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No. 84 August 2008


Contents

Nothing could be finer than to be at East Carolina!
Annual Meeting Preview
Greenville, NC, October 9-11, 2008

David Hursh, East Carolina University
Grover Baker, Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University

New city hall in Greenville, NC
The new city hall in Greenville, NC

We invite you to East Carolina University (ECU) on October 9-11, 2008 for SEMLA's annual meeting. ECU, the third largest North Carolina state university, is located in Greenville, NC, a major industrial and economic center for the north-central coastal plain region of eastern North Carolina situated 85 miles east of the state capitol.

Annual meeting participants will stay at the Best Western Suites of Greenville, just two miles from the ECU campus. The spacious two-room suites contain either two queen-size beds or one king, and a pull-out sleeper sofa. The cost of a two-queen room, regardless of the number of guests, is $103.73 including tax and complimentary “Best Start” breakfast. The king rooms are $101.48 per night. In addition, the hotel is located within easy walking distance of a grocery, several pharmacies, and a number of light eating establishments such as Burger King and Quiznos.

This is a year of firsts for the annual meeting—the first time it will be held at ECU, and the first time it will open with a preconference workshop. The preconference workshop, Music in Libraries: Just the Basics, is presented in cooperation with MLA's Educational Outreach Program. It will take place in J.Y. Joyner Library, ECU's main library, on Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The morning session choices are “Sound Recordings Cataloging” and “Music Reference,” and in the afternoon participants may choose between “Video Recordings Cataloging” and “Music Collection Development/Acquisitions.”

The opening reception, once again graciously provided by Dana Jaunzemis and MLSC, will be held in the lobby of the new ECU School of Music addition, and will feature a selection of tasty hors d'oeuvres and canapés as well as North Carolina wines and beers. Following the reception, attendees will be transported to La Promenade, Greenville's newest outdoor mall, where they can choose from a variety of dining options such as Panera Bread, O'Charley's, Olive Garden, Tripps, and Starbucks.

Friday's sessions will also be held in Joyner Library. The program committee (Grover Baker, chair, Roberta Ford, and Jaroslaw Szurek) has arranged a varied and interesting program. Nathalie Hristov and Alan Wallace from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will get things started by sharing their experiences creating a video “infomercial” about their music library which was presented to all music faculty, staff and students at their annual Fall Convocation. Laurel Whisler (Southern Wesleyan University) will then provide a brief introduction to the Captivate webcasting software and its use in creating animated tutorials.

After the morning break, two brave souls who dared to venture outside the safe confines of their music libraries will share their adventures. Sara Beutter Manus (Vanderbilt University) will provide shivers as she details her experiences as a librarian embedded in first-year music survey courses. By attending all class meetings, teaching in-class information literacy sessions, and evaluating assignments, she came to be viewed by the students as a trusted partner in their educational process. Brrr! Following this, Alicia Hansen (Loyola University) will speak about her travels to Northern Italy on a professional leave, where she spent time with three gracious music librarians and their collections. She will describe her visit and touch on the differences between those music libraries and ours in the States.

Lunch will be of the on-your-own variety either on campus or in adjacent Uptown Greenville, which offers a range of lunch options including Starlight Café, Dale's Indian Cuisine, Chico's Mexican Restaurant, and Acasia's Tipsy Teapot.

The afternoon sessions will kick off with a local interest presentation. Dr. Otto Henry, ECU Professor Emeritus of Music, will speak about his experiences in the mid-1970s collecting music of the North Carolina Outer Banks. The field recordings, made by Karen Helms, a graduate student studying ethnomusicology under Henry at ECU, were issued as Smithsonian Folkways recordings. Holling Smith-Borne (Vanderbilt University) will then recap the progress that has been made on the Global Music Archive and the first database in this archive, The Digital Collection of East African Recordings. He will demonstrate how information is gathered and organized for the archive, give insights into the process of working with an ethnomusicologist, and report on his recent trip to Uganda. Friday's sessions will conclude with a report from the previous day's preconference workshop. Included will be an overview of the different workshops, an update on other SEMLA Educational Outreach Program activities, and a time for discussion.

The Friday evening banquet will take advantage of Eastern North Carolina's idyllic October weather by opening with an outdoor cocktail hour. Attendees will enjoy an open, hosted wine and beer bar while listening to a faculty string quartet play in memory of ECU music cataloger Edie Tibbits. The banquet itself will be an eastern North Carolina Pig Pickin' featuring eastern barbecue with its vinegar-based dressing. Fried chicken, green beans, macaroni and cheese, cole slaw, hush puppies, corn sticks, and, of course, sweet tea round out the menu. The vegetarians in the group will enjoy Pesto Linguine, spinach salad, and herb biscuits. The meal will end with scrumptious butter cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The cost for the entire evening is $35.00.

The Saturday morning sessions will be held in the School of Music's Fletcher Recital Hall, and will go to show that religion and politics can be mixed! ECU's own Nara Newcomer will share details of the provenance and contents of an over-200-year-old eastern North Carolina hymnal manuscript. It has led a colorful life (including being stolen twice!), and tradition holds that the manuscript once belonged to Methodist father John Wesley. Jenny Colvin (Furman University) will end our presentations with a timely look at presidential campaign music. As always, the morning will conclude with our business meeting.

Those interested in a Saturday afternoon trip back in time will travel to nearby New Bern for a tour of Tryon Palace and Gardens, the first permanent capitol of the Colony of North Carolina and home of the first Royal Governor, William Tryon, and his family. The palace gardens are especially lovely in October, when they feature hundreds of chrysanthemums.

Complete conference details, including program, hotel, and registration information, are available at http://personal.ecu.edu/newcomern/semla/semla2008/index.html . Another first this year is the use of a submittable electronic registration form which can be found at http://personal.ecu.edu/newcomern/semla/semla2008/reg.html . Early registration of $20.00 is due by September 9, 2008.

entrance to Sonic Plaza and J.Y. Joyner Library
Entrance to ECU's Sonic Plaza and J.Y. Joyner Library, where we will hold our Friday sessions.

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From the Chair

Anna Neal, University of Memphis

summer still

summer crescendo
from every there and here
cicadas refrain
---Ardi Keim

I've been chairing a search committee recently, doing the usual combing through packets, calling references, having phone interviews, bringing people in for campus visits. It's always a complex undertaking, evaluating whether people have appropriate levels of experience and credentials and then looking at whether they can make a good fit with the local situation.

While I'm evaluating other people, I naturally think of my own qualifications; and as I've been working my way through the process, I've thought often of various SEMLA colleagues. We have quite a variety of library settings in SEMLA, and I suppose an equal variety of skills and talents and interests. But we're connected by strong similarities.

We have twin passions for music and for information. We feed that passion for music by singing, playing instruments, translating manuscripts, composing, studying historical trends, recording unique and disappearing musics. We feed the passion for information by organizing collections, offering reference services, researching and writing on specific topics, teaching classes. Perhaps most importantly, we've chosen to place ourselves in situations where we spend our days immersed in both music and information.

The position announcements for the current University of Memphis vacancies call for providing “leadership and direction,” being “forward thinking and self motivated,” having “good organizational skills,” having “knowledge of current trends,” incorporating “new and emerging techniques and technologies,” and having “good oral and written communication skills.” Wow, have I seen those things in spades in SEMLA!

Go to any SEMLA conference and revel in how easy everything is for you because it has been so well organized. Your hosts have foreseen and attended to all sorts of hotel and food and meeting room necessities. Go to any SEMLA conference and be treated to a rich assortment of presentations from local music history to current projects at member libraries to individual research interests. It's no accident that in nine years of Best of Chapter presentations at MLA, 2000-2008, six of the presentations have come from SEMLA – and 2009 will bring a seventh. Go to any SEMLA conference and just be impressed by how much your colleagues know . Whatever you've been wondering about in your library, whatever you've been thinking about for your professional future – bring it up, talk about it – you'll get answers.

Go to any SEMLA conference and – well, just go to any SEMLA conference. You'll be glad you did!

See you in October at ECU.

What dreadful weather we have!
It keeps one in a continual state of inelegance!
---Jane Austen, letter

A. J. Fletcher Music Center housing the School of Music and the music library, with new addition
 A.J. Fletcher Music Center, housing the School of Music and the music library, with new addition.

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Member News

Grover Baker has taken an interim appointment as Coordinator of Research Collections for the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University while Lucinda Cockrell takes a one-year leave of absence. In this capacity he will oversee the day to day operations of the Center and function as archivist. Grover will also continue to perform his duties as the Center's Librarian during this period.

Pauline Bayne was promoted to the position of Assistant Dean of Libraries, effective Dec. 10, 2007, and Sandy Leach, former Head of the Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine Library, was promoted to the position of Head, Branch Library Services, effective Feb. 15, 2008. The Music Library and all other UT branch libraries now report to Sandy instead of Pauline. Sandy reports to Pauline, who is the administrator responsible for all of the branches, among many other duties.

Chris Durman's discography of African-American Old-Time String Band Music was published in the June 2008 issue of Notes, in the Sound Recordings Reviews section. (Durman, Chris. "African American Old-Time String Band Music: A Selective Discography." Notes 64, no. 4 (June 2008).)

Jaro Szurek has been chosen to present “Subversive Sounds: Music and Censorship in Communist Poland” at MLA in February as a Best of Chapters winner.

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SEMLA Travel Grant

This grant supports portions of travel, meeting registration, hotel, and subsistence expenses for a chapter member to attend this year's annual chapter meeting in Greenville, NC, October 9-11, 2008. Supporting our colleagues' involvement in the life of the chapter is a priority! Please note that music library paraprofessionals/support professionals and library school students are eligible for this opportunity and encouraged to apply. At the discretion of the Travel Grant Committee and the SEMLA Board, the amount of the grant may be up to $500 for an individual and more than one grant may be made.

Applicant must reside in one of the states or territories that comprising SEMLA (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Puerto Rico), and also be in at least one of the following eligible categories:

a) A graduate library school student (by the time of the conference in October 2008) aspiring to become a music librarian;

b) A recent graduate (within one year of degree) of a graduate program in librarianship who is seeking a professional position as a music librarian;

c) A music librarian (holding a Master of Library Science degree or qualifications granting an equivalent status at his/her employing institution, e.g. certified archivist with other graduate degree working extensively with music materials) in the first two years of his/her professional career, or;

d) A library paraprofessional/support professional working with music materials as a significant portion of his/her job responsibilities.

Applicants in categories a-c must not have attended more than one prior SEMLA meeting before applying for the grant. This restriction does not apply to paraprofessionals/support professionals.

II. Applicants must submit the following to arrive by August 25, 2008:

1. A letter of application which includes an explanation of the reasons for attending the SEMLA annual meeting, a justification of financial need, and a budget (the single or double room rate in Greenville, NC is $92 plus 13% tax per night). For those applicants currently working in libraries or archives, justification of financial need must include evidence that one has sought financial support from one's employing institution to attend the meeting and that such a request was either denied or insufficiently met;

2. A current résumé or vita;

3. One letter of support. Where applicable, it should be from a current supervisor.

Award recipients who are not already members of SEMLA are expected to join prior to attending the October meeting . A membership form is available on the SEMLA website: http://personal.ecu.edu/newcomern/semla/memberinfo.html . Annual student membership in SEMLA is currently only $5.00; a regular membership is $10.00.

Hotel accommodations will be funded at the double-occupancy rate, i.e., one-half of the $92.00 plus tax mentioned in II/1, preceding.

III. Mail application and supporting materials to arrive via U.S. post or electronically as Word attachments by August 25, 2008 to:

Lynne Jaffe
ayslcc@alltel.net
329 Saddlebrook Circle
Lewisville, NC 27023

If you have any questions, please contact Lynne by email (ayslcc@alltel.net) or phone (336) 945-6986.

Recipients will be notified no later than August 29, 2008 and announced on SEMLA-L immediately thereafter.

Please note that SEMLA may elect to pay directly for travel and hotel expenses on the recipient's behalf and only supply the balance (if any) of an award following the Greenville meeting. If mileage for a personal vehicle is awarded, it will be paid at the current IRS rate at the time of the conference, $0.585 per mile on 7/1/08, also after the meeting.

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Candidate Biographies

 

The 2007 SEMLA Officer Election Ballot is available on page 6 of the pdf version of the newsletter and must be mailed/emailed to Lynn Jacobson by October 2, 2008.

Members have TWO voting options:

1) Email your vote to Lynn Jacobson, Nominating Committee Chair, by October 2, 2008: Jacobson@coj.net

IMPORTANT!
To be counted, your email must include your full name and the names of the candidates for whom you are voting.

2) or print out and return the paper ballot to Lynn at the following address by October 2, 2008:

Lynn Jacobson
10010 Skinner Lake Dr #824
Jacksonville, FL 32246

IMPORTANT!
Print or sign your name on the outside of the mailing envelope so that your membership status can be verified!

Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect

John Druesedow was born in Cambridge, Ohio, a small town of about 12,000 in the southeastern part of the state. It is known as the hometown of William Boyd, who starred in films as Hopalong Cassidy. The former astronaut and Ohio senator John Glenn was born there.

John attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, earning the B.M. in piano performance. He went on to graduate school at Indiana University at Bloomington and earned the degrees M.M. in musicology, M.A. in library science, and the Ph.D. in musicology.

He returned to Miami University in 1966 as interim Instructor of Music and remained in this position until his appointment as Music Librarian in 1969. Oberlin called in 1974, and he served 12 ½ years as Director of the Oberlin Conservatory Library while teaching courses in music history. In 1979-80 and 1985-86 he was the interim Director of the Oberlin College Libraries. After Oberlin, it was on to Duke University, where he was appointed Director of the Music Library in January of 1987; he attained the academic rank of Adjunct Associate Professor of Music. He supervised two dissertations and taught the graduate level Introduction to Musicology as the mainstay of his teaching activities. Over the years, he has concentrated on the areas of Latin American music and American music, with increasing emphasis on the musical and social history of the United States from the Civil War to the end of World War One, characterized by some historians as the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. He has published one book, over a dozen articles, many reviews, and has presented a variety of papers on the subject of music in times of war. He was the founding convener for MLA's American Music Roundtable and has served as a member of the MLA Board as well as chair of the Midwest Chapter.

He retired from Duke in June of 2005, continues to live in Durham, NC, and now enjoys writing book reviews, journal articles, and memoirs; reading; gardening; and babysitting for his two grandsons, who live in nearby Hillsborough.

Leslie Kamtman is the Music Librarian at North Carolina School of the Arts, where she has worked since 1989. Before coming to NCSA she was the Assistant Librarian and Head of Technical Services at The Juilliard School. She has been a member of MLA since 1984, and served as Chair of the Conservatory Libraries Roundtable from1989 to1993. For the Southeast Music Library Association, Leslie served as Secretary/Treasurer from 1993 to 1997, served on the Program Committee in 2005, the Travel Committee in 2002, and worked on the Directory of Music Collections, 3rd ed., 1994. She was the co-presenter of The iTunes Project, or We're all Pod People Now at the 2005 SEMLA meeting and MLA Best of Chapters in 2007. She is also a member of the Music OCLC Users Group. She holds a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.L.S. from Columbia University. Leslie is a pianist and flutist.

Member-at-Large

Sara Buetter Manus is the Education and Outreach Librarian at the Anne Potter Wilson Music Library. She is responsible for coordinating and teaching all library instruction sessions in the integrated music information literacy program for Blair Music School undergraduates. Sara coordinates reference services for the Music Library, and she assists faculty, students, and staff with their research needs. She also provides outreach to students enrolled in the Pre-College and Adult Program, and assists faculty with OAK, Vanderbilt's course management system. Sara received a B.A. in music (emphasis in music history) from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. She also holds a M.A. in musicology and a M.L.S. with a specialization in music librarianship, both from Indiana University, Bloomington. She is a member of the Music Library Association, where she currently serves as Co-Chair of the Social Responsibilities Roundtable, and the Southeast Music Library Association.

Chris Durman is the Music Librarian for Public Services at the University of Tennessee. He received his B.A. degree from UT and worked as a library support staff member for over a decade during which time he “moonlighted” as a semi-professional folk and rock musician. In 2000, Chris was encouraged to bring work and hobbies closer together when he was hired as the Daytime Supervisor of the George F. DeVine Music Library. In 2005 he completed his M.S.I.S. and was hired into his current position. Chris served on SEMLA's Travel Grant Committee in 2005, and in 2006 he served on SEMLA's Best of Chapters Nomination Committee. He is currently serving as a member of the Program Committee for the Music Library Association's 2009 Annual Meeting. In addition to nurturing an abiding interest in various forms of American folk and popular music, his research interests include diversity in local music (past and present Knoxville area African-American musicians; possibly to be expanded to encompass the East Tennessee area or to include musicians from other racial groups) and electronic access and delivery of music. In addition to his work responsibilities, Chris continues to write and perform music while also restoring an old house in Jefferson City, Tennessee, with his wife, Candice, and their son, Will.

Greg Johnson - Associate Professor Greg Johnson has served as the Curator for the Blues Archive in the Department of Archives and Special Collections at the University of Mississippi since 2002. He received his Masters of Library and Information Science from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2002, where he also received a Bachelor of Music in history and literature in 2000. Johnson holds an Associate of the Arts from Meridian Community College, Meridian, MS (1997). He has served as president, vice-president, and general member of the board of the Society of Mississippi Archivists. He has also been a member of the Music Library Association, the Southeast Chapter of the Music Library Association, and the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. In addition to his work in the Archive, Mr. Johnson teaches a first-year writing seminar on the role of music in changing society. He has given well over 100 presentations on the blues, civil rights, and on other musical traditions. Greg was the consulting editor for the Encyclopedia of the Blues (Routledge, 2006), for which he wrote a number of entries. He has also written for the Mississippi Encyclopedia (University Press of Mississippi, forthcoming), College & Undergraduate Libraries, Mississippi Libraries, Journal of Musicological Research, and other publications. To keep his sanity, Greg Johnson and his wife Dasha also perform traditional (and not so traditional) Irish music.

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