- Transcription, editing, and publication of the papers
- This is a worthwhile project Y/N
- I am willing to help Y/N
- Distribution of the recordings on cassette or CD
- This is a worthwhile project Y/N
- I am willing to help Y/N
Spring-Summer 1995 Number 62
Note: The online and printed editions of this newsletter may differ in content.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Greetings from the Chapter Chair
GREETINGS FROM THE CHAPTER CHAIR
Before anything else is said, I want to give a huge thank you to Louise Spear and Marsha Berman for jumping in and getting this Newsletter out. As many of you know, Darwin Scott has taken a new job at Brandeis University and left for his new responsibilities before preparing the spring issue. I know we all thank Darwin for his superb work as Newsletter Editor and wish him all the best in his new position.
Freeman Fund: I'm happy to report that MLA collected over $6000 total for the Kevin Freeman fund, more than halfway to the goal of $10,000! Our Chapter raised $425 through direct appeal. (This figure, however, does not include members' individual contributions made at the national conference.) This fund will enable a new librarian or library school student to attend MLA National. For those of you who were not able to make it to Atlanta at least you didn't freeze like the rest of us! It was unseasonably cold, but the conference was terrific.
The MLA/SCC Gopher is up and running (see article below). Many thanks to Kathy Glennan for making this happen. If you have suggestions of items to include, please contact Kathy.
Survey: Please respond to the survey included in this Newsletter about the 50th Anniversary publications. From the results of this survey, we will make a final decision about whether to go ahead with publication plans.
Our Spring Chapter meeting took place on May 12th at the L.A. Times. It was a great opportunity to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the paper is put together, especially from an arts point- of-view. A report of this meeting can be found on the inside pages. We elected new officers for the coming year. They are as follows: Don Brown (El Camino College), Vice-Chair/Chair- Elect; Renee McBride (UCLA) and John Thornbury (CSULA), Members- at- Large. Susan Annett (SMPL) continues as Secretary/Treasurer for another year; Deborah Smith will become Chair, after serving last year as Vice-Chair, and I will remain on the Executive Board as Past Chair.
I've enjoyed serving as Chapter Chair this year. Many thanks to the Executive Board members and others who make our Chapter what it is. I had an opportunity in Atlanta to meet with some committees who are interested in Chapter activities and they were most impressed.
Fall Meeting: We will meet this fall with the Northern California Chapter, here in Los Angeles, in conjunction with the national meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology. More about this meeting appears on the inside pages.
Have a great summer. I look forward to seeing you in the fall.
-- Leslie Andersen
MLA/SCC & MLA/NCC Joint Fall Meeting with SEM October 20-21, 1995
The MLA Southern and Northern California Chapters will be holding a joint meeting in downtown Los Angeles on October 20- 21,1995. The meeting will include a tour of the newly renovated Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL) and the opportunity to attend sessions of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) national conference at a reduced registration rate. The SEM conference is taking place at The Biltmore Hotel, located one block from the LAPL. If you are interested in giving a presentation on Saturday afternoon, October 21, 1995, or would like more information, contact Renee McBride, Program Chair, UCLA University Research Library, Box 951575, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575; Tel: 310/206- 5853; FAX: 310/206-4974; E-mail: ECZ5RMC@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU. Please submit ideas for presentations by September 22, 1995. The SEM preliminary program may be requested from Louise Spear, Tel: 310/825-1695. Registration materials for the joint MLA/SCC meeting will be mailed in early September.
-- Renee McBride, UCLA
MLA/SCC FILES NOW AVAILABLE ON USC GOPHER!
Do you like to explore fascinating new sites on the Internet? Have you ever found a need to consult the last issue of the Chapter Newsletter or the By-laws, but you just can't remember which pile they're in anymore? Never fear, many of our Chapter's archival files can now be accessed through USCgopher (CWIS.USC.EDU). Here you can find information about joining MLA/SCC, how to contact Executive Board members by e-mail or fax, the Chapter's Constitution and By-laws, and back issues of the MLA/SCC Newsletter.
Once you've connected to USCgopher, look under Library and Research Information / Library Information / Library and Information Science Resources / Music Library Association, Southern California Chapter.
The Subcommittee on Online Publications of the Publications Committee welcomes your suggestions about improving the Chapter's gopher resources. Please send your comments to Kathy Glennan, the MLA/SCC Gopher Liaison (e-mail: GLENNAN@CALVIN.USC.EDU).
-- Kathy Glennan, University of Southern California
ARNOLD SCHOENBERG'S LEGACY TO RELOCATE
The Arnold Schoenberg Institute was established in 1973 to house the legacy of Arnold Schoenberg. Over a period of years, the Schoenberg heirs donated the legacies of Arnold Schoenberg and his widow, as well as other material, to the Institute. Schoenberg and his heirs were able to keep the legacies intact, whereas the legacies of most composers are typically scattered throughout many institutional and private collections. Thus the comprehensiveness of this collection is particularly important. The Institute was charged with, among other things, publishing a catalog of the Archives, making the materials available for independent scholarly use, exhibiting the artifacts, constructing a replica of Schoenberg's studio in the building, and cooperating with the editors of the Arnold Schoenberg Gesamtausgabe to produce a critical edition of Schoenberg's music. The building was to be used exclusively for the Institute. The heirs have retained all copyrights and rights to publish materials from their donations.
A full-time staff has been active at the Institute on the campus of the University of Southern California since February 1977. Over the years, the Institute has been the beneficiary of cooperation and support from individuals, groups, and other institutions such as the city of Berlin, California State University Los Angeles, California Institute of the Arts, and the University of California at Los Angeles. Since its opening, the Archives of the Institute have been visited by about 5,000 scholars and researchers from all over the world who, in turn, have written thousands of articles and books and produced dozens of documentaries based on work in the Archives. Also, the Archive staff has responded to tens of thousands of reference queries via mail, fax, and electronic mail.
Disagreements among parties involved in the operation and activities of the Institute, particularly in regard to the use of the facility and publication rights, have recently come to a head. The result is that the Schoenberg heirs have begun to seek another institution willing to house transferred materials. This writer has seen reports about the disagreement in the media locally (KABC News, The USC Chronicle, The Daily Bruin), nationally (The Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education), internationally (The Guardian (Manchester, England)), and from the wire services (Associated Press, Reuters News Agency) appearing in local papers from Redwood City, California, to Lyons County, Kansas. There has also been extensive discussion on the Internet in discussion groups and news groups.
There is a fear, particularly among scholars, that the collection will end up being divided and that such a division could have serious negative ramifications for Schoenberg scholarship. Whatever the final result, it currently seems clear that a transfer will not take place for the next year or two.
--R. Wayne Shoaf, Archivist, Arnold Schoenberg Institute, USC
DARWIN SCOTT APPOINTED AS CREATIVE ARTS LIBRARIAN AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
Darwin Scott has left the sunny beaches of California for the rugged eastern seaboard of New England. He has been appointed Creative Arts Librarian at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, with collection development responsibility for music, fine arts, theater, and dance. He will provide bibliographic instruction and reference assistance in these areas as well.
Darwin worked at the UCLA Music Library for 16 years, starting in 1979, processing serials and monographs for the Music Library. Over the years he took an increasingly vital role in the Music Library's operations, eventually becoming responsible for managing almost all of the library's acquisition and processing (books, scores, rare books, serials, microfilms). He was an active participant in many aspects of library activities, including reference service, selection, and bibliographic instruction. His expertise in medieval music and his facility in numerous languages (including Latin, German, Greek, among others) were invaluable to us. He created our bibliographic guide, The Roman Catholic Liturgy & Liturgical Books..., now in its 3rd edition (1988), a publication so useful that many other academic music libraries have adapted it for their own use. While working full time he managed to complete his PhD in Musicology, and then to acquire an MLS in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science. In his spare time Darwin played oboe in the University Orchestra and directed the Collegium at CSUN.
MLASCC members know Darwin most recently as editor of this Newsletter, a job that he took on with enthusiasm and flair. Darwin will be joining NEMLA, the New England chapter of MLA, a tightly clustered group of specialists in the greater Boston area of academia.
Everybody liked Darwin -- staff, faculty, students alike. He seemed to be able to get along just fine with all of our myriad personalities and temperaments. We will miss him greatly but we wish him all the best fortune. You can keep in touch with Darwin via e-mail at DSCOTT@BINAH.CC.BRANDEIS.EDU.
--Marsha Berman, UCLA Music Library
DAVISON AND MITCHELL APPOINTED NEWSLETTER EDITORS
Stephen Davison has been appointed MLASCC Newsletter Editor and Val Mitchell will serve as Co-Editor. Both will assume their duties beginning with the Fall issue. Stephen was recently appointed Music Librarian for Special Collections and Systems at UCLA after two years working at the Arnold Schoenberg Institute at USC. He earned degrees in Physics and Music in his home country of Australia, going on to graduate study in Musicology in Michigan and New York. He has taught at USC and Baruch College/CUNY. Stephen received his MLIS from the UCLA Department of Library and Information Science last spring. Val Mitchell, Librarian at Cerritos College, is well-known to most members, having served the Chapter in numerous capacities, including as Newsletter Editor (1982-1985) and as Chapter Chair (1985-86).
REPORT OF SPRING MEETING AT THE L.A. TIMES
MLA/SCC members enjoyed an inside view of the Los Angeles Times during the spring meeting held at Times-Mirror Square in downtown Los Angeles on May 12, 1995, organized by Program Chair Don Brown.
Mildred Simpson, the L.A. Times Graphics Librarian, describes her library as "a noisy, lively place with no walls and no seats for users." The Library is part of the Editorial Department, which is responsible for writing the news and taking photographs. It is open 365 days a year, has fourteen reference librarians, and answers 96,000 questions a year. Requests may come from as far away as a correspondent in Johannesburg or as close as a metro reporter across the desk. In all cases, the newspaper deadline is critical.
Most reference work utilizes inhouse databases as well as the internet. Librarians also consult local libraries. Simpson talked about TimesLink, the online version of the newspaper available through Prodigy. A staff of ten work to manipulate the electronic copy of the day's news and make it available to online readers.
The Graphics Section of the Library is the visual resource for the newspaper and includes photographs, negatives, and an electronic picture collection. Photographs are obtained from the fifty photographers employed by the L.A. Times and from the wire services. Each year the Graphics Sections receives 23,000 requests for pictures.
Following Simpson's talk came tours of the building. We started in the lobby with its historical murals and large globe. Some people recognized the globe from the old Superman shows on television. Indeed, this lobby was used as the lobby of the Daily Planet newspaper. From the lobby, we walked to the Editorial Department. A city block in length, it is responsible for everything in the paper except advertising, and includes work areas labeled "Suburban Desk," "Metro Desk," "City Desk," and "State Desk." There are 500 reporters. We also saw photographic displays about the history of journalism and the L.A. Times. We visited the composing room and the test kitchen, which is used to cook all the food featured in the Times' Food Section. Some of us had an opportunity to meet and talk with Bob Hilburn, popular music critic for the L.A. Times.
Business Meeting
We had a catered lunch in the Salon Room, and then continued with a business meeting we had started in the morning. There were many reports and announcements. Chair Leslie Andersen thanked Don Brown and Renee McBride for their work on the day's program. Leslie also thanked Joe Fuchs, Past Chair, and Louise Spear and Blair Whittington, Members-at-Large, who have completed their terms on the MLA/SCC Board. Darwin Scott was thanked for his work as the MLA/SCC Newsletter Editor.
Kathy Glennan reported on the MLA/SCC gopher. Kathy, Susan Annett, and Louise Spear will form a subcommittee for online publications and draw up policies and procedures for introducing new materials on the gopher. There was discussion about the possibility of setting up a listserver for the Chapter.
Leslie led a discussion about the possible publication of materials from our 50th Anniversary meeting. We could publish the papers, scores, and/or the recordings. Jeannie Pool encouraged us to think about preserving the cultural heritage of Los Angeles. Wayne Shoaf gave us an update on the Schoenberg Institute, which may leave USC in the future. The MLA/SCC Chair will write of letter of support on behalf of the Chapter.
The business meeting concluded with the announcement of the results of the election, and the new officers were congratulated: Don Brown, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; Renee McBride and John Thornbury, Members-at-Large.
Film music
In the afternoon Tony Thomas, veteran broadcaster with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, author of thirty books, and reporter for the Hollywood Insider, gave us a wonderful history of film music beginning with the use of music to cover up the noise of the projector and continuing with the contributions of Max Steiner and Bernard Hermann. Originally from England, Thomas was fascinated by American Westerns and was inspired to become an American citizen by what he saw in the movies.
Next we heard from Timothy Mangan, free-lance music critic for the L.A. Times. Mangan played trombone at USC and worked in a brass band at Epcot Center before doing a master's degree in music criticism at Peabody University. Since then he has written for the Baltimore Sun and, in Los Angeles, the Herald Examiner and L.A. Times. During the current week, he prepared for and reviewed three concerts -- L.A. Philharmonic chamber group, the Pacific Symphony, and the L.A. Philharmonic Orchestra. He often prepares by listening to the music in advance. He takes notes at the concert, sleeps on his thoughts, and gets up early to write and meet his 10:00 a.m. deadline. He uses a modem to send reviews from his home to the newspaper. In the afternoon he might talk to his editor about cutting the length of the review. Mangan also works part- time at the UCLA Library and reviews for other publications.
Lastly, we heard from Mildred Simpson again, who spoke about the L.A. Times Image Database. This database allows the Library to keep photographs for reuse in the future and allows the Times and other newspapers to share photographs. In 1989 the Times staff decided to make the paper more visually interesting, so they started looking for a quicker way to locate and use photographs. They came up with a Mac-based system and began to acquire electronic images by downloading from a fileserver and the wire services and by scanning in pictures. Currently they are using ten computers with large screens so staff can look at more than one photograph at a time. The accompanying text is always downloaded with the selected photograph.
--Louise Spear, UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive
50TH ANNIVERSARY PUBLICATIONS
Many MLA/SCC members will remember the 50th anniversary meeting held jointly with the Northern California Chapter at the Pasadena Public Library in 1991. The papers were presented by a wide array of speakers, among them Wayne Shoaf, Garrett Bowles, Jeff Earnest, Beverly Grigsby, Catherine Smith, Dorothy Crawford, Tony Thomas, Steven C. Smith, Charles Shere, Ed Bland, Dannette Adamson, Ed Colby, Mimi Tashiro, William Malloch, Marshall Bialosky, John Biggs, Jack Fortner, and Jules Langer. The celebration was particularly memorable for the Musical Festschrift of pieces composed in honor of the anniversary by Ed Colby, Roger Nixon, Emma Lou Diemer, Higo Harada, Barbara Bennett, Ron Caviani, Christian Plaunt, Joann Feldman, Marshall Bialosky, Winton Reynolds, Deon Nielsen Price, Michael Kibbe, Roger Bourland, John Geist, Wayne Slawson, John Crawford, Garrett Bowles, Elinor Armer, Richard Swift, Jerome Rosen, David Raksin, Jules Langer, George Barati, David Cope, Don Henriques, Herbert Bielawa, Elaine Barkin, Jack Fortner, Mark Jacobs, and Duane Heller.
The Board has considered the possible publication of these materials and would like to know what interest exists among the membership. Please let the Board know by filling out the questionnaire below and returning it to Deborah Smith, Chapter Chair.
QUESTIONNAIRE ON PUBLICATION OF 50TH ANNIVERSARY DOCUMENTS
Comments:
(Optional)
Name:
Phone no.:
Email:
Please complete and send to Deborah Smith, Occidental College, 1561 Campus Rd., Los Angeles, CA 90042. Telephone: 213/259-2942; FAX: 213/341-4983; E-mail: DSMITH@OXY.EDU.
CALENDAR OF UPCOMING EVENTS
Sept. 15: Copy for issue no. 63 due to MLA/SCC Newsletter Editor
Sept. 14-17: Society for the Preservation of Film Music Conference, Los Angeles
Oct. 19-22: Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, Los Angeles
Oct. 20-21: MLA SCC/NCC Meeting, with SEM
Nov. 2-5: American Musicological Society Joint annual meeting with the Society for Music Theory and The Center for Black Music Research, New York
Feb. 7-10: MLA National Meeting, Seattle
MLA/SCC EXECUTIVE BOARD
Chair: Leslie Andersen, LACPL, NorwalkVice Chair: Deborah Smith, Occidental College
Secretary/Treasurer: Susan Annett, Santa Monica Public Library
Members-At-Large: Louise Spear, UCLA
Blair Whittington, Brand LibraryPast Chair: Joe Fuchs, Brand Library
The MLA/SCC Newsletter is published three times a year.
Content and original graphics Copyright © 1993-2004
Music Library Association, Southern California Chapter