November 2003 Number 79

ISSN 1549-8948 (online)






Note: The online and printed editions of this newsletter may differ in content.


IN THIS ISSUE


Greetings from Our New Chair

Highlights from the MLA/SCC Annual Meeting

MLA/SCC Treasurer's Report

Significant Donation to Brand Library

Member News

What's Up??

In Memoriam: Joan Meggett

Message from the Retiring Editor









GREETINGS FROM OUR NEW CHAIR

Chapters of professional organizations sometimes take on special lives of their own. That seems to have happened to MLA/SCC during the last several months, thanks in large part to our talented and caring members. Many of them have gone to great lengths to keep our chapter vital, and to create meaningful experiences and relationships. We’ve had an eventful six months, with new officers, editors, and committees, an improved Web site, and one of the best MLA chapter meetings I’ve ever attended. For the progress this chapter has made, there are several people to thank.

In late spring we welcomed to the Board two accomplished librarians—Ken Calkins as Vice-Chair / Chair-Elect and Antonio Calvo as Member-at-Large for Membership. Our ever enthusiastic Past President Dan Del Fiorentino established the Oral History Committee and got it off the ground with fast results. Don Brown, outgoing Member-at-Large for Membership, suggested the new membership categories in the enclosed ballot, and when his term was over, stuck around to put together a fantastic annual meeting, with help on the local arrangements front from Marion Scichilone.

Outgoing newsletter editor Carol Dales has put a great deal of time and energy into our newsletter over the past two years. As this is her last issue, I hope you’ll join me in thanking her for a job well done as she turns over the publication to Marion Scichilone. Web editor Kathy Glennan has always responded positively to suggestions about the chapter Web site, and has continued to enhance our online presence by leaps and bounds. For example, the online version of the newsletter dates back to 1993. Liza Vick, Member-at-Large for Publications, has been keeping publication activities well coordinated, and Secretary/Treasurer Joan Flintoff LoPear has helped us move forward in so many different areas. It’s very gratifying to be working with such a wonderful group of individuals. It makes all the difference in the world.

Special note!This newsletter issue includes four important ballot initiatives. Please read over the explanatory information carefully, then mark your ballots and send them to our Secretary/Treasurer. Ballots must be postmarked by December 31. To insure anonymity, please do not write your name on the ballot.

Many thanks, and have a good holiday season!

Vic Cardell
San Diego Public Library









HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MLA/SCC ANNUAL MEETING OCTOBER 17, 2003

The annual meeting of the Music Library Association, Southern California Chapter took place on Friday, October 17, 2003 at the Autry Museum of Western Heritage, located at Griffith Park in Los Angeles. The twenty-nine participants included librarians from public, academic and special libraries throughout Southern California, as well as a library school student who is interested in a career in music librarianship.

While we waited to be escorted to the Autry Library, many of us looked at the Museum’s two fascinating exhibits—“California Pottery from Missions to Modernism” and “Glorious Treasures: 100 Years of Collecting by the Southwest Museum.” At the first meeting session, a team of four librarians discussed the Autry National Center Institute for the Study of the American West. Marva Felchlin, Director of the Autry Library, gave us an overview of the Institute. Kim Walters, Director of the Braun Research Library at the Southwest Museum, talked about their collections and the recent merger of the Southwest Museum with the Autry Museum. Rebecca Lachter, Project Manager for the Electronic Cataloging Initiative, talked about the challenges that face the Institute in creating merged databases that describe and sometimes represent in graphic format the artifacts of both Museums. Cheryl Miller, Manager of Technical Services, talked about some of the challenges she faces because the library world is far ahead of the museum world in using standardized and highly developed rules and vocabularies for both description and access.

The keynote speaker for the second session was Harry Pack, Creative Director of Delos International, discussing the state of the classical music recording industry. Over the years, many contracts with prominent artists have been canceled; nowadays recordings are funded mostly by foundations or by the artists themselves. New recordings had a better chance of being reviewed in some magazines if the company takes out advertising in them. This was allegedly true of Fanfare, but then all of the major labels pulled their ads, and the budget for the magazine was cut. Also, listening posts in stores like Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc. are often “bought” by recording companies for items that will most likely do well on the market. Some of the pros for the current classical music recording industry: broadest repertoire ever, lots of discounts at stores and on the Web, venue sales from live concerts are healthy even though products sold at full retail price; there is a healthy audiophile market, so 5-channel recordings (SACD) should do well; there is more contemporary, baroque and medieval music on the market than ever before.

Louise Spear, the first professional archivist for the Grammy Academy, gave a short report documenting how she is building the Grammy archives from scratch. Most of the collection is now stored in thousands of boxes in various warehouses and closets, most of which are not climate-controlled. She has a database of about 25,000 recordings from 1958 to 2003 to work with.

Vic Cardell, Chair of MLA/SCC, introduced the business meeting, at which three ballot initiatives and three new ad hoc committees were discussed. The group then had a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic Ennis-Brown House, located in the Hollywood Hills. The house has been seen in a number of well-known movies, including Blade Runner, The House on Haunted Hill, Twin Peaks, and Grand Canyon. A wine and cheese reception in the distinctive dining room was followed by dinner at Louise’s Trattoria in Los Feliz.

Vic Cardell
San Diego Public Library









MLA/SCC TREASURER'S REPORT
as delivered at the Annual Meeting, October 17, 2003

• Checking Account Balance 10/16/03 = $1,563.30
  
• Savings Account Balance 10/16/03 = $50.00
  
• Certificate Account Balance 10/16/03 = $2,708.51
  Total = $4,321.81

• Outstanding check = - $78.93
  
  Total Assets 10/16/03 = $4,242.88

Joan Flintoff LoPear, MLA/SCC Secretary/Treasurer









SIGNIFICANT DONATION TO BRAND LIBRARY

I am pleased to announce that Brand Library has received a very generous donation from Mr. John Clark of Pasadena. Mr. Clark has donated his 1973 Feurich grand piano as well as his extensive collection of music books and scores.

Feurich has been making pianos in Germany since 1850. Although little known in the western United States they are highly regarded in Europe and are considered one of the top piano makers in the world. The instrument is comparable in size to the Steinway B acquired several years ago and both pianos are of an appropriate size for the 150-seat Brand recital hall. We are very excited to have two such exceptional instruments.

Mr. Clark’s collection of scores include many organ, solo and duo piano scores and sets of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe and the Schutz Neue Ausgabe . Since Brand already owns a reference set of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, the volumes from this donation will circulate.

John Clark is the former chair of the music department of Pierce College. He began his teaching career in the LA City School system. He studied organ with Nadia Boulanger and Marcel Dupré at the Paris Conservatory and holds a Master’s degree in organ performance from USC. A church organist and choirmaster for over 60 years, he spent the last 35 years of his career at Cavalry Presbyterian Church in South Pasadena. The home in Pasadena which he recently sold was designed for his family by Richard Neutra in 1957 and is known as the Clark House.

Blair Whittington
Brand Library & Art Center









MEMBER NEWS

Marion Scichilone, Children's / Teen Librarian at San Clemente Library, reports that she and her husband Jim recently met Nancy Gustafson, soprano in a title role of Los Angeles Opera's world premiere of Nicholas and Alexandra. "A close friend went to college with Nancy and we had a chance to visit backstage after the last performance and attend the cast party. She was very personable and talked about the fun and challenges of performing in different cities and in events all around the world." Unfortunately, the opera received disappointing reviews. Although the music was not memorable, Marion enjoyed the SITI Company performers who soundlessly moved with the plot.

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Renée McBride:

At UCLA I continue to enjoy cataloging music and materials in the humanities and staffing the Music Library reference desk a few hours each week. In MLA I am learning a great deal as a Member-at-Large on the Board. I attended my first meeting at A-R Editions in Middleton, WI (near Madison) in June and my second meeting in early October in Davis, where UCD music librarian Michael Colby was our very gracious host.

In November I’ll be attending AMS in Houston, where I’ll help staff the MLA exhibit booth. I hope I’ll see some of you there. While in town, I’ll also teach two classes about researching the topic of women and music for bibliography classes at the University of Houston and Rice University. (Actually, by the time we’re reading this, I’ve probably been there, done that.)

On the personal front, I am hoping to move to Los Angeles (from Lake Elsinore) around next March 1 and get rid of this commuting lifestyle I’ve been living since 1997. I’m pretty flexible about location and living arrangement, so I ask you to keep me in mind and let me know if something comes to your attention. I’ll be doing my part, too, of course!

And finally, it was wonderful to see you all at our recent Chapter meeting!

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Liza Vick has been appointed Coordinator of the newly formed Performing Arts Librarians Roundtable of the Music Library Association through 2007. The Roundtable was formed to share ideas among dance and performing arts librarians. The inaugural meeting will be held at the MLA Annual Meeting in Washington DC in February, 2004,; this will be a joint session with the Video Roundtable, featuring the topic of vendor and acquisitions issues surrounding dance videos. Betty Woerner, VRT coordinator, will present, and the remainder of the session will be an open discussion.

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Scarecrow Press recently published Kathy Glennan’s Index/Supplement to the Music Cataloging Bulletin, vols. 21-30 (1990-1999). The official citation is: Music Cataloging Bulletin: Index/Supplement to Volumes 21-30, 1990-1999. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2003. 410 pp. (Co-published with the Music Library Association)

At the MLA Annual Meeting in Washington in 2004, look for Kathy’s poster session: Distance Employment: Pioneering Cross-Country Telecommuting -- A Cataloger’s Tale.

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Caroline M. Bordinaro:

Despite having the management acumen of Beavis and Butthead, I'm now the head of the circulation department at Pasadena City College, supervising 2 library assistants and 8 students, scheduling, setting policy and procedure, and all those other good supervisory jobs, as well as my regular duties as reference and instruction librarian. I'm also working part time at the PCC Music Lab, helping students with theory, notation, MIDI, computer questions and what not. I hired a cataloging intern from SJSU to help out with the A/V backlog in the music lab (she would make a good MLA member!)

I'm still playing chamber music and taking orchestra jobs when they come my way - most recently with the Bakersfield and Santa Maria symphonies. I played a recital of 20th century cello and piano music (Bridge, Martinu, Cowell, Milhaud, Elgar, Bazelaire); it was a real treat to research the composers and the music. The audience really appreciated the background information on the pieces, and it helped them enjoy the music all the more. We're planning another concert for Spring, a program of piano trio "slow" movements (which we're finding aren't always all that slow).

I've also been doing yoga for over a year, which helps me juggle all of the above in a somewhat sane and balanced fashion.

Oh, and, by the way, the car is running fine.

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Ken Calkins:

Some major news from UCSD is the mega-processing of a CD mega-gift. It was only a year ago an entire wall of our Annex was filled with the 34,800 CD gift from Vivendi/MP3.com. Now more than half of the gift is in our local catalog and on the Music Library shelves--our serviceable CD collection has doubled in size in one year! This feat was the result of administrative support, a special interdepartmental workflow, and dedicated staff all around. After I weeded the gift, an Acquisitions Department team searched OCLC for copy. During their peak activity in the summer, 1000 discs were being searched each week. These discs then came down to Music Library staff members who helped verify that the copy matched the item in hand and make quality control edits such as typo corrections. Most of these local catalog records still await review for cataloging to regular local standards. The discs without copy are now being processed by creating short provisional records and prioritized original cataloging. As expected, this vast number of CDs encompasses a wealth of jazz, blues, classical, world music, and popular music past and present. Only a small percentage of the gift duplicated performances already in our collection, built over the years with an emphasis on post-1950 art music.

Another major development is the renovation of the Music Library's services room, completed during the Spring/Summer intersession. The upgrade of equipment, wiring and furnishings enables expanded support of digital audio reserves and also a prototype service to stream film and video reserves.

This fall I'm again teaching the music research methods course for grad students. The campus was closed for several days because of firestorm related concerns, although I happened to be in Baltimore attending ISMIR during the worst of the downwind smoke and ash problem in La Jolla.

It was great to catch up with many of you last month at our meeting in L.A.!

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Louise Spear:

In our September 2002 issue, we reported that Louise Spear was on leave from the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, working as Project Manager for Archiving and Preservation at the GRAMMY Foundation, a non-profit arm of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. On July 1, 2003, Louise formally retired from UCLA to continue the work she had begun at the GRAMMY Foundation, building an archive from the thousands of boxes of documentation and memorabilia accumulated over 45 years of the Recording Academy’s activities.

In August, 2003, Louise attended the annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists in Los Angeles where she participated with David Seubert of UC Santa Barbara and Sam Brylawski of the Library of Congress in a session that explored the past, present, and future of recorded sound in American archives. If you missed her presentation, entitled “125 Years of Recorded Sound: A Challenge for Archives in the 21st Century”, a recording of the session is available through the SAA website.

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Russell Wong:

This time a year ago, I was working as an Audiovisual Cataloger for Follett Media Distribution (FMD). FMD was headquartered in Crystal Lake, Ill. with a remote cataloging facility in Culver City, Calif. I was doing full original cataloging of music CDs: enhanced contents notes, name/title added entries, 041 fields (stacked, then unstacked), 538 fields (for those "enhanced compact discs"), 3 different classification systems (LC, DDC21, ANSCR) and 3 different types of subject analysis (LCSH, AC, Sears). Yes, I got to catalog everything: classical, country, rock, rap, musicals, movie soundtracks, world music, electronica, etc ... I got to hear them all & catalog them all. I loved my work!! Then something happened ...

The Follett Culver City office closed in April and the Crystal Lake headquarters eventually merged in July 2003 with Book Wholesalers Inc. (BWI), a sister division of Follett Corporation. BWI is located in Lexington, Kentucky. Friday, 4 April, 2003 was my last day of work at FMD.

After three weeks of job searching, I landed a job, through the services of Advanced Information Management (AIM), as a Consultant/Cataloger at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) library . I am now a music cataloger working at a transportation library. Interesting combination, ehh??

My current position includes cataloging transportation items, computer & technology books, various government documents, declassified military materials, & EIR reports in practically all formats (books, videos, serials, and microfiche!!). This is definitely broadening my professional development. What’s more, it was at least partly because of my present position that I responded to Vic's second call for papers and gave a presentation titled "All aboard a musical train: railroads in songs and music" at our last MLA/SCC chapter meeting!

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If reading the Member News reminds you that you haven’t yet renewed your MLA/SCC membership, here’s what to do:

• Print out the Membership form, fill it out, and mail it with your check payable to MLA/SCC to:
  

Joan Flintoff LoPear
UCLA Young Research Library, A1538 YRL
Box 951575 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575









WELCOME TO OUR NEW MEMBERS!
If you’ve joined MLA/SCC within the past year, please e-mail us so we can include you in the next issue!









WHAT’S UP??

• New York Times Columnist Michelle Slatalla recently interviewed Dan Del Fiorentino for her article about the disappearance of the neighborhood music store. Look for “Sheet music to setTiny Hands a-Tinkling” on P G4 of the October 23, 2003 NYT.
• A reminder that the October, 2003 CLIR publication, Care and handling of CDs and DVDs: A Guide for librarians and archivists, by Fred Byers, is downloadable (free!). from the Council on Library and Information Resources.
• The 2004 Ojai Festival will feature pianist Mitsuko Uchida, “orchestra of voices” Chanticleer and Cleveland baroque orchestral ensemble, Apollo’s Fire. Plan now to be there, June 3-6.
• And if you didn’t make it to the Ojai Festival seventh annual Holiday Home Look In on Nov. 22-23, visit the homes online.









IN MEMORIAM: JOAN MEGGETT
One of Southern California’s pioneer music librarians is no longer with us. We have recently learned that long-time MLASCC member Joan Meggett, who served as music librarian for the University of Southern California from 1955-1974, recently passed away. Joan’s legacy includes not only the distinguished music collections she built, but also her inspiring model as a “scholar-librarian”, a respected teacher of music bibliography, a caring human being and friend.

Joan was a native daughter of Southern California and spent the bulk of her career at Southern California’s oldest institution of higher learning. Born in Los Angeles in 1909, Joan attended local schools and graduated from Hollywood’s Immaculate Heart High School in 1928. She was a pianist, and studied with Olga Steeb, Mary Carr Moore, and Ethel Leginska. After serving as a WAC during World War II, she attended USC, taking coursework in English literature, music history and librarianship. Los Angeles Public Library hired her as their music librarian while she was still a student, but they lost her to USC after that institution established their Department of Music History and realized their acute need for a full-time, trained music librarian. Over the years, she constructed a fully operating music library and, in spite of modest funding, one capable of supporting doctoral level study. She also worked with the Arnold Schoenberg Institute in its beginning days on USC’s campus.

While at USC, Joan developed an outstanding reputation for her work as music librarian. Along with that came the sincere gratitude and respect of the music faculty. Pauline Alderman termed her, “God’s gift to the musicologists at USC”. During her retirement Joan enjoyed pursuing many musical and scholarly activities, including those related to her interests in music bibliography and women musicians.

Her warm-hearted example of enthusiastic hard work, life-long scholarship and service is one to which we may all aspire.

Danette Cook Adamson
Cal Poly Pomona

• A more extensive biography, including a portrait of Joan and a bibliography of her works, appears in the article, “Servants, scholars and sleuths: early leaders in California music librarianship,” Notes 48 (March 1992), pp. 819-823.

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Memories of Joan Meggett

The year was 1970 and I was a second year library school student at USC. One of the Bibliography class sessions was held in the USC Music Library and Joan was the enthusiastic lecturer. This opened my mind to the exciting possibility of a career in music librarianship. Joan served as a role model for me then, and later when we met again at MLA/SCC and AMS chapter meetings she became a good friend as well.

After her retirement from USC, Joan used her considerable expertise to catalog an opera score collection at Honnold Library, Claremont Colleges, where I was employed as a librarian with responsibility for music. This was a project she relished, and I enjoyed having her as a colleague.

In her later years Joan continued to attend MLA/SCC meetings, as her health permitted, enjoying her contacts with fellow librarians. Her interest in all aspects of music librarianship never waned. She corresponded with many of her former students and delighted in their accomplishments.

Early music, evidenced by her beloved harpsichord, had always been important to her. Increasingly, medieval music and art and her Catholic faith blended to form a central part of her life. In her last years, her spiritual life provided great solace to her.

Joan was a pioneer in music librarianship in southern California. Generous with her knowledge, she was a personable and witty mentor to me and many others. I shall always be grateful for having known her.

Betty Roleder









MESSAGE FROM THE RETIRING EDITOR
At the end of my last issue of our Newsletter, I’d like to salute several members of the Chapter who made my job easier. Armfuls of red roses to and Joan Lopear Flintoff for rallying to produce eminently printable copy when called upon, as well as lavish toasts to every Chapter member who’s submitted write-ups and news reports. Special thanks to Ken Brown, a non-member who nonetheless considered the successful production and mailing of the MLA/SCC Newsletter to be a family emergency, proving repeatedly that the endurance of our marriage knows no limits!

In my home town, Winnipeg, I was an avid member of the Piano Club, an association that supports adult amateur pianists by providing workshops, master classes and performance opportunities. Boston has a vibrant Piano Amateurs Association, Washington boasts its Adult Music Student Forum, and San Francisco is now home to ppp-fff Adult Piano Students. I’m planning to use my “spare time” in the next year to initiate a South Bay version of these organizations—please wish me good fortune in this endeavor!

My best wishes go to our incoming editor, Marion Scichilone, whose experience and creativity will undoubtedly breathe new life into our pages. I look forward to her first issue in Spring 2004. See you at the next Chapter meeting!

E. Carol Dales












MLA/SCC Executive Board

Chair: Vic Cardell, San Diego Public Library

Vice Chair/Chair Elect: Ken Calkins, UC San Diego

Secretary/Treasurer: Joan Flintoff LoPear, UCLA Young Research Library

Members-At-Large: Antonio Calvo, CSU Northridge

Liza Vick, UC-Irvine

Past Chair: Dan Del Fiorentino, NAMM-International Music Products Association









MLA/SCC Newsletter, No. 79, November 2003

Editor: E. Carol Dales

The MLA/SCC Newsletter is published twice yearly. Please send future communications to our new editor: Marion Scichilone, San Clemente Library, 242 Avenida Del Mar, San Clemente, CA 92672. phone: 949-492-3493









Content and original graphics Copyright © 1993-2004
Music Library Association, Southern California Chapter

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