IAML International Association of Music Libraries

 

Minutes of the IAML General Assembly held in Périgueux, France. 12 July 2001

Opening remarks by the President

The President, Pamela Thompson, welcomed all participants to IAML’s 19th Congress, and its 50th anniversary.

IAML Members who have died

The President remarked that IAML had lost several of its distinguished members during the past year, and that it was particularly sad for the French branch that they had lost two of their most significant members so close to this special Congress in France.

Dan Fog, died October 2000 (Anders Lönn)

Many people may not remember Dan Fog, as his last appearance at a IAML meeting was in Elsinore, in 1995. His work involved the bibliography of nineteenth century printed music, and his music business, thus he united his business and his hobby. His many bibliographies of nineteenth and twentieth century Danish composers led to his appointment to the editorial Board of the Grieg edition. His bibliographic method was to buy all the works of a composer, and then make a list. He also compiled other non-composer-related bibliographies as well. His work in IAML revolved around his interests of music publishing and printing in Denmark, the bibliographic control of nineteenth century imprints, and the dating of printed music. He became the chair of the Sub-commission on dating music terminology.

He compiled a complete bibliography of nineteenth century music publishers’ catalogues, with the aim of complementing a universal bibliography that evolved into Hofmeister. He was hospitable, a lively raconteur, with a pool table in his basement, and was also a tough and dedicated businessman, altogether, a colourful character.

Simone Wallon (Catherine Massip)

Simone Wallon was a member of the Music Department at the Bibliothèque National de France. She had excellent relations with the outside world, and worked extensively on restoration programmes. She was a generous person, an extraordinary scholar, and an excellent Germanist. Her other interests included popular songs in France. She continued to work for many years, and it is thanks to her that the French work on the three R projects was accomplished. She was a very important figure.

François Lesure (Catherine Massip)

François Lesure was involved in so many activities that it is difficult to talk about him in only a few minutes. His musicological accomplishments were many, such as research into sixteenth century music. He was secretary to RISM, and mounted exhibitions commemorating Mozart and Berlioz. He was a Debussy scholar, and worked on his complete works, and complete correspondence, also a dictionary of French musical terminology. He was Director of music studies at the Free University of Brussels, and was also a supporter of contemporary music. He was possessed of great wisdom, and encouraged younger members to participate in musical activities.

François Lesure (Maria Calderisi)

He is remembered as a close friend and colleague, who she encouraged to become the Chair of the Bibliography Commission. He always encouraged others, however small the activity, though he was not so concerned with day to day running details. She offered her condolences to the French Branch.

The President said that she had written to Anik Lesure on behalf of IAML. She asked the members to reflect on these distinguished figures who had been associated with the association.

The President mentioned that the General Assembly had been scheduled to last longer than usual, on this anniversary, in order to allow other organisations to join in our celebrations.

1. President’s Report (Pam Thompson)

Pam Thompson said that her period of office had been one of the amazing periods in her life, which had given her extreme pleasure. She recalled several IMC occasions, such as the meeting in Amsterdam, the General Assembly in Petra, and a banquet under the stars. She felt that the organisation has pulled itself together, is looking to the future and improving its agenda with a focus on global issues. She felt that if the Council did not exist, we would have to invent it. She has also been regularly invited to ISMN meetings, and attended them in London and Prague, and expressed her appreciation of its continued association with IAML.

In 1999, the Baltic-Nordic meeting in Tallinn was a great event. There were many attendees, and it augurs well for the future. In 2000, the conference at the Moscow Conservatoire on Russian archives organised by Emilia Rassina offered the opportunity to see the wonderful music collections in Moscow. In the Fall of 2000, she was invited to the opening of the new music library at Cornell University, an extraordinary occasion. In Antwerp she attended the first meeting of a new EU project called PULMAN, which is broader than Harmonica, and into which IAML has been asked for input on non-print materials. The funding was a long time in coming, so as a result, the time line for results is short. Its aim is to bring together the most important standards in electronic format, and to find out the best. It should be of benefit to all of us. She will be needing assistance, and would like to know of anyone who wants to participate.

The Unesco Memory of the World project was considering the inclusion of a musical composition, and Beethoven’s Ninth symphony was suggested. A recommendation of one autograph and one sound recording is going forward. IAML nominated RISM for the IMC Unesco Music Prize, an action much appreciated by Harald Heckmann and Klaus Keil.

Pam thanked IAML members from around the world for their support, help, contacts, newsletters, also, all the members of Council, and the IAML Board, especially the Treasurer and the Secretary General. It has been a great pleasure to be President.

2. Secretary General’s Report (Alison Hall)

Activities since the congress in San Sebastian 1998

The Board

The composition of the IAML Board since 1998 has been as follows: Pam Thompson, President; Veslemöy Heintz, Past President; Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi, Joachim Jaenecke, John Roberts, Kirsten Voss Eliasson, Vice-Presidents; Martie Severt, Treasurer (appointed to take office from 1998) and Alison Hall, Secretary General, appointed for a four year term in 1995, and finishing the first of two further two year terms. A search committee has been struck to find a successor to the Secretary General, to take office after the conference in 2003.

Board meetings

The Board has continued to hold mid-year meetings between conferences, to discuss on-going and urgent issues, and to do advance planning of IAML activities. In 1999 we met in Copenhagen, in 2000 in Utrecht, and in 2001 in Uppsala. I am happy to report that all members were present at all meetings.

Fontes artis musicae

All good things come to an end, and our excellent editor of Fontes, Suki Sommer, has concluded her term as Editor. Under her leadership, Fontes has flourished, and spread its wings. But in an end is a beginning, and that beginning is the term of Suki's successor, John Wagstaff, who was appointed to the job last year in Edinburgh. We can rest assured that Fontes will be competently and confidently passed from one first class pair of hands to another. As must we all, IAML moves with the times, and an agreement was signed with H.W. Wilson, to make Fontes available electronically via the Library Literature Index, Library Literature and Information Science, and Omnifile. We hope that this venture will perhaps serve to make a wider dissemination of the work of IAML. We will also be exploring electronic adventures with other publishers.

Conferences

In 1998 we met in San Sebastian, Spain, in 1999 in Wellington, New Zealand, our first meeting in the southern hemisphere, and also our first winter meeting, and in 2000 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

National Branches and Membership

Since 1998 there have been new national branch officers in Australia, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States. A new national branch has been launched in Russia, a happy event that does not occur very often. More and more national branches are creating their own web sites, which are swiftly linked to the IAML Home page by Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi, who was appointed the official webmaster in 1998. This is probably a good place to mention the Balto-Nordic conference that took place in Tallinn, in October 1999, attended by 130 music librarians from Baltic and Nordic countries. It was an unqualified success, and will perhaps lead to more meetings of this kind. Several national branches are managing to keep up their activities and involvements with R-projects, despite financial cutbacks, and there are a number of developments concerning online catalogues, and joint cataloguing ventures of various kinds. Music librarians are obviously seizing the day, and making new technologies work to their advantage. Many branches continue to produce a variety of publications relating to the musical resources of their countries, as well as interesting and lively newsletters and journals.

Professional Branches, Subject Commissions, Working Groups and Committees

At the meeting in Wellington, elections were held for all Professional Branches and Subject Commissions. The names of the officers are listed in the Wellington Council minutes, and in the conference programmes for Edinburgh and Périgueux. The Working Group on Hofmeister XIX was extended for a further three years in Wellington, the Working Group on the Core Bibliographic Record was wound up in 1999, and new working groups were struck on Music in UNIMARC in 2000, and Archival Registration in 1997. In 1999 an Information Technology Committee was formed. In 2000, Anders Lönn stepped down as Chair of the Constitution Committee, after many years faithful service, and was succeeded by Richard Chesser.

Cooperation with other organisations

IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations)
Papers have been received from IFLA regarding the activities of their Standing Committees on Cataloguing, Bibliography, Education and Training, and Public Libraries, also their call for nominations for elections to their Executive Board, and their Journal. After a hiccup in 1998 when their conference dates clashed with ours (or vice versa), IFLA seems to have returned to a regular schedule, and conflict has been avoided. IAML hopes to be involved in the IFLA conference in Glasgow, in 2002.

ICA (International Council on Archives)
Inger Enquist has become a corresponding member of the ICA group that deals with the archives of international organisations. She attended a seminar on archival description in Stockholm, and their Congress, held every four years, in Seville, in 2000.

IMC (International Music Council)
Under the leadership of its President, Frans de Ruiter, elected in 1998, the IMC would seem to be making concerted efforts to whip itself into better financial shape, and to become a more transparent and cooperative organisation. Having reached a point where withdrawal from the organisation was being given serious consideration by IAML, the President has since been able to present very positive reports after meetings in Cairo, Petra, and Amsterdam which indicate that there is much more opportunity for open debate, and a reception towards criticism, plus a reduction in their debts. IAML has become involved in some Unesco projects. Pam Thompson felt that although the IMC is not an ideal organisation, something like it should nevertheless exist, as an international body representing music.

ISO (International Standards Organisation)
After considerable effort and lobbying, but stopping just short of bribery and corruption, Lenore Coral became IAML's liaison to Technical Committee 46, Standing Committee 8, on library statistics.

Outreach

In 1995 IAML established an Outreach fund, funded initially by voluntary donations from members, and later by a subvention of 2% annually from IAML's income, for the purpose of transporting donated materials from their origin to their destination. As a direct result of extremely robust interest from the offshore account, a second Outreach Fund was established in 1998, by investing DM 30,000, the interest from which, or DM 1,500, whichever is the greater, was designated to provide attendance for those with financial difficulties to attend conferences. The money was made available to the national branch hosting the current conference, and guidelines for the handling of this enterprise were drawn up. The US Branch Donated Music Materials programme is working well, and it is much appreciated that they are willing to list materials from other countries on their circulated lists.

IAML Electronic Newsletter

After two trial issues, a IAML electronic newsletter has been launched. The aim is to include items of a lighter, or more ephemeral nature, that would not appear in Fontes. However, it might also include items such as conference reports, which would appear in Fontes later on, but not until several months after the meeting in question.

3. Treasurer’s Report (Martie Severt)

Martie Severt said that he found the position of Treasurer to be a very rewarding one, and that it has been a pleasure to meet so many people from the different branches. He thanked the branch officers for sending him information required for the List of Members, and the mailing labels, and for sending their dues in on time, or more or less on time! Expenditure is regularly overestimated, and more so than usual at this time, due to the late appearance of Fontes. Income, which is very dependent on the dues income, is stable, and our investments have yielded much profit in past years, but unfortunately a loss in 2000. It has now been possible to transfer some of this money to capital secured funds, which are safer. Regarding the proposed three-year budget, in 2002, our dues currency will change from the DM to the €, and a dues increase is subsequently proposed for 2003, of 45.5 € to 50 € for institutional members, and 28 € to 30 € for individual members. The last increase was in 1997, for institutional members only, and a further increase is advised to be able to cope with greater future expenditures. The expense of Fontes has increased, so the budget has been raised accordingly. Other forthcoming expenditures include a reprint of the brochure, the List of members, and a slightly larger travel budget to accommodate travel to Berkeley.

If the proposed budget is approved, then we should have one year’s running costs in hand, which is the recommended cushion to have. Details of the Outreach funds are given in the statement of accounts, and a list of members is attached. Numbers stand at 1950. The question was asked if the change to the € will affect our funds, and Martie replied that it is expected that the € will get stronger once it is in use as a currency. The Council recommended the acceptance of the report and budget. The General Assembly registered its acceptance.

4. Fontes artis musicae (Pam Thompson for John Wagstaff)

John Wagstaff is committed to retaining Fontes as a multilingual publication. It is a shame that the French issue (47/2-3) was not ready before the conference, but it is in press, and should be out by the end of July. Issue 47/4, the last one to be edited by Suki Sommer, is with the publisher, and 48/1 will be the anniversary issue, edited by Maria Calderisi, and is just about ready to go to the publisher. It includes reminiscences, and a IAML chronology. Issue 48/2, guest edited by Stanley Boorman, and featuring five hundred years of music printing, will go to press as soon as possible. Finally, reports from Chairs for this meeting would be appreciated as soon as possible.

Maureen Buja sent Suki’s thanks to everyone for everything, and said that she was very sad to have to relinquish the editorship of Fontes earlier than anticipated. Pam responded with many thanks to Suki for all her hard work turning Fontes around, and wished her well. 

5. Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections

The election results were as follows:

President: John H. Roberts
Vice-Presidents: Dominique Hausfater, Federica Riva, Ruth Hellen, Kirsten Voss Eliasson

Pam Thompson thanked those who were retiring from the Board and Council: from the Board, Joachim Jaenecke, who had had special responsibility for Outreach activities, Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi, who was always full of ideas and fun, and will continue as webmaster, and chair of the IT Committee, Veslemöy Heintz, after fourteen years on the Board as Secretary General, President, and Past President, who had been a fount of wisdom, and who knows so much about the Association, and from the Council, Don Roberts, as Past, past President. John Roberts, incoming President, extended thanks to Pam Thompson for her extraordinary leadership as President, and previously, as Treasurer. She has been an outstanding President, and articulate spokesman in all ways.

6. Honorary memberships

When the Board met in March, it discussed in what ways it might choose to mark IAML’s 50th anniversary. One of these was to appoint honorary members, which has not been done for quite a long time. Sadly, one the people chosen was François Lesure, who died only a short while ago. It was felt that this honour should still be bestowed posthumously. The French branch has been consulted about this, and the Council has approved it.

There are others whose service to the Association has over the years been quite exceptional, and for whom the Association’s work has been central in their lives. Their dedication to music libraries, and achievements in their own libraries, has been extraordinary. They have been moving forces in the profession and they are people to whom we know we can turn for advice and wise counsel.

The President mentioned having spoken earlier about a visit to the opening of a stupendous new music library, for its inauguration. It was not merely opened, but truly celebrated with music and with scholarship. Its librarian not only starred at that inauguration, but also was honoured by the creation of an endowment for the library in her name, a very rare tribute. The esteem in which she is held by the faculty there and by her colleagues can only be an inspiration to us all.

Within IAML, throughout her career, she has been continually active. She was a Vice-President for six years, chaired the Cataloguing Commission for six years chaired the Publications Committee, represented IAML in IFLA and ISO affairs, and strove to see an ISMN accepted. She has been president of the US Branch, and, still undeterred, is spearheading the work for next year’s conference at Berkeley.

Her meticulous scholarly work, most particularly in documenting auction catalogues, makes her name a byword in the field, while her writings on standards in automation are perhaps cited more often than any other work in music librarianship. She has shown unstinting commitment to IAML in the least slavish of ways by never failing to criticise and to provoke thought to bring about positive outcomes. She could be seen as IAML’s conscience. This person is Lenore Coral.

When we talk of service to the Association, there is another person whose commitment has been equally consistent, equally determined, equally provocative and equally essential. He served on the Board of the Association for some fifteen years as Secretary General for nine, and as President and Past President. He chaired the Cataloguing Commission for a while, but for many years was our constitutional expert, not only chairing the Constitution Committee for a considerable number of years, but overall devoting, we think, twenty five years to its activities and deliberations. He was IAML’s liaison with the International standards Organisation for the ISMN, and, like Lenore, did much to ensure its acceptance internationally. He was active on ISBD committees and in various capacities in the R-Projects, most importantly perhaps in RILM, where his work on the multi-lingual thesaurus sub-commission was vital. He continues to serve RISM as a member of its technical committee, where his lifelong experience of library and documentation automation is absolutely invaluable.

In his own country, he is the foremost music librarian, and one of the foremost music cataloguers and bibliographers. He began in a real sense the national music history archive and has been head of the country’s principal music library since 1981, for twenty years. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Music in his home country, and has served as its Vice-President. He has been active in the RIdIM and RIPM committees at home, was a leading light in the formation of his national RILM committee and did all that country’s RILM work for the first twenty years. He was a central figure in the group which translated AACR2 into his mother language, and it was he who put music on the national cataloguing agenda. He now chairs the national cataloguing committee. Apart from all this, he has been President of his national branch of IAML for longer than anyone can remember, and remains President. The country is, of course, Sweden, and the nominee, is, of course, Anders Lönn.

The Board previously presented these three names to the Council, who approved them, and they were now presented to the General Assembly for approval. This was given unanimously.

7. IAML elder statesmen

On this special anniversary occasion, we wanted to invite as many IAML elder statesmen as possible to attend. Many of them have already contributed their thoughts to the anniversary issue of Fontes.

Brian Redfern regretted being unable to come as he has a conflicting engagement.

Kurt Dorfmüller regretted being unable to come, saying he was too busy and also a little elderly.

Wolfgang Rehm regretted being unable to come, as he had other commitments.

André Jurrés sent his regrets, and also two photographs from the Budapest meeting.

8. International Organisations

It was also decided that we should share our anniversary with other international organisations with whom we have contacts. Some of them have been able to send representatives.

IMC (Guy Huot, Secretary General)
The IMC is two years older than IAML, and IAML began under its auspices. There has always been a close relationship between the two. The IMC has 70 national committees and 40 international organisations, and is the only non-Governmental organisation in the field of culture affiliated to Unesco to operate with this type of double membership. The international organisations are the thinking head of the organisation and the national committees the grass roots links. M. Huot said that it was comforting to be at a such a serene and prosperous General Assembly. He was pleased to say that the IMC has finally produced a balanced budget. Many IMC presidents have been involved in music librarianship, and it is hoped to increase the opportunities to work together. It is easy to forget that there are problems in other countries who are not as fortunate as us. There is, for example, the project of a documentation centre for Africa. In the future we will be dealing less with printed materials and more with audio-visual material. The IMS=IMC hopes that IAML will be able to collaborate in its various projects, with the financial support of Unesco. There is, for instance, a major drive for arts education in schools, which will be of value to all. There is an emphasis on oral heritage, which must include music, and Unesco relies on the IMC for these types of projects. For the next two years the IMC will concentrate on globalisation, and will try to enhance the positive aspects of new technologies. The IMC is happy that music librarians are doing such wonderful work, and hopes that we can continue to work together even more closely.

IMS
Unfortunately Dorothea Baumann was unable to be present. Pam Thompson spoke of the four R projects, which were all founded under joint IMS-IAML patronage. They have all been major successes and of fundamental importance for both organisations, and an essential collaboration. Musicologists and music librarians should be interdependent.

IAMIC (Ber Deuss, President)
IAMIC grew out of IAML, where it started as the MIC section, and is now a flourishing association in its own right. It is hoped that IAML and IAMIC will meet together again, before too long. Ber Deuss expressed his pleasure at being in Périgueux on behalf of IAMIC, and congratulated IAML on its 50 years of existence. IAMIC still has a fond feeling for its mother organisation. André Jurrés established the MIC section of IAML, and in 1991 it stood on its own feet, and became a separate organisation. It is very strong in the field of contemporary music. In 1991 there were eighteen official members, now there are over forty. Our work is really very similar, and our interests mutual.

IASA (Maria Carla Sotgiu)
Dottoressa Sotgiu expressed her pleasure at being present at the IAML Congress, representing IASA and its President, Crispin Jewett, who sent the message that it was a pleasure to bring congratulations from a neighbouring association, IASA, on the occasion of IAML’s 50th annual meeting. The associations have shared a history, IASA having flown the nest in 1969. A significant overlapping membership is still enjoyed, and for him personally, it is good to observe support for both organisations from his institution, the British Library. The long tradition of sharing conferences will be renewed in Oslo in 2004, as it was in Perugia in 1996, and Helsinki in 1993. IASA looks forward to an enjoyable event where our professional themes continue to overlap. Specialist professional organisations have much to gain from cooperation at all levels, and IASA’s experience of joint conferences bears this out. He hopes that some IAML members will be attending the IASA/ARSC conference in London in September. IASA wishes IAML every success in the next 50 years and personal wishes for very close cooperation in this new context, which is dominated by technology and offers the chance to create more effective services to our users.

ISMN (Hartmut Walravens)
Herr Walravens said how happy he was to convey the regards and congratulations of the ISMN community on the occasion of IAML’s 50th birthday. The two have had a close association for a number of years, indeed, the ISMN would not exist without IAML. There are now over thirty offices worldwide in over thirty-five countries, the newest member being Turkey. Recently the United States agreed to introduce the ISMN. There was a recent ISMN meeting in Prague, and the next meeting will be in Turkey. A new edition of the International Music Publishers’ Directory will appear soon. He offered many thanks to those who had helped the ISMN agency, which has managed to hire part-time help, and now it has a trained musicologist. He wished IAML another successful fifty years.

IFLA
Although IFLA had originally promised to send a representative, they were unable to attend. We would like to get more music on the IFLA agenda.

ICA
Good relationships with ICA exist via Inger Enquist, and it is hoped they will continue, and develop further.

Eblida (Richard Chesser)
The EU harmonisation directive had a successful outcome, thanks to Eblida. The President expressed IAML’s sincere appreciation to Richard for his work on the Harmonisation project.

9. Future conferences

2002 Berkeley, CA, US. 4-9 August
2003 Tallinn, Estonia 6-11 July
2004 Oslo, Norway, June 20-25
2005 Warsaw, Poland
2006 Gothenburg?, Sweden
2007 Sydney, Australia

10. Presidential thoughts

The President spoke first of programme changes for this conference, such as a longer General Assembly, and the move of national branch reports to the Closing Session, so that they would have a wider audience, as it seemed a shame to have them confined to the Council session. The Board has mentioned that it would like to look hard at the pattern of the programme for future years, and is interested in exploring a new shape. Times change, and it would welcome more involvement of more people, as wide a participation as possible. IAML is not a secret society, and we should have as many people as possible involved in our work. All meetings are open, everyone can attend, and is especially welcome to attend the Council meetings.

Instructions for joining IAML-L are available. This is a wonderful medium of communication, it is fast, and you do get results, so join it! Next year we will have elections for Branch and Commission Chairs, Vice-Chairs, and Secretaries, so she urged people to get involved, and get nominated.

The General Assembly was adjourned.