Newport and All That Jazz
The lighthouse on Goat Island welcomed MLA members to Newport
Music Library Association |
No. 152 |
March–April 2008 |
| Newport and All That Jazz |
The lighthouse on Goat Island welcomed MLA members to Newport |
Panel Offers Perspectives on Newport and the Jazz Festival
It is a fitting beginning to the 77th Annual Meeting of the Music Library Association to have the opening plenary session, “Newport Jazz Festival: Perspectives on Its History, Present and Future,” introduce MLA members to the jazz festival. Newport, Rhode Island and jazz are intimately linked in the public’s mind through the festival, but many are not acquainted with the history of that relationship. The session, sponsored by the Black Music Collections Roundtable and Popular Music Roundtable, brought together four panelists who could speak authoritatively about the jazz festival, as they shared their observations and experiences. The session, noted session chair Andrew Leach, was dedicated to the memory of Elaine Lorillard, who was instrumental in founding the Newport Jazz Festival. Although it had been hoped that she could attend the plenary session, Ms. Lorillard died last November at the age of 93. Another luminary, George Wein, the founder of the festival in 1954, was present in the audience and warmly acknowledged often throughout the plenary by both presentators and audience members. Jazz historian, musician and author, Anthony Agostinelli, opened by playing a rare recording of the first jazz festival, a radio broadcast from “the grounds of the hundred year old casino at Newport, Rhode Island, where the birth of the first American Jazz festival is in progress,” as the announcer, John Hicks, proclaimed. Drawing upon his research, Agostinelli provided context about the festival, relating how Newport has had a love/hate relationship with the festival over the years, and explaining George Wein’s importance in founding and establishing the festival. Agostinelli related several quotes from George Wein, derived from a 1978 interview with the producer. Although many people mark the festival as a rebirth of jazz in America, Wein in the interview placed the festival in context, saying, “I never thought that jazz is hot or that jazz is cold or jazz is on the wane. Jazz always has a public, but it’s never a mass public. The Newport Jazz Festival did spark, not a resurgence of jazz, but sparked a surge of jazz.” Panel member Dan Morgenstern (Director, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University) was unable to attend the MLA conference, but he sent an essay that was read by MLA’s own Vincent Pelote (Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers). Morgenstern reminded listeners just what a novelty the Newport Jazz Festival was in 1954. Newport was synonymous with an “elevated social stratum,” while jazz still had a “somewhat disreputable aura” for the general public. Bringing these two together, presenting jazz in the “tony confines of the local tennis club” in Newport, was news. Morgenstern recounted how the genius of the early festival genre was the bringing together of all the various jazz artists and styles from around the country to perform on a single stage. Performing on a single stage was educational and influential for audience members and performers, as they listened to jazz styles and artists with whom they were not well acquainted. The multi-stage format of today’s festivals does not lend itself to that kind of interaction. The early Newport Jazz Festivals were also reunions , as jazz artists from around the country joined old friends that circumstances and geographic distance had separated. The final two panel members, legendary record producer George Avakian and journalist and author Nate Chinen, gave insights into the history of the festival and into how myths and inaccuracies can become part of that history. Avakian related several backstage stories about the 1958 jazz festival and the film that was made about it: Jazz on a Summer’s Day. He explained how the credits of the film do not accurately reflect the contributions of some involved with the project. Chinen commented, “Everyone here is certainly aware of the way in which recordings bear witness to history. And this story illustrates how not just the content of the recording, but also the credit of the recording, then becomes part of the history that is understood.” Myths are also part of the history of the Newport Jazz festival. One story involves Miles Davis’ performance of “‘Round Midnight” in the 1955 festival. It has been widely reported that the sensational response of the audience after the performance inspired George Avakian to sign Davis to a contract with Columbia. Avakian revealed, “These myths spring up about how it was such a sensational performance, and I am responsible for starting it.” He admitted, “I’m responsible for having said to Bill Coss of Metronome that the reaction to his performance of “‘Round Midnight” convinced me that I better record him.” The truth can be discerned from the recording of the performance. “At the end of the first number, there are 11 ½ seconds of moderate applause. After “‘Round Midnight,” there are 12 seconds of moderate applause. After the third number, there are 12 ½ seconds of moderate applause.” In fact, Avakian “never imagined that [Davis] would burst forth the way he did.” |
Teaching Music Bibliography
Kathleen Abromeit, Oberlin Conservatory Paul Cary (Baldwin-Wallace College) introduced Thursday’s MLA 2008 session, “Teaching Music Bibliography,” with some brief biographical remarks about the three presenters: Keith Cochran (Indiana University), Dan Zager (Eastman School of Music), and Alec McLane (Wesleyan University). The first speaker was Keith Cochran, presenting, “Scholarly Editions, Historical Monuments and Sets.” He first outlined the fundamental sources used in working with these editions. He then focused his talk on three aspects of historical editions, and how scholars and performers can profit by using them. The first is the purpose of scholarly editions and a description of some of the factors that affect the editorial process. Cochran discussed how historical sets do represent the composer’s music without editorial intervention. Harold in Italy was used to illustrate this point, and Cochran discussed various editions of the piece. In addition, he emphasized that these editions are useful resources for learning the historical background and the genesis of a work, stating that all too often students tend to rely only on biographical studies for this kind of information and are not aware of how helpful scholarly editions can be. Secondly, Cochran discussed how scholarly editions reflect changes in the discipline of musicology and changes in the musical canon. These changes may indicate that a composer’s status has been revised upwards in the musical canon. He cited, for example, the publication of Rossini’s and Verdi’s works in scholarly editions as an indicator that their works were at last deemed worthy of study. He made use of Rossini’s Semiramide for the Rossini edition to explore this impact. In closing, Cochran discussed his goal that students understand that scholarly editions, historical monuments and sets seek to represent the composer’s intentions as fully as possible, and to assist musicians in making informed decisions about interpreting the work. In his paper, “Teaching Music Bibliography,” Dan Zager opened by stating that his presentation presupposed a graduate class in music bibliography intended primarily for master’s level students in performance. Zager chose to focus on RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales), stating that his goal is “providing the music student perspectives and methodologies that will prove helpful in graduate coursework as well as in subsequent performances, research, and writing during a professional career in music.” Zager stated that undergraduate training, whether in the studio or in music literature and repertory classes, may not have included attention to the ways that editors and their editions have an impact on performances. He further stated that for comparative analysis, a student should be able to identify all available modern editions of a given work, regardless of whether they are owned locally. Intelligent use of the local online catalog as well as WorldCat is critical in identifying and locating those editions. Eventually the student may wish to know what primary source documents might be available—composer autographs, contemporaneous scribal copies, and printed editions issued during the composer’s lifetime. Zager very eloquently pointed out that the reason to teach RISM, with specific instruction on its three series is not so much to show how an important series of library reference sources works, but rather to talk about the concept of primary source documents. Working backward chronologically from modern editions to the sources, Zager said will often resolve performance-related questions prompted by the modern edition. He concluded with a quick note about where he inserts the RISM within the overall music bibliography class. Alec McLane spoke third, on “Garland Encyclopedia of World Music as a Reference Tool.” He began by stating that he was not presenting a review of either the print or online versions, but rather a general assessment of the special value of this resource for music research. He proceeded to discuss four aspects of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (GEWM): bibliographic tool; significance of organization; ethnomusicology or “world music” resource; and a comparison of the online and print versions. McLane pointed out that in any field it is necessary to establish an infrastructure of expertise and scholarly influence, and with GEWM one can see hierarchies—editors, editors as authors, other contributors. For example: Larry Witzleben in the East Asia volume is editor and also author of three articles on China. Clearly, other authors of Chinese articles in that volume are known by Witzleben, creating a “spheres of influence” model. The encyclopedia set is arranged geographically rather than alphabetically, putting similar musics in same volumes, and lending a clearer picture of how musical cultures develop in close proximity to each other. McLane noted the difficulties that may arise from this type of organization. For example, Ruth Stone, in her preface to v. 10, said that there were editorial questions as to, for example, where to put an article on music and Islam: Middle East or Africa? McLane explained that eventually a decision was made to have the same topics in different volumes, stating that “‘Place’ governs the general organization, reflecting the fact that the field of ethnomusicology treats music as a local phenomenon, regardless of how significant global movements may appear.” Finally, McLane raised the issue of ethnomusicology vs. “world music,” stating that in some ways the presentation in GEWM is about world music. He noted that you can find whatever you want to know about flutes in Ecuador, and yet many of the articles in each volume are not at all devoted to particular musics, but to processes and issues. McLane concluded his presentation saying that it is crucial to stress that ethnomusicology treats the interaction of musical activity with economic, social, political, sexual, and all manner of other activities with equal importance in any society. |
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New Publication MLA and A-R Editions Announce Co-Publishing Agreement Books published prior to January 1, 2008 are still available from Scarecrow Press. For more information about MLA publications, check the MLA Web site. |
BCC News Hour: Breaking News and Reports in Music Cataloging
Rya Martin, University of Virginia Over 100 attendees packed the Vanderbilt room on Saturday morning to hear the latest in music cataloging in a session sponsored by the Bibliographic Control Committee. BCC Chair Nancy Lorimer led the session with assistance from subcommittee chairs Margaret Kaus (Authorities), Kathy Glennan (Descriptive), Jim Alberts (MARC), Beth Flood (Subject Access), Mark Scharff (liaison to CC:DA), and several invited guests. Subcommittee Reports Jim Alberts reported that the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) for the Development of RDA brought a discussion paper to MARBI at midwinter on encoding RDA in MARC 21. JSC was encouraged to proceed with an RDA/MARC proposal for ALA annual in Anaheim. This discussion paper, as well as a proposal to make the 440 field obsolete and several other MARBI proposals that have impact on music cataloging, are available at http://www.loc.gov/marc/marbi/2008. Kathy Glennan reported that Descriptive has been immersed in reading and providing comments on RDA and related documents. She invited all attendees to the session immediately following the “BCC News Hour,” entitled “RDA: Update, Discussion, and Implementation Plans.” Beth Flood announced that Subject Access’s conference session, “Music Vocabularies and Subject Access,” will be posted online. The conversion of genre/form headings from the 150 field to 155 and the 650 to 655 has been implemented for moving images by the Library of Congress’s Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO), which will now move on to radio genre/form terms. Large-scale conversion to music genre/form headings is under discussion. A Subject Authority Cooperative Program (SACO) music funnel is also underway, an initiative that will provide music catalogers with a clearer way to contribute headings and should be a boon for establishing popular music headings in particular. Margaret Kaus reported that Authorities is reviewing RDA, part 2. She noted that the musical sharp is now being used in authority records, replacing the number sign. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) characters will soon begin to appear in 4xx and 6xx fields. Playaways Task Force The MLA/OLAC Joint Task Force on Playaway Cataloging, a collaboration between OLAC’s Cataloging Policy Committee (CAPC) and the BCC’s Descriptive Cataloging Subcommittee, has circulated its Guide to Cataloging Playaway Devices Based on AACR2r Chapters 6 and 9. In the initial round of comments, debate centered around the choice of leader code and general material designation (GMD). While the leader is encoded for sound recording, the GMD is [electronic resource]. When finalized, an announcement will be posted to MLA-L. LC Popular Sound Recording Records in OCLC A new initiative at the Library of Congress, aimed at keeping current with cataloging for popular music sound recordings, uses leased metadata from All Media Guide's All Music Guide as the basis for the bibliographic record. Joe Bartl from LC’s Special Materials Cataloging Division explained that OCLC’s lifting of the restriction on duplicate records allows these to be loaded into OCLC. Descriptive portions of the record are reviewed and edited to conform to what is on the piece itself. All standard numeric identifiers are included, as well as headings for composers and performers. LC attempts to map the subgenre and genre headings to Library of Congress subject headings. These are level 3 records, and institutions are encouraged to upgrade records as they encounter them, although currently there is no provision for reloading revised records back into LC’s catalog. MLA/RBMS Joint Committee on Early Printed Music Nancy Lorimer, liaison to the Joint Committee, gave an update on the progress on Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Music) (DCRM(M)), a manual that will provide guidance in the cataloging of rare and early music materials. Following the publication last year of Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books), the Music Joint Committee (now officially the Music Joint Task Group) met with the editorial board of DCRM at ALA Midwinter. Discussions centered primarily on incorporating music manuscript rules and on the use of copyright dates in Area 4 (MARC21 260 field). MLA’s position on the use of actual and not inferred dates in this field will be sent in a response to the Board. A group headed by Laura Yust is compiling examples for use in the document. DCRM(M) is slated for publication in 2009, but RDA implementation is likely to necessitate updates in short order. LC Working Group on the Future of Bibliographic Control The Library of Congress has been exploring the issue of bibliographic control in earnest since 2000, as evidenced by a series of papers and documents cited in the working group’s report. Joe Bartl, prefacing his remarks with a reminder that the recommendations are not issuing from LC, gave a summary of LC’s response to the document. Four working groups have been formed to study various portions of the document and report back to Associate Librarian for Library Services Deanna Marcum. LC will then respond to each recommendation and post a formal response in May. Citing FRBR and RDA as the “elephants in the room,” Joe noted that there have been no decisions at LC regarding its future involvement with either RDA or FRBR. He sees the report as valuable in making the decision-making process more transparent so that all concerned parties can be apprised of the reasoning behind any decisions that are made. Metadata Working Group Report After reviewing the group’s charge—to examine elements used to control music materials and develop best practices for use and transfer between schema—Stephen Davison, Chair of the Metadata Working Group, gave highlights from its recently submitted final report. With considerable changes in the metadata landscape since the convening of the group, the formation of guidelines rather than a new schema for music materials was thought more advisable. This was due in part to the difficulty of adapting a single schema to the variety of types of music needing description. Since instructions for administrative and technical metadata are being handled well by others groups or are in flux, the group opted to omit those from the final report. Steven applauded the MLA Task Force on Restructuring’s recommendation for a long-term, continuing metadata group and thanked all members of the working group. The report will be posted following the meeting at: http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/BCC-Historical/BCC2008/BCC2008MSWG1.html. A related document, Musical Attributes, Refinements, and Recommendations for their Use, will be available at: http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/BCC/BCC-Historical/BCC2008/BCC2008MSWG2.html. BCC Announcements Mark Scharff is replacing Kathy Glennan as Chair of Descriptive. Outgoing Chair Nancy Lorimer passed the torch (in the form of an MLA umbrella) to Kathy Glennan. Suki Sommer’s original Lady Liberty torch will be sent following the conference via U.S. mail. All were invited to send concerns, ideas or comments to the BCC. |
RDA Update
Kathy Glennan, University of Maryland Report on the session, “RDA: Update, Discussion, and Implementation Plans,” sponsored by the Bibliographic Control Committee. Kathy Glennan (University of Maryland), Chair of MLA’s Descriptive Cataloging Subcommittee and voting member of ALA’s Committee on Cataloging: Description and Access (CC:DA), and Mark Scharff (Washington University in St. Louis), MLA’s liaison to CC:DA, provided an update on the progress of creating and implementing RDA: Resource Description and Access, the cataloging standard under development to replace AACR2. Their joint PowerPoint presentation addressed how MLA fits into the overall development structure, the past and current time lines for producing RDA, some promised features of the new online interface, the probable impact on MARC21, the latest reorganization of the rules, an overview of potential implementation scenarios, and the remaining issues needing resolution. The RDA development process arose out of the International Conference on the Principles and Future Development of AACR (1997: Toronto), with new draft rules issued by the Joint Steering Committee for the Development of RDA (JSC) for constituency review beginning in Dec. 2004 and continuing through the present. Regular assessment by various international groups has caused significant rethinking of the overall organization of RDA on a fairly regular basis. The JSC expects to release the final, complete draft of RDA for constituency review in July. They will make this available on their Web site (http://www.collectionscanada.ca/jsc/working1.html), along with other supporting documents. The JSC expects to roll out a working prototype of RDA at the August 2008 IFLA conference, with final publication in early 2009 and implementation later that year. Keeping to this timetable requires extremely tight deadlines for review. In addition, MARBI (ALA’s Machine-Readable Bibliographic Information committee) must specify all the necessary changes to the MARC21 Bibliographic and Authority Formats at the upcoming ALA Annual Meeting to accommodate RDA. The latest RDA reorganization more closely ties the instructions to the FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) and FRAD (Functional Requirements for Authority Data) models, including the use of more of the entity/attribute terminology. In addition, RDA must be able to function under different implementation scenarios, running the gamut from our current unlinked flat record structure to an object-oriented database structure. Separate current efforts on the part of MLA’s Bibliographic Control Committee and the music specialists at the Library of Congress have resulted in separate rule change proposals. These include making a clearer separation between adaptations (new works) and arrangements (new expressions) and further simplification and clarification of the instructions as they relate to music. The JSC still has much to resolve before the final publication of RDA, including review of constituency comments on over one half of the draft instructions, deciding just how much of the existing AACR2 practices should change at this time, completing and reviewing the glossary and general introduction and testing the new online interface. The Music Library Association will still have an opportunity to provide feedback in the RDA development process, so the Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging welcomes your comments on RDA at any time. |
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Music Vocabularies and Subject Access Explored
Damian Iseminger, New England Conservatory On Thursday, February 21, 2008, the Subject Access Subcommittee, chaired by Beth Flood, Music and Media Cataloger at Harvard University, presented a program on music vocabularies and subject access at the Music Library Association (MLA) meeting in Newport, RI. Topics explored included the potential development of a prototype project at the Library of Congress in collaboration with MLA for the implementation of genre/form headings in the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), presented by Geraldine Ostrove, Cataloging Policy and Support Office (CPSO), Library of Congress (LC); a description of the Ethnographic Thesaurus by Catherine Hiebert Kerst, Folklife Specialist/Archivist, American Folklife Center, read by Geraldine Ostrove; a discussion concerning future directions in subject access for music, presented by Jenn Riley, Metadata Librarian, Digital Library Program, Indiana University; and a presentation on social tagging and music by Stacy Allison-Cassin, Music Cataloger, York University Libraries. Geraldine Ostrove’s presentation, “LCSH Genre/Form Headings for Musical Works: Considerations for a Prototype Project,” addressed plans for a proposed joint LC/MLA project. It would consist of two parts, the first being a large retrospective conversion of existing musical terms in 150 or 650 MARC21 fields (topical subject headings) to 155 or 655 fields (genre/form headings), and a smaller component involving the creation of new X55 terms as needed in existing cataloging. There are currently other form/genre projects at LC, including the creation of form/genre terms for motion pictures and radio, but nothing approaching the proposed scale of this project. CPSO is hoping that it would serve as a prototype for other form/genre projects in the future. Ms. Ostrove stressed that this project has not yet been approved by LC or MLA and that many specifics still need to be considered and worked out. These include the selection of existing 150 authority records as candidates for conversion to 155 records; the treatment of legacy data; the identification of existing 650 headings that do not have authority records and creation of 155 authority records for these headings; issues impacting the syndetic structure of LCSH; and the workload, in which MLA is envisioned as being responsible for a large portion of the conversion work. Ms. Ostrove also proposed the creation of an administrative body that will formulate policy and oversee the implementation of the project. It would be responsible for the managing the project, creating a work schedule, determining eligibility requirements for those who wish to participate, training, monitoring general developments in LCSH, and advising LC on issues of 155 and 655 implementation. Ms. Ostrove next presented a paper by Catherine Hiebert Kerst entitled “The Ethnographic Thesaurus: A Controlled Vocabulary and Archival Tool.” The thesaurus, developed by the American Folklore Society in cooperation with the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, with support provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, went live in a beta version in Fall 2007 and is available at http://et.afsnet.org/. It is freely available to all and users of the thesaurus may suggest changes at the Web site. It is comprised of 25 facets, clusters of terms that share a principle characteristic. Within each cluster, terms are arranged hierarchically, using standard thesaurus nomenclature such as broader, narrower, and related terms. As of this time the thesaurus is undergoing a detailed examination for compliance with the ANSI/NISO Z39.19 standard. There are plans in the works to move the thesaurus to a new server and provision has been made to maintain the thesaurus over time. The Ethnographic Thesaurus group welcomes all comments and questions and these may be submitted at http://et.afsnet.org/contact.html. Those interested in the ongoing work on the thesaurus may also subscribe to the Ethnographic Thesaurus listserv at http://et.afsnet.org/listserv.html. “Next-Generation Subject Access for Music: Infrastructure Needs” by Jenn Riley, examined the types of terms used as access points for music, various implementations of music vocabularies in existing digital projects, the roles controlled vocabularies play in finding and collocating materials, and what is needed in the future to implement and expand on these vocabularies. Ms. Riley began by stating that in current practice there are several categories of subject terms used for music. These include terms for topics, instrumentation, form/genre/style, geography, time period, cultural groups, languages, and names. In order to take advantage of all these types of subjects in the digital environment, these concepts all have to be known in a machine-readable way. Ms. Riley then provided examples of how the Digital Library Project at Indiana University has attempted to provide subject access in various projects. These include the Ethnomusicological Video for Instruction and Analysis Digital Archive, where subject headings are divided into the categories of geography, social and cultural groupings, languages, genres and performance types, venues, and instrumentation; IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana, which provides users with a faceted subject heading browse by date, genre/form, instrumentation, topic, and location; and the Variations digitization project, in which subject access is somewhat faceted. Ms. Riley next explored the roles of controlled vocabularies and what is needed to utilize their power. In order to assist with the cataloging of materials, to provide collocation of like resources, to facilitate browsing, and to expand user queries, a more robust digital infrastructure is needed to fully integrate controlled vocabularies into cataloging tools and end-user interfaces. Faceted vocabularies, robust syndetic structures, openly available machine readable vocabulary files, and real-time querying of vocabularies via the Web are all needed. All of these are being worked on, but none are quite ready for implementation. Ms. Riley suggested that in order to make this a reality, librarians must work collaboratively with system designers. We need to remember why controlled access is valuable but also be flexible in implementing it, streamline the creation of controlled vocabularies, learn about available technologies, and make our vocabularies machine accessible. The final presentation, “The Sound of the Crowd: Social Tagging and Music,” was made by Stacy Allison-Cassin. She examined the rise of social tagging, or the adding of what are essentially uncontrolled subject headings, on various music-related Web sites and how libraries might use this rich store of information. The use of social tagging in addition to controlled vocabulary could provide much richer subject access than traditional systems alone. While stressing that social tagging is not a replacement for controlled vocabularies, Ms. Allison-Cassin encouraged librarians to find ways to expand traditional controlled vocabularies by examining social tags, finding ways to add subject relationships outside traditional library OPACs, and taking advantage of the collective intelligence available to librarians through the Web.
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Susan (Suki) Thiemann Sommer (1935–2008) Our beloved Suki Sommer, honorary member of MLA, former president, editor of Notes and of Fontes, past chief of the New York Public Library's Music Division, indefatigable speaker and writer, and the best exemplar of music librarianship imaginable, passed away on March 4, 2008, at her New York apartment. If she had been a baseball player—she loved sports—her number would have been retired long ago. As it is, we can’t even retire her name, but however many wonderful music librarians we’ll have in the future, there will never be another Suki. Indeed, future members of our profession were an abiding interest of hers. Several dozen librarians credit her with bringing them into the field. She was devoted to making sure that young, talented “newbies” were made to feel welcome so she set up a fund to sponsor the first-time attendees reception at MLA meetings. The instant response to Suki’s death among MLA members, through phone calls, postings, e-mails, and, as she thought of them, the more newfangled ways of communicating, evinced the amazing love and esteem in which she was held. Suki was no fan of text messaging, “blue teeth,” or even computers themselves. A familiar mantra of hers was, “Computers can do anything . . . but will they?” She did not, to my knowledge, own a digital camera. In any case, she disdained taking snapshots. Instead, she would often stop in her tracks, explaining, “Let me look at this view for a moment . . . there, I’ve recorded it in my memory.” Nevertheless, she loved being sent photographs of friends and colleagues that reminded her of past MLA and IAML meetings. Suki was never boring. Anytime she spoke at meetings or took part in idle conversations, we could count on her to bring up something interesting or provide a new slant on an old topic. Seeking a memorable way of introducing the effects on music of the new (yawn!) copyright act of 1976, Suki asked her class in music librarianship at Columbia University to present a play on the subject at a chapter meeting. The show, a series of connected skits, would become the famous “Ariadne auf Xerox,” in which Suki herself played—hammed up, I should say—the character Public Domain, who sexily spoke the immortal words, “Now Pluto, don’t pretend you don’t know me. How can you forget? You’ve used me often!” Suki was raised in suburban Greenwich, Connecticut, but when, at the age of 26, she began working at The New York Public Library, she became the quintessential New Yorker. Home for her and her dear husband, Bob, was a small, rent-controlled apartment on West 112th Street, right across the street from a bookstore; half a block from the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine which, like Suki, was constantly under construction and growth; a block from Broadway and Tom’s Restaurant, whose exterior appears in most Seinfeld episodes; two blocks from Columbia; two-and-a-half from the renowned Hungarian Pastry Shop, where Jean-Paul Sartre would not have felt out of place; and a few minutes’ subway or bus ride to the Metropolitan Opera, which she loved to attend, and other concert halls and venues for music, which she patronized religiously. If a sense of humor is a rough measure of a person’s intellect, Suki’s IQ must have broken 200. The nurse, as she was leaving Suki twelve hours before the end with a pleasant “so, take it easy,” got from her client a smile and the reply “Fat chance!” delivered in a weak but determined voice. For the MLA meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, Suki ordered a special outfit to wear at the banquet, duly delivered by Maureen Buja, who had it custom-made for her in Honk Kong. As those who attended the event or have seen pictures on the Web know, she came dressed as the Countess from Pique Dame. She sported a long black skirt, red cummerbund, and black sash, adorned with jewelry and funny pins. She then posed for photographs, holding a handstaff and affecting a sneer that was tempered by a sly smile. Suki was thrilled to be at Newport and talk with so many friends and admirers. Last fall, when the cancer from which she suffered had advanced beyond the point where treatments could help, she entered home hospice care. At the time, she asked her hospice doctor to please keep her alive long enough to travel to the MLA meeting in February. The doctor, nurses, and caretakers did what they could, but she herself made it happen, through sheer determination. During her final week, she said over and over how happy she was to have spoken with so many members of her MLA family at the meeting. She was tickled that people actually lined up to see her. And she was proud to receive a long, standing ovation at the business meeting when development officer Paula Matthews announced that Suki had made yet another substantial donation. Of course, the members also applauded because she had contributed so much in nonmonetary terms. Many people she met soon felt they were her best friends; I am proud to have been one of that multitude. — Michael Ochs
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Bibliographic Control Committee Nancy Lorimer, Stanford University Members: Voting: Nancy Lorimer (Chair), Jim Alberts, Beth Flood, Kathy Glennan, Sue Vita (LC representative), Mark Scharff (CC:DA liaison); Mickey Koth (MCB editor (absent)); Non-voting: Jay Weitz (OCLC), Rya Martin (neé Mary Prendergast) (Webmaster/Recording Secretary) The Bibliographic Control Committee held two business meetings and presented two programs at the Newport conference, one on the current status of RDA, presented by Kathy Glennan and Mark Scharff, and one on current topics in music cataloging. Both programs took place on Saturday, February 23. The Subject Access Subcommittee also presented a program on music vocabularies. All the programs were well attended with standing-room only crowds in a room that seated 120 people. Specific program reports are appended to the end of this document. The first BCC business meeting began with discussion of the work of 3 BCC-related groups: the joint MLA/OLAC Taskforce on Playaways; the MLA/RBMS Joint Committee on Early Printed Music; and the Metadata Working Group. The Playaways task force has completed a draft document “Guide to Cataloging Playaway Devices Based on AACR2r Chapters 6 and 9”. BCC reviewed this document and discussed some of the objections heard from the OLAC list and other sources, mostly regarding the use of “electronic resource” for the GMD. In the end, the committee voted to accept the draft unchanged, with only one minor question regarding the meaning of “speed” in relation to a Playaway. The chair will forward the committee’s decision to the chair of the Playaways task force. Nancy Lorimer, wearing her liaison hat, reported on the work of the Early Printed Music Committee. Work on the rare and early music manual, Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Music) (DCRM(M)) continues and publication is scheduled for early next year. All the MLA members of the committee met with the RBMS DCRM editorial committee at ALA Midwinter in Philadelphia. One unresolved issue is our disagreement with the committee over the use of copyright dates in Area 4. Nancy is writing a paper supporting our viewpoint and will be submitting to BCC members & the RBMS BSC. Nancy also told BCC that a group at the Library of Congress, headed by Laura Yust, is helping find examples for rules in the manual. The committee next heard from Stephen Davison and Jenn Riley of the Metadata Working Group. The working group submitted its final report to BCC at the end of January, and has thus completed its work. The report mapped out important music attributes in Dublin Core, MODS, EAD, and MARC; promulgating these recommendations could be the first practical application of the report. BCC suggested that the working group should make a recommendation on how metadata should be approached within the structure of MLA and append this to the document. The committee then voted to accept the document, with the understanding that the addition will be forthcoming as long as working group members agree. Next, the committee discussed a project considered at the OLAC-CAPC meeting at ALA to define the attributes of work records for films and videos, and whether BCC should do this for music. While there was agreement that this would be a good project, there was discussion on where to draw members of a group working on this—that is, whether to restrict it to BCC members or open it to any MLA member. In the end, it was suggested that the group start as an informal BCC working group, and then later expand to a larger group involving other members of MLA with the Board’s approval. At the start of the second business meeting, Gerry Ostrove of the Library of Congress met with the committee to discuss first steps in a project to move music form/genre headings from 150/650 records to 155/655 records. Gerry spoke about how she was beginning to visualize how MLA involvement might work, and the problems in dealing with the LC firewalls and with the headings themselves. A letter sent to BCC prior to the annual meeting lays out her initial proposals for administrating the project, and she went over some of these ideas in the meeting. BCC decided it needed some further information from LC about numbers and timeframes, while the committee needs to decide on how to administer such a program within the MLA structure. The committee then moved on to discussion of two documents submitted by the Library of Congress to the JSC on changes to RDA. 5JSC/LC/12 suggests major changes to some of the music-related rules in RDA; 5JSC/LC/11 lays out roles in FRBR terms. Discussion primarily centered on LC/12. Members have had little time to digest the document (it came out a week before MLA), and could not reach agreement on our response to all of LC’s suggestions, but did on several. Mark Scharff, as CC:DA liaison, is charged with writing up the MLA response, which will be submitted soon after the meeting. Mark has also been charged by CC:DA to write their response, so we can rest assured that MLA’s views will be well represented. The full response will be posted as soon as possible on the BCC Web site. One other discussion topic at the BCC meetings was the document recently issued by the MLA Task Force on Committee Structure, and its suggestions related to the makeup of BCC. These include: moving the ILS Subcommittee, currently under the Administration Committee, under the umbrella of BCC; forming some sort of metadata group; and, possibly integrating the Authorities Subcommittee into the Descriptive Subcommittee once RDA is published. Members agree with the rationale for moving the ILS Subcommittee, but are somewhat uncertain about its charge, which seems to leave out a lot of areas covered by the subcommittee currently. It was also proposed that the subcommittee might be more at home in some sort of emerging technologies group in MLA, as might the metadata group. Another suggestion was that we should look on these two added groups as a place to start and that as the next-gen catalog, metadata, and cataloging communities evolve over the next few years, so should these groups. A fuller document about this discussion will be submitted to the task force. Finally, I will be rotating off as chair of the Bibliographic Control Committee with this report. I am grateful for the opportunity to serve as chair and to all the subcommittee chairs for all their hard work and lively discussion. I am particularly indebted to Kathy Glennan for substituting for me in my first year as chair, for all her endless work on RDA. I am also pleased to announce that Kathy will now take on the position of chair of BCC. Congratulations Kathy, and thank you. I am also pleased to announce that Mark Scharff, currently BCC liaison to CC:DA, will take over as chair of the Subcommittee on Descriptive Cataloging. MLA is lucky to have a new chair who is already so well versed in RDA and the workings of CC:DA as well as such a deep background in all aspects of music cataloging. Congratulations Mark. Note: The reports of the BCC Subcommittees will appear in the May–June issue of the MLA Newsletter. |
| Transitions | |
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Transitions Our best wishes to all those pursuing new opportunities.
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Please send citations for items published or premiered in the past calendar year to the column editor, Gary Boye, via e-mail or snail mail at the address below. Please follow the citation style employed below. You must be a current MLA member to submit citations. Dr. Gary R. Boye Articles and Chapters Hartsock, Ralph (University of North Texas) “Crosby, Frances Jane ‘Fanny’,” in Women in the American Civil War: An Encyclopedia, edited by Lisa Tendrich Frank (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2007), 192-193. “Felton, Rebecca Latimer,” in Women in the American Civil War: An Encyclopedia, edited by Lisa Tendrich Frank (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2007), 261-262. “Griffing, Josephine,” in Women in the American Civil War: An Encyclopedia, edited by Lisa Tendrich Frank (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2007), 309-310. “Keckley, Elizabeth,” in Women in the American Civil War: An Encyclopedia, edited by Lisa Tendrich Frank, (Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2007), 361-362.
Moore, Tom (Duke University) "An Interview with Jose Orlando Alves," Musica Brasileira (October 2007). http://musicabrasileira.org/joseorlandoalves/ "An Interview with Rodney Waschka II," 21st-Century Music 14:12 (December 2007): 1-8 . "Tom Moore Interviews Dimitri Cervo," Opera Today (January 2008). http://www.operatoday.com/content/2008/01/tom_moore_inter_3.php Tom Moore Interviews Frederick Carrilho, Opera Today (December 2007). http://www.operatoday.com/content/2007/12/tom_moore_inter_2.php "Tom Moore Interviews Marisa Rezende," Opera Today (November 2007). http://www.operatoday.com/content/2007/11/tom_moore_inter_1.php "Tom Moore Interviews Nikolai Brucher," Opera Today (November 2007). http://www.operatoday.com/content/2007/11/tom_moore_inter.php Moulton-Gertig, Suzanne L. (University of Denver) | |
| Conservatories Roundtable | |
The meeting opened with introductions of over 20 attendees and continued with a reminder about the annual survey. Completed surveys are due by April 30th this year. Information is gathered each year to conduct an informal comparison of conservatory libraries. Survey results remain anonymous to protect confidentiality. The group has been interested for some time in creating a way to swap chamber music. Jennifer Hunt (The Boston Conservatory) has created a wiki site that will allow for those interested to create lists of chamber music they are willing to give to other institutions. It was decided to add among the existing information on the wiki a column for the publishers’ plate numbers and to note the condition of the music, as well as one page for music being sought and another page for music being offered. Those interested in participating on the wiki may e-mail Jennifer for logon instructions. Most everyone is feeling the effects of the weak dollar in regards to acquisitions. How do we cope? There were many suggestions. Peter Caleb (Manhattan School of Music) suggested asking chief academic officers for more funding and including information on the current rising cost of collected editions and their importance to library collections. Jean Toombs (Cleveland Institute) suggested asking publishers from which institutions hold approval plans to hold shipments until the next fiscal year. Cheryl Martin (Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto) suggested asking publishers for discounts. Others mentioned examining subscriptions to see if they were worth renewing and asking faculty for support for more funding, and implementing resource sharing with other institutions. Resource sharing led us to a discussion about collecting liberal arts and general education materials. Most conservatory libraries rely on other institutions to share this material with their library patrons. Some conservatories are part of consortiums where the students take such courses, and they are able to use library materials where the classes are taught. Other conservatories rely on consortiums and/or ILL to supplement these areas. The group next discussed borrowing privileges for groups such as alumni, consortium students, preparatory students, and special programs. Some institutions (Peabody Institute and The New School) charge an alumni fee which allows for borrowing privileges. The Cleveland Institute does not allow alumni ILL borrowing. The North Carolina School for the Arts issues a public patron card which permits local musicians to use the library and the public can use the library at the Royal College of Music in London, England. Another component of library patronage includes the use of electronic subscription databases. Some institutions allow their alumni use of these databases, while others charge a fee, and others do not allow alumni access to the databases. It was suggested that librarians should check with each vendor to see if there is a policy in place for alumni use, such as with ArtSearch and possibly JSTOR. And what do libraries do about fines with such types of library patrons? At the Peabody Institute preparatory students can accrue fines and, if they stay as college students, may start as freshmen with fines already on their library accounts. Some libraries are able to keep fines revenue while others must turn payments into their business offices. The New England Conservatory is not issuing fines, but billing students which seems to be working to the library’s benefit. At Curtis, lessons can be denied to students with delinquent library fines. The Conservatories Roundtable is up for renewal next year. Attendees were asked to submit a letter of interest in continuing the roundtable. Print letters (no e-mail) must be sent to the MLA President, Philip Vandermeer, before the 2009 MLA Chicago meeting. Six letters need to be sent in order for the roundtable to be renewed.
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| Small Academic Libraries Roundtable | |
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The Small Academic Libraries Roundtable (SALRT) met on Friday February 22, 2008 at noon in the Aquidneck Room at the Newport Hilton. After announcing that the SALRT roundtable had received all the necessary letters for renewal for another four years, the roundtable returned to its original focus with lively discussions on issues pertinent to small academic libraries. The following topics were raised and attendees shared insights and comments on best practices:
SALRT attendees also explored an earlier suggestion to create a separate SALRT listserv, blog or wiki. The consensus was that many of our concerns were fairly universal among music librarians and could be as easily and comfortably discussed on MLA-L. Co-chair Sarah Canino (Vassar College) sent regrets that she was not able to attend our annual meeting this year. Barbara Walzer thanked all for her term as co-coordinator of the roundtable and announced that Joy Pile, Middlebury College has been appointed new co-chair with Sarah Canino. On behalf of the Small Academic Libraries Roundtable we would like to thank Joy Pile for her work as recording secretary for the past few years.
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| Technical Services Roundtable | |
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The Technical Services Roundtable met Thursday, Feb. 21, from 3:30-4:30, and approximately 70 people attended. The first portion of the meeting was devoted to business matters, with the new co-coordinators introducing themselves and polling attendees about the format of future roundtable meetings. About half of those present indicated they preferred formal programs, while the rest favored alternating formal programs with open discussion forums; there were few, if any, who supported discussion forums only. The co-coordinators next solicited program ideas for the 2009 meeting. Suggested topics included next generation catalogs, technical services training, and vendor-supplied cataloging (e.g., OCLC Cataloging Partners), particularly for scores. Another request was RDA, but this issue comes under the purview the Bibliographic Control Committee (BCC). However, more ancillary topics such as training staff for implementation might be considered, possibly as a joint program with a BCC subcommittee (and likely more appropriately for the 2010 meeting). After the business portion of the meeting concluded, the floor was open for questions and general discussion. Topics included use of shelf-ready services for music materials, catalog records for the Naxos Music Library, source of metadata in audio players, use of form/genre headings and metadata from the All Music Guide, and presence of Encoding Level 3 records in the OCLC database. | |
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American Institute of Musicology, Middleton, WI |
Ross Kaires, Australian Sheet Music |
25–26 April 2008 2 May 2008 16-17 May 2008 30 May 2008 | |
We wish to thank everyone who made this issue possible. Our special thanks go to Michael Ochs, for his remembrance of Suki Sommer, and to Christine Hoffman, for her photograph of Suki. We are also indebted to Gerry Szymanski, who provided most of the photos for this issue. And, of course, we thank all the contributors who took time to write reports of sessions in Newport. |
Nominations Being Accepted for MOUG Distinguished Service Award Nominations are now being accepted for the 2009 Music OCLC Users Group (MOUG) Distinguished Service Award. This award recognizes and honors someone who has made significant professional contributions to music users of OCLC. The MOUG Executive Board selects a recipient based on nominations received from the MOUG membership. Eligibility for nomination is as follows:
Nominations should be sent to Neil Hughes at the address below by e-mail or U.S. Mail. Nominations and accompanying statements must be postmarked no later than June 30, 2008 and must be received no later than July 14, 2008. The Executive Board will select an award recipient at its fall meeting. The award recipient will receive an engraved plaque containing an inscription recognizing his or her special contribution to the field, complimentary registration for the MOUG meeting at which the award is being presented, and a lifetime complimentary membership to MOUG. Past recipients of this award are Charles M. “Chuck” Herrold, Jr. (2007; Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh), Bettie Jean Harden (2006; University of North Texas), Ralph Papakhian and Sue Stancu (joint recipients, 2005; Indiana University), Jay Weitz (2004; OCLC, Inc.), Judy Weidow (2003; University of Texas), and Kay Burnett (2002; Smith College). For more information about MOUG, please visit http://www.musicoclcusers.org/. Questions and nominations can be sent to: Neil Hughes nhughes@uga.edu
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No matter how tired and burnt out I am going into the annual MLA meeting, I always emerge from it renewed, refreshed, and ready to tackle new challenges. This has been happening to me since my first meeting in 1989, and after twenty meetings with the same experience I have finally gotten to the point where I am able to predict my transformed attitude. I knew that the Newport meeting was the tonic I needed and it did not disappoint. And I would like to think that the theme of "renewal" was apparent to all of us in many tangible ways this year.
MLA awards the Kevin Freeman Travel Grant to students, recent graduates, or other colleagues who are new to the profession for support to attend the MLA annual meetings. For the recent 2008 meeting in Newport, Rhode Island, the Freeman recipients were Laurie Lake, David Winjum, Anne Shelley, and Katharine Chandler (left to right in the photo).