PUBLIC LIBRARIES COMMISSIONAuthor(s): Eric Cooper and Liz HartSource: Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 28, No. 1/2, TWELFTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OFMUSIC LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES AND DOCUMENTATION CENTRES: CAMBRIDGE/ENGLAND(Januar-Juni 1981), p. 43Published by: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres(IAML)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23505738 .

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Comission Reports and Papers 43

On the previous day, the MIC delegates visited the British Music Information Centre in London where we met music publishers' representatives, as well as personnel of the B.B.C., British Council and I.S.C.M. The sherry was excellent and we made full use of the opportunity to further the work of our Centres. We thank the Trustees of the British MIC and its staff for their kind hospitality.

Another venue was the two screenings, at the Art's Cinema, of the film Notes on a Landscape produced by William Fitzwater and James Murdoch for the Australia Music Centre. The film re

presents a tremendous achievement by the Australian Centre and we hope that other organizations will be interested in showing it.

The working sessions were devoted to such topics as: Discussion of National Reports, Discussion on the Promotion of Contemporary music, and Inter-centre collaboration. We also considered the

applications for MIC membership of four countries and are glad to announce that Colombia, - as the first of the Latin-American countries -, Denmark, France and Yugoslavia have been accepted. There are now 22 countries with an officially recognized Centre as a member of the International Group of Music Information Centres.

At the request of the Public Libraries Commission, we compiled a list of reference books and tools used in our individual centres to answer questions about the music of our respective countries. We will up-date this brdchure, including also the information from the four new members, and intend to have copies available by the date of next year's conference.

Finally, I have to report that the MIC group elected a new Board for the new three year-term: President: James Murdoch, National Director of the Australia Music Centre; Vice-President: William

Elias, Managing Director of the Israel Music Institute; Secretary: Jan Olof Rudén of the Swedish Music Information Centre. Our present Secretary: Margaret F. Jory, Executive Director of the American Music Centre, will continue to serve till the beginning of next year's conference; the Secretary-elect will assume his functions at that moment. Our new President will be considering many topics suggest ed for the agenda of the next conference including: international fund raising for special projects, a meeting with I.S.C.M. representatives and music promoters in Budapest, various systems used in

computer cataloguing and the classifying of contemporary music, the latter project depending on the Centres' ability to arrange the attendance, next year, of their librarians.

Anna van Meenbergen, President

PUBLIC LIBRARIES COMMISSION

There were four meetings, three of the full commission drawing attendances of 40 to 62 people,

plus one of a project group to formulate a new statement to IF LA on the plight of public music

libraries (see the report of session 2). In order to make the sessions as interesting as possible emphasis was placed on prepared papers,

later intended for publication in Fontes, and the commission's thanks must go to all those who pre

sented them. The role of the commission is changing in accordance with the new IAML policy that

work should in future be carried out by specially-formed project groups on subjects suggested by the

professional commissions (eg. the PLC) and approved by the subject commissions. Elsewhere at the

congress dissatisfaction was expressed over the representation and effectiveness of public music

librarians within IAML; the commission must be looking to play its part in rectifying this. The work of

public music librarians is essentially of a very practical nature and brings them to the forefront of the

struggle against the retrenchment of library services. Therefore the commission should be keen and

able to suggest fruitful work for the project groups to do, and members were encouraged at the

sessions (and again in these pages) to propose work that they feel needs doing.

The position of secretary to the commission being vacant, Liz Hart (Barnet Public Libraries, Eng

land) was elected to fill it. The President Eric Cooper paid tribute to the retiring secretary Charlotte

van der Pot for her tireless and intensive work over many years, and members of the commission

joined in sending her a letter of thanks and good wishes.

The Commission is already looking forward to next year's meeting in Budapest. This will take place

during the 1981 International Year of Disabled People, and nowhere more than in public libraries

are the problems of disabled people in need of consideration. More specialist papers will be presented:

from Mme. Maria Nyeki on appropriate areas of her work in the BPI Centre Georges Pompidou. Paris,

and from Dr. Hermann Wassner (Stuttgart), on "Records and cassettes in public music libraries: some

thoughts for the professional qualifications of the music librarian". Further details will be available

nearer the time of the meeting. Erie Cooper. President, and Liz Hart, Secretary

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