task Force Robert Freeborn announced that
the Joint Task Force’s report is nowpart of Catalogers’ Desktop. As thefinal part of its charge, the group ex-amined the cataloging of Playawaysin an RDA environment. Playaway isconsidering adding music to its prod-uct line and exhibited at MLA this year.
SlotMusic Joint Task Force Steve Henry gave a brief review
of this newly formed OLAC/MLAjoint task force, charged with creat-ing best practice guidelines for thisemerging format. The task force willexamine descriptive cataloging ofSlotMusic in the context of AACR2,likely modeling their report on thatof the Playaways Joint Task Force. Areport is expected by July and willrequire BCC approval.
BCC Announcements Kathy relayed the current RDA
timeline, announced post-ALA Mid -winter. By late May or June 2009, finalcontent will go to ALA Publishing; therelease is planned for the third quar-ter of 2009. National libraries will testfor 6 months following release, andthe first quarter of 2010 will see an of-ficial decision on implementation,with training in the next two quartersand full implementation followingthat. Kathy reminded all that thetimeline is subject to change.
Kathy thanked Margaret for herfour years of service as AuthoritiesChair. She invited interested partiesto send comments, concerns, orideas to BCC. A lively question-and-answer session followed the BCC re-ports, primarily dealing with issuessurrounding RDA implementation.Kathy referred all to the JSC Web site(http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/jsc/rda.html) for the draft, timeline,sample workflows, and further de-tails about RDA.
1 July 2009MLA Membership
Renewals Due
5–10 July 2009IAML Annual ConferenceNetherlands, Amsterdam
9–15 July 2009ALA Annual Conference
Chicago, IL
21 August 2009MLA Newsletter no. 158
Submissions Due
Calendar
BCC News Hour continued . . .
10 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
Committee Reports
Bibliographic ControlCommittee (BCC)
The report of the BCC and theAuthorities Subcommittee appearedin the March–April 2009 issue of theMLA Newsletter. Reports from otherBCC subcommittees follow.
Descriptive CatalogingSubcommittee
Mark Scharff, Chair
The Subcommittee for Descrip -tive Cataloging held its businessmeeting for 2009 on Saturday,February 23 from 12:00–1:30 p.m.Over 20 visitors complemented thesix subcommittee members present.Discussion of Resource Descriptionand Access (RDA) was the mainbusiness item—in particular, prioritiz-
ing areas where the Music LibraryAssociation had issues with propos-als from the Library of Congress forrevisions to the full draft of RDAChapter 6, especially those instruc-tions for naming musical works.Mark Scharff, SDC chair and MLA li-aison to ALA’s Committee on Cata -loging: Description and Access(CC:DA) and Kathy Glennan, BCCchair and voting member of CC:DA,had been invited to attend a sessionof the Joint Steering Committee forthe Development of RDA (JSC) dur-ing its March meeting in Chicago, asadvisors to the ALA representativeduring the discussion of the pro-posal. The outcomes of that sessionwould dictate the text of the firstpublication of RDA. The areas ofcontention between MLA (and by ex-tension, ALA) and LC were many,and Scharff and Glennan asked forsome input on identifying the mostimportant items.
A robust and wide-ranging dis-cussion ensued. Among the areaswhere consensus seemed to form: 1) MLA wishes to continue translat-ing non-distinctive titles for musicalworks into the language of the cata-loging agency (English for most ofus) when the title is cognate with anEnglish term. The closed list in theLC proposal was too small, and therewere issues with the underlying philosophy that there was insuffi-cient value in using consistent termsacross composers’ oeuvres. 2) Whennot fully analyzing incomplete com-pilations of works of a single com-poser in a particular form, genre, ortype, adding “Selections” to the pre-ferred title should not be optionalwhen creating an access point. That is, “Symphonies” should not be the title portion of a preferred ac-cess point for a resource containingBeetho ven’s odd-numbered sym-
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continued from page 9influence in twenty-first century music: global music eclecticism. Al though easily obtainedonline or at local book-stores, these magazines,which include titles such asPlan B, Penguin Eggs,Death & Taxes, and TRAX,may be unavailable throughlibrary subscription serviceproviders. Day’s survey of holdingsin WorldCat showed that few li-braries are collecting these maga-zines, which could become as im-portant for future research as similarpublications from the past centuryhave proven to be. Additionally, re-cent trends in musicology are placingan emphasis on studying the use ofmusic in its social context, makingthese magazines primary sources forsuch research in current popular mu-
sic. Day suggested that libraries andconsortia consider adding a few ofthese popular titles to their collec-
tions and that the majormusic periodical indexesbegin selective indexing,thereby making the contentmore accessible.
Access to content wasall but eliminated for somematerials in post World War
II Poland, when libraries and book-stores were purged of any publica-tions not adhering to the doctrine ofsocial realism. In “SubversiveSounds: Music and Censorship inCommunist Poland,” Jaroslaw Szurek(Samford University/SoutheastChapter) described the effects ofcommunism upon music in his na-tive land. Under social realism, thegoal of all arts and literature becamethe depiction of the positive hero
and attitude. Music should be realis-tic, optimistic, emotional, and simple,taking inspiration from folk idioms.Formalism and abstraction wereviewed as degenerate and decadent,as was jazz. Szurek played an exam-ple of a piece of “acceptable” music,Czesc Partii (Glory to the Party) byAlfred Gradstein, and then went onto discuss three of Poland’s most im-portant composers from that era,Roman Palester (1907–1989), AndrzejPanuf nik (1914–1991), and WitoldLuto slaw ski (1913–1994), playing anexcerpt from a work by each com-poser that had been banned by thegovernment. Szurek’s difficulty locat-ing a recording of Gradstein’s “ap-proved” composition led him to theironic realization that Polish librariesand bookstores may have undergonea second purge—this time, the musicof the communist regime.
Consider adding a few
of these popular titles
Two Presentations Represent the Best of Chapters continued . . .
Committee Reports
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 11
continued from previous pagephonies. 3) Music catalogers wish toretain the current practice of treatingthe title of a part of a work as dis-tinctive in the preferred access pointfor that part, regardless of whetheror not the part title itself is non-distinctive. In simpler terms, a move-ment from a Haydn symphony titled“Menuet” will use that title in thepreferred access point for that move-ment, not “Minuets, orchestra, [key].”The LC proposal for how to nameparts of works sent such titlesthrough the translation/singular-plural process before beingrecorded. 4) A proposed instructionthat would allow the designation of aparticular keyboard instrument inpreferred access points when doingso produces a more rational filingarrangement (e.g. Mozart or Haydnkeyboard sonatas) must not be generalized to all time periods. Suchan instruction produces ludicrous re-sults when applied to 20th-centurycomposers.
Other issues elicited less agree-ment, or a wait-and-see approach.Principal among these: 1) Using
“found terms” to name large ensem-bles (e.g. “variety orchestra,” “windensemble”) in lieu of the three termscurrently employed (“orchestra,”“string orchestra,” “band”). There isinterest in more specificity, but issuesaround numbering, language forms,ambiguities, etc. that bear closer con-sideration. 2) Naming musical workswith new text and title. For dramaticworks, this currently takes the formof the preferred access point for theoriginal, with the new title in paren-theses. Extending this practice tonon-dramatic works (e.g. “God savethe King (America)” was an MLAproposal. Sentiment seemed to be tohold off. 3) Naming adaptations offolk/ethnic music. The immediate is-sue had to do with problems in thewording of the instruction, but alarger question was whether suchadaptations should continue to benamed by title alone, which seemedto imply that there was a recogniza-ble “Ur-form” of the work to whichan adapter’s contributions could becompared to determine whetherthose contributions had produced anew work. Most agreed that this was
a far larger issue than could be ad-dressed at this time.
The subcommittee also noted anIFLA proposal for a new Area 0 inISBD, to contain information aboutcontent and carrier that is currentlyfound in the General Material Desig -nation. There seemed to be little issue with the proposal. The sub-committee also brainstormed futuredirections. One possibility would bea plenary session on RDA for the2010 meeting, and/or a preconfer-ence for 2011, when implementationdecisions are expected to have beenmade. Other suggestions: a reportfrom the U. of Rochester on theExtensible Catalog; an orientationsession on FRBR; and an instructivesession on FRAD (FunctionalRequire ments for Authority Data).
The chair recognized outgoingmembers Lois Schultz (Duke Uni -versity) and Steve Henry (Universityof Maryland–College Park) for theiryears of service.
MARC FormatsSubcommittee
Jim Alberts, Chair
The business meeting beganwith an announcement that SpiroShetuni and Joe Hafner would be ro-tating off of the committee, withthanks for their service.
Jay Weitz reported on activitiesat OCLC highlighting the ExpertCom munity Experiment; OCLCMARC Update 2009, no. 8 and no. 9;work on the Duplicate Detection andResolution (DDR); and completion ofthe first phase of the ControlledHeadings project. In response toquestions regarding parallel recordsand the DDR, Jay stated that parallelrecords would not be considered du-plicate records, however, duplicaterecords in the same cataloging
continued on page 12Members ponder poster sessions
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12 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
continued from page 11language (i.e. German) would be po-tentially detected and resolved.
Steve Yusko reported on activi-ties at the Library of Congress, statingthat he has attended several meet-ings regarding RDA discussions andproposals. Steve mentioned thatMARC proposal no. 2009-01/2, Newcontent designation for RDA ele-ments: Content Type, Media Type,Carrier Type, was passed by MARBIat ALA Midwinter, but with concernabout visibility in MARC records andwith some questions regarding termsof extent of music. He also notedthat RDA Appendix J and AppendixK are problematic so we should staytuned for more information on theseappendices.
Kathy Glennan reported on the new RDA-MARC Working Group.The group prepared discussion pa-pers and proposals relating to imple-menting RDA in MARC for the ALAMidwinter meeting in Denver. Shehas been serving as a music experton this group since mid-December,specifically helping address issues inRDA Appendix J.
Jim Alberts led a brief review ofthe subcommittee’s charge. He be-gan by reading the charge and askedif we are living up to some of its provisions. He mentioned that he istrying to move faster to get MARBIproposals and discussion papers tosubcommittee members so that MLAcan develop responses to documentsthat may not be explicitly music-related but could have an impact onthe music community. It was notedthat the timeline between the releaseof MARBI proposals and discussionpapers (generally less than a monthbefore MARBI meets) leaves thechair and the subcommittee very lit-tle time to review these materials before ALA. He also hopes that hissuccessor as chair will continue topursue this. More discussion on thiswill take place via e-mail following
this meeting including a discussionon how to deal with the metadata is-sue with regards to our subcommittee.
The subcommittee discussedMARC proposal 2009-01/1, New dataelements in the MARC 21 AuthorityFormat. Much of what is in this pro-posal aligns current practice withFRAD requirements. It was askedwhether we will start using thesecodes once we implement RDA, towhich Jim responded that we proba-bly won’t be using them until at least2011; Kathy pointed out that the cur-rent target implementation of RDA isnot until Fall 2010. Additionally, we
will have to wait until changes areboth published and implemented inthe MARC format to make use ofthese codes.
Jim began a discussion of MARCproposal 2009-01/2 with a summaryof the proposal, which creates newfields for content, carrier andmedium information, replacing someof what is currently coded in the 245 General Material Designationand field 300. He then turned thediscussion over to guests DamianIseminger and Kathy Glennan.Damian described how to use the
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New Members
Welcome to our new or returning members!!
Erin Anne Cartwright, Pittsburgh, PAGerald A. Fabris, West Orange, NJPerry Hartmann, Topeka, KSDarren P. Ingram, Larsmo, Timothy R. Keller, Baldwin-Wallace CollegeZachary C. Leader, Brooklyn, NYNicole M. Long, Normal, ILKelly Vernon Mahon, Prairie Village, KSJayn Frances Pettingill, San Francisco, CAYi Hong Sim, Madison, WIHarold Turner Southern, Urbana, ILDiette L. Ward, Cleveland, TN
Member News
Morris Levy, Senior Music Cataloger at Northwestern University, has beenoffered the 2009-–2010 John M. Ward Fellowship in Dance and Music forthe Theatre from Houghton Library, Harvard University, to do research onthe 1838 Neapolitan ballet Furio Camillo, choreographed by SalvatoreTaglioni with music by Robert Gallenberg. Morris is working on a modernedition of the ballet, the manuscript of which is at Harvard, which hehopes to publish in 2010. The fellowship requires four weeks of residencyat Harvard and comes with a $3,000 stipend.
The following have recently begun new positions: Jennie Thomas, Archivist, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and MuseumLisa Shiota, Librarian (Reference/Music), Library of CongressMelissa Rogers, Head Librarian (Seasonal), The Aspen Music Festival
Committee Reports
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 13
continued from previous pagefields and noted that these create re-dundancy in the record. The specificproblems arising with changes to theextent of notated music codes(Biblio graphic Format, Music 008/20)may warrant official proposals to beput forth by MLA.
Daniel Paradis brought up MARCfield 518, Date of Issuance vs. Dateof Recording, noting that place ofcapture and date of capture are intwo different subelements of RDA,which does not work with existingcoding. While the capacity to linkfields in MARC exists, there wouldneed to be an additional subfield inthe 518 to break date of recordingout separately. A poll of the subcom-mittee indicated that this issue isworth pursuing. Jim will contactRebecca Guenther to determinewhether this should be put forwardas a proposal or if the RDA-MARCWorking Group would be interestedin taking it on.
Jim noted that he had beenasked about MARC Proposal 98-16and 98-16R, which allows for the useof control characters (ISO 6630hex’88’ and hex’89’, or “curly brack-ets”) around non-filing characters.Matthew Wise and others noted thatthis dated to format integration andimplementation of MARC field 246and other fields in which non-filingindicators could not be used. Theproposal was approved by MARBIbut has never been implemented ex-cept in some UNIMARC systems inother countries. Since this has al-ready been approved for use inMARC21, it was recommended thatindividual institutions should lobbythemselves if they want to make useof this.
Kathy Glennan repeated Steve’sconcerns about RDA Appendix J andAppendix K. She noted that both arein a state of flux and that the JSCrepresentatives at CC:DA encouragedDiane Hillmann not to work on de-
veloping the RDA vocabulary reg-istries on these appendices until afterthe March 2009 JSC meeting.
On this note, the chair closedthe meeting with thanks to all sub-committee members and visitors.(Based on minutes recorded byCatherine Gick)
Subject AccessSubcommittee
Beth Flood, Chair
A report on the business meetingof the Subject Access Subcommitteeheld at the MLA annual meeting inChicago follows.
Recognition of ServiceA special thank you goes to out-
going members Lynne Jaffe and JennRiley for their valuable contributionsand time serving on this committee.
ALA report (Beth Flood)In the LC report on the moving
image project, the Policy Office rec-ommended that each of the five newprojects (music, law, cartography, lit-erature, and religion) contribute to acentralized genre/form thesaurus.The report also recommended thatLC “explore new models for a com-munity based thesaurus of genre/form terms in collaboration with professional organizations and otherinstitutions” (http://www.loc.gov/ catdir/cpso/movimgenre.pdf).
In other news, LC will be contin-uing the project to make a subset ofLCSH available in SKOS format. Theyare developing a site within theloc.gov domain for this project, afterwhich SKOS should go live again.
The ALA/ALCTS/SAC Genre/Form Implementation Subcommitteediscussed RDA carrier terms in rela-tion to the developing genre/formthesaurus, and suggested that a listof carrier types/format terms couldbe made and those terms established
as 155 genre/form headings. Thegroup also made plans to create a listof form subdivisions (MARC author-ity tag 185). This list will be used byspecific projects to identify subject-specific form subdivision terms, andit will also be used by the subcom-mittee in developing a list of termsused across disciplines.
A new Library of Congress reporton the pros and cons of pre/post-coordination of subject headings hasbeen made available at: http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/pre_vs_post.html.
Library of Congress Report(Gerry Ostrove)
LC has created about 35,000 vali-dation records to date. However, theprogram being used in generatingthese records developed a problem,resulting in duplicate records. Theproject is on hold until this problemis resolved.
Discussion of the Genre/FormProject
The group, including visitors,discussed at length LC’s proposal forbeginning the music genre/formproject. Issues that arose includedthe following.• Can $8 linking fields be used to
support pre-coordination of stringsin a post-coordinated environment?
• Determining how post-coordinationwill work with existing systemscan come after the project is be-gun. The terms and structure gen-erated in this project need to beportable beyond MARC. The vo-cabulary should support a post-coordinated indexing system, butdevelopment of such a system isnot in the scope of this project.The project should perhaps en-courage ILS groups and OCLC todevelop the structure necessary tosupport a post-indexing system.
• Instrumentation is a single categorywhich can then be subdivided into
continued on page 14
Committee Reports
14 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
continued from page 13instrument terms and ensembleterms. Pattern headings will now bedifferent. In the new system, willthere be a way to address numbersof instruments versus number ofplayers (doubling, alternate instru-ments, etc.?)• Named ensembles could pose a
problem in terms of specificity,because instrument terms are im-plied but not stated in the ensem-ble names. For example, a (stan-dard) string quartet includes aviola, but the term “viola” is not inthe ensemble name.
• What about the 048 field? Thecoding can currently be more spe-cific than subject headings, but isit easy to transform to linguisticterms? On the issue of codes ver-sus terms, the important thing isconsistency—either use consistentterms or consistent codes. In anycase, the current 048 codes needto be replaced, probably by theIAML code list, to increase the vo-cabulary. This would be a goodopportunity for MLA to work withIAML.
• A problem is caused by the inher-ent Boolean logic in many ILS sys-tems. Such systems allow users tosearch for records which includespecified terms but do not allowlimiting to only those terms.Systems also are not usually capa-ble of limiting searching to an in-dividual MARC field (i.e., one 048field in a record that includes sev-eral 048 fields.) However, this inan indexing problem, rather thana problem that the genre/formproject can solve.
• Separating medium of perfor -mance from genre/form headings,without some provision for themedium portion of the headings,could result in an automated authority control problem. Thereis not a one-to-one correlation be-tween current music heading
strings and future form/genreterms. There is a threat that auto-mated authority control vendorscould flip music heading stringsfrom 650 to the form/genre 655terms and lose the medium of per-formance portion of the headingin the process. This threat needsto be communicated to vendorsalong with a recommendation thatvendors do not process musicgenre/form headings until theproject is close to completion.
• Genre/form terms and medium ofperformance terms need to be re-lated in the public interface. Auser might start with the formterm “Sonatas”, but they then needto be directed to instrumentation.
Career Developmentand Services CommitteeSheri Stormes, Chair
An update on activities and projects sponsored by the CareerDevelop ment and Services Com -mittee (CDS) follows.
Placement Service:Placement Officer, Susannah
Cleveland reports that five (5) institu-tions interviewed for six (6) jobs atthe Chicago Meeting. Thirteen (13)currently open positions were adver-tised at the Placement Desk. Thisnumber is down considerably from
the approximately twenty-four posi-tions that were advertised in New -port at last year’s meeting. In recentmonths, many ads have been re-moved as a result of hiring freezes.Susannah observed also that “posi-tions requiring experience have beenfacing particular challenges, suggest-ing perhaps that people with jobs arevery reluctant to make major careerchanges right now.”
Résumé Review Service Update:Thirty-two (32) job-seeking
MLAers took advantage of the CDSCommittee’s Résumé and CoverLetter Review Service in Chicago.This is the highest number of partici-pants at any meeting since the pro-gram’s inception. Nine MLA veteransacted as official “reviewers.” Theywere Jeannette Casey, BethChristensen, Susannah Cleveland,Michael Duffy, Paula Elliot, NedQuist, Darwin Scott, SheridanStormes, and Lisa Woznicki. AlanRingwood coordinated the programthis year with the assistance of LisaWoznicki, who will be the RCLRS co-ordinator for the coming year.Michael Duffy will be her assistant.
In addition, the RCLRS has en-joyed an active presence on the MLAWeb site since late August. Thoseseeking to improve their job applica-tions now may take advantage of theservice year-round. Instructions forsubmission of materials for revieware included on the Web site page.
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Our Thanks
We sincerely appreciate the efforts of everyone who contributed to thisissue. Beyond those who wrote reports on the annual meeting sessions(and who certainly deserve our thanks!), we wish to express our gratitudeto James Zychowicz of A-R Editions, who wrote a primer on the new on-line membership directory for this issue, and to Gerry Szymanski (EastmanSchool of Music), who provided all the photographs. Thank you!!
Sarah DorseyUniversity of North Carolina atGreensboro
The Women in Music Roundtablejoined forces with the AmericanMusic Roundtable to present, “Ameri -can Women: Composing, Conducting. . . and Singing the Blues,” a varied,Chicago-themed session combiningthe tales of three very different andinspiring American women musicians.Starting off was Linda Mack, MusicLibrarian at Andrews Univer sity,Berrien Springs, MI, who presentedher research on composer, pianist andpedagogue, Blythe Owen (1898–2000). Composer of over 150 piecesin a variety of genres, Owen was
composing and teaching well into her90s. The fact that Linda knew Owenand studied piano with her enhancedthe engaging and informative presen-tation of a fascinating woman. Welook forward to reading the bookLinda is writing on Owen.
The next featured Chicagoan wasMargaret Hillis (1921–1998), founderand first director of the Chicago Sym -phony Chorus, whose career with theCSO spanned almost four decades.Frank Villella, archivist of the CSO,provided a biography of Hillis andbackground on the founding of theChicago Symphony Chorus. He wasfollowed by Dr. Cheryl Frazes Hill,Head of Music Education and Direc -
tor of Choral Activities at RooseveltUniversity, and an associate conduc-tor of the Chicago Symphony Chorusand a protégé of Hillis. She vividlyrecounted stories of Hillis’s rehearsalmethods with illustrations of the in-tricately marked scores from Hillis’slibrary.
Our third presenter, Chicago na-tive Laura Moody is Music Librarianat San Francisco State University (andCo-Chair of the American MusicRoundtable). She told the story ofblues singer Victoria Spivey (1906–1976), which featured vintage audioexamples. A colorful character, Spiveyrecorded with King Oliver, LouisArmstrong and Bob Dylan.
Roundtable Reports
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 15
continued from previous page
Career Advisory Service:The Board has approved the
proposal drafted by a task force ledby Lisa Shiota for a Career AdvisoryService. Lisa has been working withMLA Web Editor, Amy Pawlowskiand Assistant Web Editor, Jon Hauptto develop an online forum for thisservice. In their deliberations, themembers of the Task Force deter-mined that a forum with a specialsection for “F.A.Q.’s” and moderatorsto handle various specialized ques-tions would be a more appropriatetool than a blog. Once the forum isset up, the Task Force will put out acall for mentors. Task Force mem-bers are: Beth Christensen, Joe Clark,Michael Duffy, and Lisa Shiota.
Study of Minority Participation inMusic/Fine Arts Librarianship:
After soliciting input for revisingthe MLA Survey of PersonnelCharacteristics (the original versionof which was created by RenéeMcBride and David Lesniaski), Mark
Puente and Susannah Cleveland sentthe survey to various listservs. Theyhave already received 347 responsesand hope to receive more before thesurvey deadline of March 15, 2009.Mark and Susannah plan to extractbasic demographic data and com-pare it with general population statis-tics and projections and make a pre -sentation of their findings at the SanDiego meeting.
Other Proposed ProjectsThe Career Services and
Develop ment Committee discussedplans for the proposal of a programat the 2010 meeting on the “Dos andDon’ts of a Successful Job Interview.”
Most recently, the CDS Com -mittee has been approached aboutrevisiting and revising the “Quali -fications of a Music Librarian, AStatement prepared by the membersof the Committee on ProfessionalEducation of the Music LibraryAssociation,” Fontes artis musicae21 (1974):139–43. This project is cur-rently under consideration.
New Charge:Finally, outgoing MLA President
Phil Vandermeer asked the CareerDevelopment and Services Commit -tee to revise its charge statement.The committee did so at its annualmeeting in Chicago and has pro-posed the following charge toPresident Ruthann McTyre:
“The Career Development andServices Committee exists to provideongoing programs that assist musiclibrarians to secure suitable and rele-vant employment and to establishand maintain viable and meaningfulcareer paths. The membership of theCommittee seeks to provide experi-enced and unbiased mentoring andcounsel on matters pertaining to career development and workplacedynamics.
In addition, the Committee mon-itors developments in personnel-related areas and seeks to provideguidance through individualizedcounseling and, as deemed benefi-cial, sponsor or provide relevantConference programming.”
Women in Music and American Music Roundtables
Committee Reports continued . . .
Announcements
16 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
The Music Library Association isnow accepting applications for thefollowing 2010 awards and grants.Awards will be presented at the MLAannual meeting in San Diego, Cali -fornia, which will be held March 20–24, 2010.
Carol June Bradley AwardDeadline: June 15, 2009
At its 2003 annual meeting, theMusic Library Association announcedthe establishment of the Carol JuneBradley Award for Historical Re -search in Music Librarianship. Ms.Bradley is Librarian Emeritus at theState University of New York atBuffalo, and has been the foremosthistorian of music librarianship. Thisannual award, in the amount of$1,000, will be granted to supportstudies that involve the history ofmusic libraries or special collections;biographies of music librarians; stud-ies of specific aspects of music librar-ianship; and studies of music librarypatrons’ activities.
The grant will be awarded tosupport costs associated with the re-search process. These may includetravel, lodging, meals, supplies, anddigital, photocopy or microfilm re-production of source material. Thereare no restrictions as to applicant’sage, nationality, profession, or insti-tutional affiliation. All proposals willbe reviewed entirely on the basis ofmerit.
Applicants should submit the following documents:
1. A summary of the project, in-cluding planned results
2. A preliminary budget withjustification for expenses
3. A current vita4. The names of three referencesWithin one year of receiving the
award, the recipient is required tosubmit a report on how the funds
were spent, and on the progress ofthe work supported. Any publicationof the recipient’s work must statethat this award helped to support theresearch process.
The deadline for receipt of appli-cations is June 15, 2009. Applicationsreceived after that date will be considered for funding in 2010.Recipients will be notified byOctober 15, 2009. For more informa-tion, please contact the BradleyAward Committee chair via e-mail:[email protected]
Applications should be submit-ted to: Therese Dickman, LovejoyLibrary, 30 Hairpin Drive, SouthernIllinois University Edwardsville,Edwardsville, IL 62026-1063
Dena Epstein AwardDeadline: July 1, 2009
The Dena Epstein Award forArchival and Library Research inAmerican Music was created in 1995through a generous gift from Mortonand Dena Epstein to the MusicLibrary Association. Requests are cur-rently being accepted for one ormore grants to be awarded for theyear 2010. The amount to beawarded is $2100.
A grant may be awarded to sup-port research in archives or libraries(both nationally and internationally)on any aspect of American music.
There are no restrictions as to appli-cant’s age, nationality, profession, orinstitutional affiliation. All proposalswill be reviewed entirely based onmerit. Awards may be presented toan individual applicant or dividedamong multiple applicants. At its dis-cretion, the committee may choosenot to award a grant during any par-ticular year. An applicant who hasnot received an Epstein Award forthe first year of application may re-submit a proposal in the two follow-ing years for any one project. An applicant may receive only oneaward for any one project.
Applicants must submit the fol-lowing documents:
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Time to Apply for 2010 Awards and Grants
The traditional “Passing of the Gavel”
Cassaro to be New Development Officer
James Cassaro, Music Librarian at the University of Pittsburgh, has been ap-pointed the Music Library Association’s new Development Officer. He suc-ceeds Paula Matthews, who will be stepping down after serving as the as-sociation’s first Development Officer.
Jim Cassaro has previously served MLA as President as well asTreasurer, and is currently the editor of Notes. The Development Officerposition comes as his term as editor draws to an end. Join us in welcomingJim to this new position!
Announcements
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 17
continued from previous page1. A brief research proposal
(under 10 pages) that includes:a) a description of the projectb) a detailed budget for theproject, indicating:1) the amount of funding re-quested (capital purchasessuch as computer equipmentand furniture are ineligible)2) justification for the funding3) additional sources of funding
c) a demonstration of how theapplicant’s research will con-tribute to the study and under-standing of American music
2. A curriculum vitae of the applicant.
3. Three letters of support fromlibrarians and/or scholars knowl-edgeable about American music.
The committee will accept bothelectronic and print submissions. Ifsubmitting by mail, please includefour copies of all documents. If sub-mitting electronically, proposals mustbe in Microsoft Word or PDF and besent as e-mail attachments.
If submitting electronically,please send required documentationto Cheryl Taranto, chair of the DenaEpstein Award Committee, [email protected].
If mailing print submissions,please send the required documenta-tion to the chair of the Dena EpsteinAward Committee at the followingaddress: Cheryl Taranto, Ph.D.; MusicLibrarian; University of Nevada, LasVegas; 4505 Maryland Pkwy.; Box7002; Las Vegas, Nevada 89154-7002.
The deadline for receipt of pro-posals and letters of support is July 1,2009.
Walter Gerboth AwardDeadline: June 15, 2009
The Music Library Association, inmemory of its Past President andHonorary Member Walter Gerboth,established the Gerboth Award. It ismade to members of MLA who are in the first five years of their profes-sional library careers, to assist research-in-progress in music or mu-sic librarianship. Eligible membersare invited to apply by June 15, 2009for next year’s award. Please sendthe following information via e-mail,to the chair of the committee, LauraDankner:
1. A description of the projectand a statement about its significance.
2. A detailed total budget, speci-fying the amount of funding re-quested from MLA (to a maximum of
$1,000) and its purpose (capital pur-chases are not eligible). Indicate anyother sources of funding you mayhave already secured.
3. Two letters of recommendation— one for the project and one foryourself.
4. A curriculum vitae that alsonames additional references.
If you have any questions aboutthe award, particularly aboutwhether you are qualified to applyfor it, please contact the chair: LauraDankner ([email protected])
Renew your Membership Now!
The MLA membership year runs July 1 through June30. That means that it is time to renew your member-ship!! Do not let your membership lapse, renew yourmembership at the online membership directory:https://www1.areditions.com/mla/directory/default.asp.An overview of the site is available elsewhere in this is-sue of the MLA Newsletter.
When you renew, please review your profile infor-mation, and make any needed updates.
Please note: Membership renewals must go throughthe new online directory. You may pay by Visa,MasterCard, American Express, or by printing out yourupdated entry and renewal form RECEIPT and mailing itto the Business Office.
However you choose to renew, please remember toprint or save your renewal receipt for your records!
Time to Apply for 2010 Awards and Grants continued . . .
Program chair for the 2009 meeting,Suzanne Moulton-Gertig
18 M L A Newsletter • No. 156
Online Directory
James L. ZychowiczA-R Editions
Launched in late 2008 to coincide with registration for the 2009 annual meeting, MLA’s new online directory is de-signed to provide easy access to information about current members of the organization. Members can use the site tosearch for members not only by name, but also by other fields, such as city, state, membership type, or other parame-ters. In addition, the site offers members control of their own information, so that contact information is always currentfor mailing addresses, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers. Members can also create and update their own pass-words to facilitate logging into the site. Moreover, the entire site is linked to e-commerce to make it safe and easy tojoin MLA, renew memberships, contribute to MLA, and register for conferences online through a secure server.
Bookmark the Online DirectoryThe easiest way to find the new online directory is through MLA’s organization site: http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org.Follow the links under the heading “For Members and Subscribers” to reach the online directory.
When you get to the site, you may want to bookmark or make it one of your favorites to make it easier to return to thesite regularly.
MLA’s New Online Directory
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 19
Log into the Online DirectoryOnce at the site, be sure to login so that you can take full advantage of all the features. Log into the site with your e-mail address and use the password you chose. If you forgot your password, click on the link labeled “Forgot password”to have the site send you the password on file. This service is available day and night, so that members can have ac-cess to the site whenever they need it. (If you have problems with the login and password, please contact the MLABusiness Office for assistance: [email protected] or 608-836-5825. Members who did not renew for the 2008-2009membership year may need to click the “Join” link to enter their information in the online directory.)
Once they login successfully, members have full access to all the directory’s features, which are listed on the sidebarsfound on the left-hand side of the screen.
Those visiting the site for the first time may want to review their own information; it is possible to do so through thelink “Update Profile.” With a single click, members can find their personal information displayed in front of them. It ispossible to revise any field, so that the rest of the organization has the latest contact information. You can also use thesite to revise your password for future logins. After making any changes, though, you must click “Save” for them totake effect.
Online Directory
20 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
Searching the DirectoryTo search the directory, click on the link labeled “Membership Directory” to find the basic search screen. The displayshould appear as follows:
Use a name or part of a name to find someone. The results will include both last names and first names. With commonnames or stems like “John,” you can sort the results by clicking on the headers on the results page. Clicking on theheader “Name,” for example, organizes the results alphabetically by last name, and it is possible to organize the resultsby clicking on each of the headings.
It is also possible to use multiple fields for advanced searches when looking for specific information. Use the drop-down menus for the first two fields to establish the parameters you want. For example, it is possible to search by stateand membership type, and thus find student members in the state of New York. This kind of work lends itself well tothe dynamic environment of the online directory. As you become familiar with the site, you are welcome to try differ-ent combinations depending on your needs.
Once you have your results, you can contact individuals listed on the results pages by clicking on their name. The list-ings resemble those found in the traditional print directory, and should not pose any problems. Yet in this online envi-ronment, some individuals may have opted not to show their home addresses. More importantly, some of the informa-tion displayed may differ from the last printed directory, since it reflects the latest input from the members. (Thisenvironment encourages us to work together in keeping the information current.)
Online Directory
Use the drop-
down menus.
Search up to six
fields.
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 21
My ProfileMembers have individual pages containing their personal information, and logged-in members can update it at anytime. Use the navigation item “Update Profile” to get to your page:
When you review your information, please check that your “Institution” information is correct. You need not repeat theinstitution name in Address 1 and, instead, use the field for the rest of the mailing information. Please feel free to makechanges as needed, including updating your password, if you like. Remember to click “Save” (at the bottom of thepage) to put the changes into effect.
E-CommerceAnother feature of the new online directory is its integration with e-commerce, so that members can renew, donate,subscribe to an MLA publication, or register for a conference. Payment by credit card is possible via VISA, MasterCard,and American Express. Members may also pay by check, since the site can generate a formatted receipt to return to theBusiness Office with payment.
When you are logged into the site as a current member, your personal information appears right away, so that you donot have to fill out a form. In fact, your personal information appears in the preview, and if you would like to changeit, you can go back to revise any personal data, then complete the transaction.
Online Directory
Check the box
below if you
do not want to
display your
home address
online.
22 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
If the information is correct, you can click the button to “Proceed with payment” and then use the e-commerce at thesite to pay by credit card. Again, if you want to print out a form to send payment by mail to the Business Office, clickon the option to pay by check, and the site will generate the paperwork you need. It should be clear and easy to use.
You can pay by credit card (VISA, MasterCard, or American Express) or print a mail-in form to send to the BusinessOffice with your check. If you use a credit card, make certain that the site knows the billing address for it—the mem-ber’s profile has space for a home address, a work address, and a credit-card billing address. The latter is useful forpayments with institutional credit cards and other, related situations.
When you pay by credit card, you should receive two receipts:• An itemized receipt generated by the site with all the details in a formatted presentation (this comes from
Continued on next page
Online Directory
M L A Newsletter • No. 157 23
Online Directory
By the way, it is also possible for individuals to join MLA or register for the conferences prior to joining MLA. More im-portantly, anyone can return to the site to make further purchases. If you decide later to purchase a concert ticket or anadditional banquet ticket, it is possible to return to the site to take care these and other transactions. The 2009–2010Membership Renewal will take place soon, and it should be easy for members to handle this at the site.
A simple, “lump sum” receipt from the credit-card processing site in a
monospace, plain-text format.
From
From
Consider adding
both these
addresses to your
“friends” list.
Screenshot
Screens
10
Check your personal information
• A simple, “lump sum” receipt from the credit-card processing site in a mono-space, plain-text format.
24 M L A Newsletter • No. 157
Contact UsThe site also offers various ways to contact the Business Office, starting with the navigation panel on the front page:
The “Contact Us” navigation item is linked to a structured response, which contain some drop-down menus to refineyour message:
This is one way to reach us – if it’s easier to send e-mail or to call us, please do so. The site has not replaced humancontact with technology, but allowed technology to make regular communication more effective.
Some TipsPlease use the site. In fact, if you have not already done so, please log into the online directory and familiarize
yourself with it. Try the navigation buttons, use the drop-down menus, and get a feel for the site.If you haven’t yet bookmarked the site, remember to do so.Please review your profile periodically and keep it current. As you use the site, feel free to contact the Business Office with any questions or suggestions (608-836-5825 or
[email protected]). We look forward to hearing from you!
Online Directory
Other ways to reach the
Business Office:
Regular mail
Phone (note the hours)
Fax
E-mail (unstructured)
Use the drop-
down menus to
tell us the nature
of your message.
1
2
Write your
message in the
space provided.
3
Tell us the best
way to respond to
your message.
4
Hit “Submit” to
send the message
and to receive a
copy of it.
Screenshot
12
