IAML International Association of Music Libraries

Minutes of the IAML General Assembly held in Oslo, Norway. July 2004

1. Opening remarks by the President

The President, John Roberts, opened the proceedings by welcoming IAML members to the General Assembly, which is the main governing body of IAML, responsible for making fundamental decisions, and recommendations. All members have the right to speak, and to express their opinions of the work of the Association, to suggest new ideas, or indicate their willingness to participate in its activities, and their interest in serving as officers for the Branches and Commissions.

In the past three years IAML has continued to thrive. We have three strong publications; Fontes Artis Musicae, the electronic Newsletter, and the IAML website. Two volumes of RISM Series C have appeared. We have two new Branches. Hofmeister has come to fruition and the Working Group on UNIMARC has become a Sub-commission.

Organisational change is in progress. We have new election procedures. A Programme Committee has been established to co-ordinate and shape conference programmes. There is now an Outreach Committee. A broader mandate has been assigned to the Publications Committee. An editor has been appointed for the Newsletter, relieving the Secretary General of that additional duty. We are experimenting with ways to organize the heart of our conferences. National Reports have been moved around as we search for the best place for them.

An ad-hoc group has been appointed by the Board to report back to Council on the structure of the annual conferences. The members are Richard Chesser (Chair), Jim Cassaro, Roger Flury, Inger Enquist, Aurika Gergeležiu, John Roberts and Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi (ex-officio). They welcome ideas from members by email and in person.

The RIdIM project has been revitalized and reconstituted. It is a joint IAML – IMS project, and thanks are due to Veslemöy Heintz, who has played such a central role in its resurrection.

New Grove 2 has entered new territory with its acquisition by Oxford University Press (USA). John Roberts, on behalf of IAML, along with representatives of IMS, RMA, MLA, SAM, SMT and ICTM, wrote to OUP to reinforce the Editor’s case for stronger support. As a result of this action, these associations now form an advisory board. David Fallows had attended the conference in Tallinn, and the President welcomed Antonio Baldassare and the Secretary General of IMS, Dorothea Baumann to this Oslo meeting.

Fontis Artis Musicae is our face to the outside world. The Editor, John Wagstaff has ensured the continuing high standard of the journal. However, he has now announced his decision to step down from this role. A Search Committee of Dominique Hausfater (Chair), John Roberts and Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi has been set up to carry out the task of finding a successor. The President urged anyone who might want to be considered for this position to contact any member of the Committee.

The President expressed his thanks to - and admiration of – our Norwegian colleagues who had cared so well for us throughout the week. It had been a most stimulating conference with IASA.

Two Board members, Kirsten Voss-Eliasson and Pam Thompson, were completing their terms of office. The President paid tribute to Kirsten for her valuable contribution to the work of the Board, particularly as a tireless advocate for public libraries. He thanked Pam for all she has given to the Association since she first took a central role in 1992. She has been President, Past-President and Treasurer, as well as the Chair of the Programme Committee. Never short of ideas, Pam has given generously of herself.

Finally, John Roberts thanked all IAML members for their hard work and kindnesses during his term as President.

2. Report of the Secretary General (Roger Flury)

The Secretary General reported on IAML activities since the Congress in Périgueux in 2001

The Board

The composition of the IAML Board since 2001 has been as follows: President, John Roberts; Past-President, Pam Thompson; Vice-Presidents (in alphabetical order) Dominque Hausfater, Ruth Hellen, Federica Riva and Kirsten Voss-Eliasson. Treasurer, Martie Severt; Secretary General, Alison Hall (completing two additional two-year terms in July 2003) and Roger Flury, appointed from July 2003 for a 4-year term.

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. Meetings were held in Milan (2002), Paris (2003) and London (2004). Fortunately all Board members were able to attend each meeting.

Fontes artis musicae

John Wagstaff, who was appointed Editor in succession to Suki Sommer in 2000, has ensured that Fontes continues to be first class publication. He has made strenuous efforts to get publication back on schedule and has no shortage of quality material. John confirmed his commitment to a mix of scholarly and practical articles as well as maintaining the tri-lingularity of Fontes. During the period under review, searches have been undertaken for an indexer, a news and review editor for the USA/Canada and corresponding editors for several countries.

At the Fontes meeting held in Tallinn in 2003, those present agreed that it might be a good idea to circulate a questionnaire to IAML members, canvassing their opinions on the journal. As a result of this, the Editor formulated a questionnaire with the help of the Fontes editorial board. The IAML Board has also contributed some suggestions. When the questionnaire is finalised it will be made available.

In 2004 we received a proposal from A-R Editions to host an electronic version of Fontes that would be held securely on a server under their control, and which would allow IAML to give subscribers to Fontes (i.e. IAML members) access to the electronic version of the journal. A meeting was held between James Zychowicz of A-R, and IAML representatives John Roberts, Martie Severt, Alison Hall and John Wagstaff, all of whom were in Washington for the MLA meeting.

IAML Electronic Newsletter

A search committee was established to find an editor for the electronic newsletter which had been set up on an experimental basis and edited provisionally by Alison Hall. Michael Fingerhut was appointed in 2003, and four issues have since been produced; October 2003, January, April and July 2004.

IAML Website

In 2003, our Webmaster Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi undertook a redesign of the site, assisted by Gabriele Gamba. The web address was simplified to become www.IAML.info . Anyone searching for the more obvious IAML.org will be taken to the site of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

Conferences

The 50th anniversary of the birth of IAML was celebrated in July 2001 at our 19th Congress which was held in delightful Périgueux, capital of the Perigord region of France. For this special occasion we were joined by some of IAML’s elder statespeople as well as representatives of international organisations with whom we have close contact.

In August 2002 we gathered for our annual conference under the blue skies and hot sun of Berkeley, California and in July 2003 we reassembled in the beautiful Estonian capital, Tallinn.

National Branches and Membership

Since 2001 there have been new national branch officers in Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK & Ireland and the USA.

A new national branch has been launched in Austria. New Branches were in the process of formation in Croatia and Lithuania. Hopes were also expressed that national branches will be formed in Armenia, China and Hungary.

So far in 2004 we have new personal members in Latvia, Lithuania, the Ukraine and Zimbabwe.

At Périgueux, Honorary Memberships of IAML were accorded to Lenore Coral, Anders Lönn and, posthumously, to François Lesure in appreciation of exceptional service to IAML over a number of years.

Professional Branches, Subject Commissions, Working Groups and Committees

At the meeting in Berkeley, elections were held for Officers of Professional Branches and Subject Commissions. The names of the officers are listed on the IAML website and in the conference programmes for Tallinn and Oslo.

The Working Group on Music Periodicals has ceased.

The Hofmeister XIX project continues at Royal Holloway, University of London, with funding from the (UK) Arts and Humanities Research Board. The project staff—five 0.5 staff, consisting of the Project Manager (Liz Robinson) and four data entrants, under the direction of Nicholas Cook started work at the beginning of June 2004, with technical support provided by the Centre for Computing in the Humanities at King's College, London.

The Working Group on the IAML Toolbox was established at Tallinn at the instigation of Kirsten Voss-Eliasson. It is hoped that this practical project will provide an incentive for more public library participation in IAML.

The Working Group on the Exchange of Authority Data was established under the auspices of the Cataloguing Commission, and the Working Group on the Indexing of Musical Performance was established under the auspices of the Bibliography Commission, with Rupert Ridgewell appointed as Chair.

The Working Group on UNIMARC was transformed into a Sub-Commission due to IFLA’s proposal that it become the permanent body responsible for the maintenance of music codes within UNIMARC.

Council approved that the Working Group on the Registration of Music Archives become the Working Group on the International Register of Music Archives, with the addition of IRMA in parentheses. An Interim Governing Committee has been established to provide general oversight and to assist with developmental issues.

The Constitution Committee prepared wording for suggested amendments to the Rules of Procedure and the Constitution. These related to the role of Working Groups and the need to ensure that the new committees are mentioned in the Constitution, as well as amendments to the procedures for the election of officers in Working Groups and Commissions.

Another proposed amendment to the Constitution formalised the creation of multi-national branches.

An amendment to the Rules of Procedure was approved by Council and clarified the mechanics of voting for President and Vice-Presidents. This now allows for postal only ballots, the first of which was the 2004 election. Although delegates can no longer vote at the conference, candidates would be informed of the results much sooner, and this would assist them to be fully prepared to take up office.

The Copyright Committee moved to expand its membership to include wider geographic representation. In order to lobby government over the EC copyright directive, the French Branch of IAML produced an excellent text which was translated and made available on the website to other national branches.

Antony Gordon has taken over from Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi as Chair of the Information Technology Committee.

Outreach. Ruth Hellen replaced Joachim Jaenecke as the person responsible for administering the Outreach programme. Outreach takes many forms including the donation of print and A/V materials, study visits to institutions and support to attend conferences. It is an area that has grown considerably, and Council approved the establishment of an Outreach Committee, the Chair of which will always be one of the Vice-Presidents.

In Tallinn, Council approved the Board’s recommendation to merge the two Outreach Funds to allow for greater flexibility and make it easier to balance the demands for conference support and donations.

A Programme Committee, chaired by Pam Thompson, was established at the Berkeley Conference to be responsible for the overall organization of the programme. Its brief is to issue calls for proposals, review proposals submitted by individuals or branches, commissions, etc., and conceive and plan other sessions dealing with topics of current interest to members of the association. It attempts as far as possible to design a balanced, coherent, and varied programme of high calibre. The Secretary General remains responsible for scheduling the conference sessions and acting as a liaison with speakers in sessions not conducted under the auspices of a particular branch, commission, or committee. From 2004, the Chair of the Programme Committee will be Jim Cassaro.

The supervisory brief of the Publications Committee was expanded to cover all IAML publications, print or electronic, regular and extraordinary, including any publications of Branches and Commissions. It was also charged with suggesting new projects and examine the balance between all publications.

Cooperation with other organisations

IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations)
Documentation has been regularly received in paper copy and by email outlining IFLA’s activities.

IAML nominated Richard Chesser for their Copyright Committee. We participated in the election of officers and have also voted on the issue of revisions to the Association’s membership categories.

ICA (International Council on Archives)
The IAML Archivist, Inger Enquist, attended the 2002 conference in Seville and reported that we should try to participate in the UNESCO Information for All initiative, run by the ICA. In 2003 they held a Round Table meeting in Cape Town with the Theme “Archives and Human Rights” and a full conference was planned for Vienna in 2004.

The IAML Archive is located at the Music Library of Sweden and has already received many valuable documents. Previous IAML officers will be asked what material they still have, and donations of relevant material are welcomed. The inventory to the IAML Archive can be reached through the IAML website and is recommended as an excellent source of historical information.

IMC (International Music Council)
The IAML President attended the 2001 IMC General Assembly in Tokyo and was appreciative of the kind hospitality shown to him by our IAML colleagues in Japan. He reported that the IMC seemed to be in excellent recovery mode with a new President, Kiefer Fakouri. He also mentioned that the IMC Secretary General, Guy Huot, had sadly passed away in 2002 and was replaced by Damien Pwono.

A biennial report of IAML activities was supplied to the IMC for their conference in Montevideo. John Roberts represented IAML at Montevideo and reported that the IMC seemed to be re-examining its priorities with the aim of becoming an organisation that others turn to for help. As a mark of confidence in its future it had actually reduced membership fees.

The Many Musics Programme was now central to the work of the IMC and member organisations were encouraged to participate.

ISO (International Standards Organisation)
Lenore Coral became IAML's liaison to Technical Committee 46, Standing Committee 8, on library statistics. She reported that there seems to be more international fragmentation than harmonization.

Joachim Jaenecke attended the annual ISMN meeting in Ljubljana at which the USA became a member.

IAMIC (International Association of Music Information Centres)
IAMIC has been involved in two major European projects – The European Music Navigator and the Music Network, both of which should prove a valuable resource for music libraries. A joint conference with IAML is planned for 2006 in Sweden.

IASA (International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives)
Inger Johanne Christiansen attended IASA’s 2003 meeting in Aarhus and reported that they will join with IAML for a conference in Oslo in 2004.

3. Report of the Treasurer (Martie Severt)

The Treasurer corrected the error in the current Report which had inadvertently retained some figures in Deutschmark instead of Euros. He pointed to the projected decline in reserves and observed that the percentage increase in dues signaled for 2007 would depend on next year’s results. The apparent decline in membership is misleading and was caused by a strict observation of the cut-off date for renewal. In reality, membership is relatively stable. He also suggested that the Outreach Fund needs to be used more.

4. Obituaries

Martie Severt paid tribute to Huib Deetman and Wim Dijk who had passed away during the year:

“Two librarians who played an active role in the music library field in the Netherlands died; Huib Deetman on November 9 2003 (aged 69) and Wim Dijk on February 15 2004 (aged 62). Both had careers in public libraries, were involved in IAML, attended international conferences and helped to organize the conference in Amsterdam 1987.

Huib Deetman will be best remembered as the music librarian of Amsterdam Public Library (1969-1988). He was also a teacher at the Amsterdam Library School. After early retirement he went back several times to Indonesia (where he was born) to assist with library projects.

After posts in Deventer and Heemstede, Wim Dijk was music librarian at The Hague Public Library from 1978. His years there were a time of great changes such as automation and the introduction of the CD. Wim Dijk played a major role in promoting the importance of music in public libraries, and stimulated cooperation with other music institutions in The Hague. He was also a teacher at the Library School in Amsterdam, and was a Board member and Chairman for six years of the association of Dutch Music Libraries. He played a vital role in introducing the ISBD and translating it into Dutch.

In 1988 Wim Dijk left The Hague for the City Library of Haarlem, where he worked in a broader managerial function, but he always kept in touch with music library work. His death, shortly after his retirement in 2002, is very sad. We not only lost a colleague and an inspiring music lover, but also a good friend.”

Federica Riva paid tribute to Oscar Mischiati (1936 - 2004):

“Oscar Mischiati, had been music librarian of the Conservatorio di musica ‘G.B. Martini’ in Bologna for almost forty years, having started there in 1964. He was among those few people from Italy who joined IAML in the 1960s. He is author of several publications and bibliographies about Italian music publishers.

As a music librarian, Oscar Mischiati was called by the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione (Ministry of Education) to join several commissions to study the difficult situation of music libraries in Italian Conservatories. His mind was keen and clear; his sense of humour was well known, as was his deep knowledge of Italian music culture. The help he gave to younger music librarians to develop their own knowledge in the field has to be remembered as well.

Even more than a librarian, Oscar Mischiati is known as an expert of the preservation and study of Italian historical organs, and for decades he served the Ministry of Culture as a consultant. Thanks to his activity, many historical organs have been restored, and the practice of respecting the original status of historical instruments has been developed in Italy.

For a biography and other obituaries see http://www.organisti.it/mischiati.htm .”

Hugh Cobbe paid tribute to Albi Rosenthal (1914 – 2004):

“As we were reminded in the anniversary issue of Fontes Artis Musicae a few years ago, in its early years IAML was inhabited by a race of giants: I am thinking of the likes of Vladimir Féderov, Alec King, Francois Lesure, the Comtesse de Chambure, Rudolf Elvers, Otto Albrecht and so on. Amongst these quietly moved, almost imperceptibly, Albi Rosenthal. Embodying the traditions of his predecessors Leo Liepmannsohn and Otto Haas, he was a quiet eminence grise. He walked hand-in-hand with all the great collecting librarians of his time as well as with private collectors of the calibre of Alfred Cortot, Paul Hirsch and Paul Sacher, gently easing musical treasures, be they autograph manuscripts or unique printed editions, into the right home. He was certainly the doyen of the antiquarian music trade, but he was far more than that. As a former Chairman of the British Library once put it, when introducing a public lecture by Albi: ‘To describe Albi Rosenthal as a music dealer is to describe Marco Polo as a commercial traveller’!

Coming from a family background such as that of the Rosenthals and Olschki’s and marrying the daughter of Oscar Levy, the editor of Nietzsche, he was at home in the thought, literature, music and arts of our common European heritage, both as a scholar, writer and passionate performer (on the violin). He was a businessman – yes – but he was also the friend, adviser and supporter of his clients. Those of us who picked up the telephone and heard his characteristic ‘Hello – this is Albi’, always knew that something of interest was to follow. If there were year-end funds unexpectedly available and needing to be spent in a hurry, Albi could be counted on to dip into his magic box and produce a winner that was exactly right for the collection. He was content to hold items in stock for years on end until the chance to place it in its right home came along. I speak with experience not only at the British Library but also at the Britten-Pears Library at Aldeburgh (I am thinking of 30 important discarded pages from the composition sketch for Peter Grimes, and of the top half of a Mozart leaf which he took great trouble to ensure joined the bottom half, which had been in the BL for 50 years – the leaf having been cut in half by Constanze Mozart herself!).

I would like to share one particular memory with you. In 1991 Albi, a passionate lover and collector of Mozart, helped me at the BL with the publication of a new facsimile of the Mozart autograph thematic catalogue. It was at his advice we included, for the first time, all the ready-ruled unused pages at the end, as a poignant reminder of what might have been (previous facsimiles had not done this). He wrote the introductory piece on the history of the manuscript (needless to add, he had also oiled the wheels of the donation of the manuscript to the British Library). We had made an arrangement for a German edition of the facsimile to be published by Bärenreiter in the Neue-Mozart-Ausgabe; when I sent them Albi’s text, written in his clear scholarly style, they responded by asking for it to contain more ‘musikwissenschaftliche Fachsprache’. Albi assured me that this would cause him no difficulty at all, quoting Mallarmé: ‘Mettons-y de l’obscurité’!

Albi’s peaceful death on Tuesday last week leaves a gap that will never be filled. Those of us (and there were many – collectors, librarians and fellow members of the antiquarian book trade) who were fortunate to be his friends, will not forget his charm, cultivation, integrity and, above all, modesty. As Nicolas Barker, writing in The Independent, has put it: ‘The history of European music owes him a debt far beyond repayment’. We send our deepest sympathy to his widow, Maud, his daughter, Julia, and the other members of his family. In doing so we give thanks for what Albi has done for our world of music libraries.”

5. Change to the Constitution (Richard Chesser)

Documentation outlining the proposed change had been circulated to all members with the election ballot papers earlier in the year. Richard Chesser explained the background and said that this change in wording to multi-national branches was simply to bring the text in line with current practice. He also reminded members that although the text had been circulated in French and German, it is the English text upon which a vote is taken.

The proposal was put to the General Assembly. A vote was taken.

1 abstention, the rest in favour, none against. The amendment was passed.

6. Results of the election to the IAML Board (Roger Flury)

The Secretary General announced the results as follows:

President: Massimo Gentili-Tedeschi
Vice-Presidents: Jim Cassaro, Dominique Hausfater, Ruth Hellen, and Federica Riva.

He congratulated the successful candidates, and thanked all those who had taken part in the elections.

The meeting was concluded.