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Estonia, report 1997

In 1997 we had fourteen IAML members (10 institutions and 4 individuals). The Annual Meeting of the Branch was held in March at the National Library of Estonia (NLE). The new presentation of the Branch's Constitution was adopted, and Board members were elected as follows:

Avo Kartul, President (Tartu University Library); Aurika Gergeležiu, Secretary / Treasurer (NLE); Kaie Kuslap (NLE) , Reet Nikkel (Estonian Academy of Music Library), Ene Roost (Pärnu Central Library), Meery Salu (Tartu City Central Library), Tiiu Tosso (NLE) , Tiina Õun (Estonian Musicological Society).

In May a two-day seminar about popular music was held in the National Library, which was attended by twenty-four librarians. Immo Mihkelson from Raadio 2 gave a systematic overview about the developments and styles of popular music with lots of musical examples. In October Aurika Gergeležiu conducted a two-day course on music cataloguing in the Center of Information Work of the Tallinn Pedagogical University.

A Working Group on Music Subject Headings was established at the end of 1996; it includes representatives from the Estonian Academy of Music Library, the National Library of Estonia, and the Tartu University Library. The aim of the group is to work out a thesaurus of music subject headings which will form a part of the Estonian Universal Thesaurus. By the end of the year the basic list of music subject headings had been compiled. Another Working Group on Cataloguing Rules for Printed Music and Audio-Visual Material dealt with terminology used in ISBD(PM), ISBD(NBM), and USMARC jointly with the National Library's Working Group on Terminology.

In September a delegation of six music librarians from Estonia took part in the Annual Conference of IAML in Geneva.

Since September 1996 the National Library of Estonia, the Estonian Academy of Music Library and the Estonian Academy of Art Library have been involved in the TEMPUS Joint European Project "Development of Library Management in Art and Music Universities." The EU partners in the project are the Sibelius Academy (Finland), the Utrecht School of Arts (The Netherlands), and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (England). The project is focused on two aspects: building up a new library environment technologically and training of library staff. In the framework of that project, several music librarians have had an opportunity to take part in the training programs in the above mentioned institutions and to become acquainted with the work of music libraries in these countries.

Aurika Gergeležiu
Secretary, Estonian Branch