| The proposed
merger of the former Chesapeake and Pennsylvania Chapters has become a
reality. Thanks to the hard work of former chairs, Brian Cockburn (James
Madison University) and Betsy Walker (The Curtis Institute), a new
constitution was written, ballots were cast and counted, and, by
unanimous decision, a new chapter was born! A nominating committee was
then formed to elect a new chair (Donna Fournier, Haverford College) and
a new secretary/treasurer (Catherine Dixon, DC Public Library). more
information on officers and committees...
Betsy Walker and the Curtis Institute hosted the
chapter's first meeting on November 19th-20th. Thirty six of us made the
trip to Philadelphia where we able to essentially take over Curtis while
most of the students were away. Our first session, held jointly with the
local chapter of the Art Libraries Society, was about the art treasures
of the Curtis Institute.
Allen Townsend, Head Librarian of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, presented a slide show with commentary of the paintings,
sculpture, stained glass, and iron work which decorate the former
mansions, now the home of Curtis. We had ample time for a walk around
the premises to see the art works on display. Afterwards, we were
graciously treated to "Afternoon Tea," a weekly tradition at
Curtis.
Our next session was entitled, "Breaking the
Historical Sound Barrier," a presentation about the remastering and
reissuing of historical recordings. Ward Marston, remastering engineer
with Marston Records and Eric Wen, an independent producer with Biddulph
Recordings talked about the tremendous value of making historic
recordings available to the public, both in the commercial market place
and in libraries.
Together they shared their passion for
collecting and their passion for preservation. We were treated to
fascinating sound excepts, amusing anecdotes, and insightful advice. Mr.
Marston and Mr. Wen reminded us of the very important role that we music
librarians have in helping to collect, preserve, and disseminate
historic recordings. |
|
The next
morning we reassembled for breakfast and a session called,
"Indispensable Internet: sites vital to my job." Previous to
our meeting, Betsy Walker had solicited the membership to contribute a
list of websites for discussion. These ranged from sites organizing
music associations, societies, publishers, vendors, song texts, and
librettos, to a webpage where one can find the location of a composer's
grave!
Atlantic Chapter business has been discussed at
two meetings since our last MLA Newsletter report--in November at Curtis
and in February during Louisville MLA Y2K. We talked about putting the
old chapters to rest by merging bank accounts and sending Chesapeake and
Philadelphia Chapter materials to the MLA archives at the University of
Maryland. We also talked about proposing our "Breaking the
Historical Sound Barrier" program to MLA's Best of Chapters session
and hope to bring Ward and Eric's talk to New York in 2001.
We agreed that outreach to students and
paraprofessionals was important to us. This will be one of the primary
goals of our new membership committee chaired by Carl Rahkonen (Indiana
University of Pennsylvania). We also talked how best to use our chapter
website, newsletter, and listserv. Robert Freeborn (Penn State
University) will serve as communications coordinator working with Brian
Cockburn, webmaster, Kile Smith (Free Library of Philadelphia),
newsletter editor, and Alice LaSota (University of Maryland), listserv
owner.
With the support of our chapter, the Library of
Congress has proposed that MLA 2004 be held in Washington, DC.
Conventions manager, Don Roberts will be visiting DC in April to
investigate conference hotel possibilities.
Jim Cassaro at the University of Pittsburgh will
be hosting our next chapter meeting on November 17th-18th, 2000. One of
our sessions will feature music collections in Pittsburgh. For those of
you in our chapter area, we hope to see you there.
Donna Fournier,
Atlantic Chapter Chair |
