October 1996 Number 65
Note: The online and printed editions of this newsletter may differ in content. IN THIS ISSUE
Greetings from the Chapter Chair
GREETINGS FROM THE CHAPTER CHAIR
Hello to all of you good MLAers. I hope each of you has had a great summer and can enumerate many activities which have been both renewing and rewarding. I am thrilled to be serving as chair of MLA/SCC this year and intend to push for a continuation of great meetings and acivities for us all.
I'd like to congratulate and welcome to the Board the new Chapter officers elected at our Spring meeting -- John Thornbury (Head of Reference, CSULA) as Vice Chair/Chair-Elect and Nanette Schneir (A-V Librarian, Santa Monica Public Library) as Secretary- Treasurer. A returning member of the Board is long-time friend to the Chapter, Joan Flintoff LoPear (Music Cataloger, UCLA), who is serving as Member-at-large in charge of membership. In addition, because Debbie Smith, our immediate past chapter Chair, has moved to San Francisco, Leslie Andersen (A/V Librarian, LACPL, Norwalk) has agreed to serve for another year as Past Chairperson, and we owe a special debt of gratitude for such long-lived and continuing dedication. Our other continuing Board member is ReneeMcBride (Cataloger, University Research Library, UCLA). Special kudos go to Debbie Smith, outgoing Chapter Chair and Susan Annett (Santa Monica Public Library), outgoing Secretary/ Treasurer. We will miss them both.
On our agenda for the near future is the Fall program! In this issue, please look for information about our November 1 meeting at California State University, Los Angeles. We will be taking a first-hand look at the new Luckman Center at CSULA. Professor John M. Kennedy will lecture on the world-famous California composer Roy Harris and there will be a presentation on the Roy Harris collection of archival materials. We will have a marvelous lunch together (and it's all very affordable). John Thornbury will serve as Program Chair for this event and as a presenter.
A major project that the Chapter has taken on is the hosting of the National MLA meeting in winter of 1999. While this sounds like a long time in the future, 2 1/2 years is minimal lead time to successfully raise substantial funds and to take care of the myriad details in preparation for hosting such a meeting. We are looking for individuals among the Chapter membership to volunteer for participation on our LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS COMMITTEE. Please seriously consider participating. Susan Hitchens, the MLA Convention Manager, made a visit to Los Angeles at the beginning of August with the express purpose of inspecting proposed sites here in the metropolitan area (from Pasadena to the West side). Her recommendations to the National MLA Board have probably now been forwarded, and the National Board will make a decision this Fall. It will be an exciting event; one to be intimately involved in. (Those of you, including myself, who were even minimally involved with the last convention we hosted--1982, in Santa Monica--undoubtedly have fond memories, which will lead you to get involved once again.)
In conjunction with the Council of Library Technicians (COLT) we are planning a workshop for paraprofessional-level staff in music, Audio-visual, and Media libraries. It is projected to be a half- day in length and will probably be held in late Spring at El Camino College, where I am presently Music Librarian. We are searching for specific topics for presentation at the workshop. The workshop will be practical in nature, and will aim to expand the participants' understanding of current practices in the handling and access to specialized materials, as well as exploring possible future developments. Please send your thoughts about appropriate topics to me at dib95@ix.netcom.com.
I would like to thank you in advance for your participation in MLA/SCC this year. Please fill out the 1996/97 membership form included with this issue of the Newsletter. We need help from everyone, and there is urgent need to set a Local Arrangements Committee. I believe this is a wonderful year to reach out beyond our traditional membership base into the world of media, and also to make sincere efforts to include the para-professionals who do so much to run our day-to-day operations. Please help me spread the word about our organization and its outreach, and encourage all those who work in our libraries to consider membership and participation. Enjoy the Fall, send in your Chapter dues, join us on Nov. 1st, and start thinking about New Orleans in 1997!
--Don Brown
FALL MEETING, NOVEMBER 1
The Fall meeting of the MLA/SCC will be held at California State University, Los Angeles on Friday, November 1, 1996. The program will include a presentation on the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (which is located on the campus at Cal State LA) including a performance by one of their music groups, a presentation on the Roy Harris Collection housed at the Kennedy Library at Cal State LA (including a 20-minute filmed interview with Roy Harris), and a tour of the new Luckman Fine Arts Complex. Parking is free and lunch will be most reasonable. Mark your calendars now and plan to spend a delightful day at Cal State LA. A flyer with reservation form and is enclosed.
--John Thornbury
DEBBIE SMITH
It was with real regret that the Occidental College Music Department learned of Debbie Smith's decision to leave for the position of head librarian at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Debbie has been a great asset to our department since she joined us as music librarian in 1983. With her thorough knowledge and great skills at organization, she quickly went about making our collections and listening facilities much more serviceable and complete. She was also the prime force in the redesigning of our music library expansion in 1988, which resulted in one of the most user-friendly, technically advanced, and esthetically pleasing facilities on campus.
But this is only part of the story. Debbie's relationship to Oxy goes back to her undergraduate years here as a music major. Her affection for the college as well as her abundant good sense and excellent administrative skills have made her an invaluable colleague during her 13 years here. Debbie is a close to friend to a number of us in the Music Department, as well as a friend and mentor to many of the students who have worked for her in the music library. We wish her well and hope that she will find time to visit us.
Richard Grayson
Professor of Music
Occidental College
MLA/SCC 1996 SPRING MEETING
Members gathered on May 17 at the University of Southern California for tours of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute (ASI) and the new Leavey Library. After welcoming remarks by Chapter Chair, Debbie Smith, the program was turned over to R. Wayne Shoaf, ASI Archivist, who presented brief background information before guiding the group through the Institute.
The basis of the ASI is the Schoenberg legacy of manuscripts, drawings, papers, and memorabilia left to the university in 1973. In 1977 the building opened, and with acquisitions from the Schoenberg heirs and other sources, the ASI has one of the most comprehensive collections on a twentieth-century composer in the country. Members toured the Institute, which has a replica of the composer's Brentwood studio, an exhibit/performance hall, classroom, offices, storage room, workroom, reading room and archives. In the climate-controlled archival area, Shoaf showed the members Schoenberg's twelve-tone "devices" and other materials, such as original compositional pieces, from the legacy and post-1973 satellite collections.
MLA'ers could also view a video about Schoenberg and see a demonstration of the Institute's correspondence database project. The database includes records for all items of correspondence, both to and from Schoenberg, that the Institute staff have managed to locate, and will shortly be published in the Journal of the Arnold Schoenberg Institute. We then reconvened for a talk by Schoenberg's son, Lawrence, about the state of the ASI and its uncertain future at USC, focusing on the legal dispute between the heirs and the university. At issue are differing interpretations of the 1973 contract in three areas: (1) who decides, USC or the family, what activities go on at the ASI; (2) ownership and use of the copyrights; and (3) the Schoenberg heirs' continuing role on the Institute's advisory board. With pessimism on both sides regarding contract renegotiation, the Schoenberg family is actively looking for another home for the ASI.
Lawrence Schoenberg's talk was followed by a presentation, "The Second Viennese School and the Year 1909," by Stephen Davison of the UCLA Music Library. In the early years of the Twentieth Century, Vienna was a locus for expressionist tendencies in the visual and literary arts, as exemplified by the artist, Oskar Kokoschka, architect, Adolf Loos, and writer, Karl Kraus. Much of the musical innovation at this time centered around Schoenberg and his students, Alban Berg and Anton von Webern. 1909 was a benchmark for the articulation of experimental directions by the Schoenberg circle with the completion of Schoenberg's Three Piano Pieces, Op. 11, the monodrama, Erwartung, Op. 17, and his Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16; Webern's Six Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6; and Berg's Vier Lieder, Op. 2. Soprano, Diane Thomas, and pianist, Vicki Ray, then performed the Berg songs for Chapter members with commentary provided by Davison on the songs' emerging atonality. At the conclusion, the appreciative audience concurred with Lawrence Schoenberg's statement that this outstanding performance and commentary were an ideal use of the ASI.
Following the Chapter Business Meeting and lunch on campus, the group toured the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Library with Librarian, Xiaoyang Liu. This undergraduate library, which opened in September 1994, embodies the "gateway" library concept in an effort to support learning and teaching in a high-technology environment. Members saw the information commons, the print center, hands-on interactive computer learning rooms, the all- digital periodicals reading room, and extensive study spaces on the Library's five levels. With more than one million visitors so far, Leavey provides a library model for the future by combining print and electronic information resources to enhance students' academic and personal lives.
At the conclusion of this full day of tours and performance of Berg songs, members extended special thanks and farewell to Chapter Chair, Debbie Smith, who is taking a position with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Susan E. Annett
Santa Monica Public Library
DEADLINE FOR THE NEXT ISSUE
The next issue of the MLA/SCC Newsletter will appear in January. Please forward material for publication to one of the editors by December 15. We accept contributions in any format.
NEW MLA NEWSLETTER EDITOR SOUGHT
MLA is seeking applications for a new editor of the MLA Newsletter. The present editor will retire following the May-June 1997 issue, with the new appointment effective that July. The incoming editor will have the opportunity to observe the editorial process and collaborate with the present editor on the May-June issue.
The Newsletter editor is responsible for all facets of the Newsletter's production and distribution. This includes setting a budget, gathering and editing news and articles, working with a local printer during production, and labeling and mailing the finished issue. Prospective editors should have access to electronic mail and be familiar with major word processing software packages.
The Newsletter editor receives support for expenses necessary to carry out the responsibilities of the position and an honorarium of $800.00 (1996/97 figure). The customary duration of the position is four years.
Applications should include the candidate's qualifications and relevant experience, and samples of writing or editing if any. Applicants are also invited to submit a statement commenting on their philosophy toward the Newsletter and its function in MLA, particularly in the age of electronic communication.
Selected candidates will be asked to an interview with the Newsletter Editor Search Committee (Nancy Nuzzo, chair; Beth Christensen; and R. Wayne Shoaf) at the New Orleans meeting. If necessary, a telephone interview can be arranged.
Please address applications or nominations to Nancy Nuzzo, Chair, MLA Newsletter Editor Search Committee, Music Library, Baird Hall, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260-4700, by 22 November 1996.
SOME USEFUL ADDRESSES
California State University, Los AngelesCalifornia State University, Los Angeles - Home Page http://www.calstatela.edu/Music Library AssociationLuckman Fine Arts Complex Calendar of Events
http://www.calstatela.edu/ppa/luckman/luckman.htmCampus Map
MLA/SCC GopherLibrary Catalogues on the Web
gopher://cwis.usc.edu:70/11/LibraryResearch/Library/Liblit/MLAAnnual Meeting, New Orleans
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~troutman/no.htmlClearinghouse
http://www.music.indiana.edu/tech_s/mla/index.htmObituary Index
http://www- sul.stanford.edu/depts/music/mla/necrology/welcome.htmlJoblist (October)
http://www.music.indiana.edu/tech_s/mla/joblist/9610.job
http://library.usask.ca/hywebcat/OCLC Catalog of Internet Resources
http://www.oclc.org:6990/LC Classification Summary
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8459/m.htmlHTML Reference Manual
http://www.sandia.gov/sci_compute/html_ref.htmlDatabase of Government Web Sites
http://pardoo.cs.umass.edu/GovBot/Newspapers
from the southern hemisphere
http://www.theage.com.au/from the northern hemisphere
http://www.latimes.com/
UCLA CONTRACT WITH DRA
The UCLA Library has contracted with the Saint Louis-based Data Research Associates (DRA) to replace the library's current on-line information system, Orion. This is a somewhat bittersweet moment for the library. The development of the Orion system over the past 20 years has resulted in a very flexible and powerful system that has been responsive to the needs of both staff and library users. Although Orion has served the library well it has become obvious that in order keep abreast of the latest developments of information and system technologies a completely new system was necessary. The rapid development of the World Wide Web, client/server technologies, and object oriented programming, the explosion of graphics and multimedia-based resources, and the development of ever smaller and more powerful computers made the demise of Orion inevitable.
Rather than develop another home-grown system the Library decided to seek a vendor to provide a system on the leading edge of library system development, and after an exhasutive search, has chosen the new DRA software. Most ILS vendors have recognized the need to utilize new information technologies in their products, but DRA made the decision to design a completely new product from the ground up rather than modifying its existing software. This is the system that UCLA has chosen. Development of the new system is in its final stages and UCLA expects to implement the system by the end of 1997.
Although we are turning to an outside vendor the new system will be far from "off the shelf." The new system, code-named "Orion2," will be highly customizable, allowing for the design of public and staff workstations for specific environments and functions. The system will also include World Wide Web and Z39.50 clients.
--Stephen Davison
MLA/SCC EXECUTIVE BOARD
Chair: Don Brown, El Camino College
Vice Chair: John Thornbury, CSULA
Secretary/Treasurer: Nanette Schneir, Santa Monica Public Library
Members-At-Large: Renee McBride, UCLA
Joan Flintoff, UCLAPast Chair: Leslie Andersen, LACPL, Norwalk Regional Lib.
MLA/SCC Newsletter, No. 65, October 1996
Co-editors:
Stephen Davison, UCLA
Valencia Mitchell, Cerritos College
The MLA/SCC Newsletter is published three times a year. Please send articles, reviews, conference summaries, communications, and membership news to: Stephen Davison, UCLA Music Library, 1102 Schoenberg Hall, Box 951490, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1490; e-mail:sdavison@library.ucla.edu; phone: (310) 825-3369; fax: (310) 206- 7322 or: Valencia Mitchell, Cerritos College Library, 11110 Alondra Boulevard, Norwalk, CA 90650; (310) 860-2451, ext. 2416; fax: (310) 467-5002; e-mail: vmitchell@cerritos.edu
Music Library Association, Southern California Chapter