• Annual Meeting Report
• From the Chair
• Travel Grant Winners
• Interim Meeting Announcement
• Member News
• EOP Cataloging Workshop Report
• Business Meeting Minutes
• Treasurer's Report

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2009 SEMLA/TMLA Joint Annual Meeting in New Orleans

Chris Durman, University of Tennessee

Catching Up at the Opening Reception-- Top Left: Lisa Hooper, Jenny Colvin, Jacob Schaub, Michelle Hahn; Bottom Left: Harry Eskew, Diane Steinhaus; Center: Local Arrangements Chair, Alicia Hansen; Top Right: Lynne Jaffe, Neil Hughes, Chris Durman; Bottom Right: Kathryn Munson (Preconference Participant), Mark McKnight, Sha Towers, Stephen Bolech (photo: Bertrand)

I suspect there are times in everyone's life when the universe just "throws you a bone" as the old saying goes. That thought crossed my mind several times while assisting with the planning of the 2009 joint meeting of the Southeast and Texas Chapters of the Music Library Association held October 8-10 in New Orleans. What location could match New Orleans's contributions to American music, be more linked in the popular imagination to music, or face more preservation challenges for both the music collections and the musical culture of the city?

Having spent the last four years watching from afar as New Orleans struggled to weather and recover from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, many attendees were anxious to see how the city was faring today and to hear directly from those who had personally lived through the storm, the flooding, the aftermath, and the ongoing recovery. Visible reminders of Katrina were nearly impossible to find in the areas around Loyola, where most sessions were held, and were similarly invisible in the Garden District and French Quarter, where most attendees stayed. Conversations with those who experienced Katrina and its aftermath, though, revealed how most were affected either directly by having their homes or workplaces damaged or indirectly by having their faith in all levels of government severely compromised. Although I suspect that most attendees left New Orleans confident in the resiliency of the people and the city, I imagine that most also recognized that the recovery effort is incomplete, not exactly equitable, and definitely still ongoing.

Building on the success of the MLA Education Outreach Program preconference workshop offered last year in conjunction with the SEMLA meeting in Greenville, NC, a second all-day preconference workshop featuring the same basic content was held October 8th on the second floor of Loyola's Monroe Library. Participants chose between sessions devoted to the cataloging of audio and visual formats of musical materials, music reference, and music collection development. Instructors, primarily from the Texas Chapter, included Mary Du Mont Brower of Rice University and Sha Towers of Baylor University who team-taught the music reference session, Keith Chapman of Rice University and Jean Harden of the University of North Texas, who team-taught both the audio and the video cataloging workshops, and Sarah Dorsey of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, who taught the collection development workshop. Attendees came from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas and many stayed for the SEMLA/TMLA Joint Meeting reception that immediately followed the afternoon workshops.

Lenny Bertrand, Keith Chapman, John Brower, Bruce Hall, and Mary Du Mont Brower (photo: Bertrand)

Held in the Special Collections Room of Monroe Library, the reception gave attendees a small sampling of the tasty treats in store for them in New Orleans, a city renowned for fine dining. Dana Jaunzemis of Music Library Service Company generously provided funding for this gathering and time passed quickly as old friends caught up and new friendships were made. Before long we were all off again via cars, vans, and the famed New Orleans streetcars to explore the city, dine, or just rest up for the first full day of the conference.

Jean Harden checks in with Jeannette Thompson (photo: Bertrand)

New Orleans streetcar (photo: Colvin)

We returned to Monroe Library the next morning where we enjoyed coffee, pastries, and other refreshments graciously provided by Christine Clark of Theodore Front Musical Literature, Incorporated before converging in one of Monroe Library's impressively designed multimedia rooms. Local Arrangements Committee chair Alicia Hansen introduced Loyola's Dean of Libraries, Mary Lee Sweat, who welcomed us to Loyola.

Mark McKnight of the University of North Texas started the presentations with an interesting and chronologically appropriate session, "Novelles Poésies: An Eighteenth-Century Music Manuscript from New Orleans," in which he discussed a manuscript of Nouvelle poésies spirituelles et morales sur les plus beaux airs de la musique françoise et italienne avec le basse (7 v., Paris, 1731-1737), copied in 1736 and presented to the nuns of the Ursuline convent in New Orleans in 1754, just 36 years after the city's founding. The manuscript is thought to be the oldest surviving musical document from New Orleans or the Lower Mississippi River Valley and contains works from such composers as Lully, Campra, Desmarets, Couperin, and Montéclair, to which sacred lyrics appropriate for moral guidance and instruction have been overlaid. For scholars, the significance of this manuscript is multifaceted; not only does it reveal the fact that contemporary European music was being performed in the colony, but the portions included in the published set which were omitted from the manuscript also hint as to what might have once been deemed unacceptable for the young ladies in the nuns' care.

The next presentation, "Fifty Years of Pianists: The Interviews of Robert Dumm, 1959-2008," by Jean Wald of Stetson University, also provided a multifaceted topic, working with a live donor to acquire and make available a multimedia collection of photographs, print materials, and a remarkable collection of recorded interviews with some of the most famous pianists and educators of the last 50 years. Mr. Dumm is a pianist, piano teacher, and an early proponent of class piano who has dedicated much time, energy, and money to seeking out and interviewing prominent pianists, music educators, and composers. The list of those interviewed is extensive and includes some of the most prominent musicians of the last fifty years. Recognizing the importance of his self-funded collection, he initiated the donation of his interviews and other materials to Stetson University by contacting Ms. Wald. In addition to discussing the life story of this fascinating individual, Ms. Wald discussed the donated materials, some of the decisions she has faced while working with these materials, and some of the joys and challenges she has encountered while working directly with a living donor.

Jean Wald delivers her presentation as Mark McKnight looks on (photo: Bertrand)

Alan Wallace introduces attendees to J. Lawrence Cook (photo: Bertrand)

Alan Wallace of the University of Tennessee gave a presentation on "The Amazing J. Lawrence Cook of Tennessee" that encouraged attendees to broaden their thoughts on the nature of artistic creation and recorded music. J. Lawrence Cook was a composer and arranger who throughout the course of his life created between 15,000 to 20,000 piano rolls for player pianos. Wallace discussed how the piano roll was the most common medium for recording and replaying music in an era before the widespread use of the phonograph and argued that the jazz music Cook cut into his piano rolls helped to interest people all across the nation in jazz. While the presentation focused on Cook and his creations, Wallace also recounted how his interest in Cook sprang from his inheritance of a player piano and purchase of rolls created by Cook, and how his research was furthered by his discovery of an international internet community sharing an interest in Cook. The work this primarily non-academic group of dedicated researchers has done to record and make available the history and contributions of the little-known Cook is impressive and showcases an emerging research model practically impossible before the advent of the internet.

A slightly longer than usual lunch break followed to allow attendees to jump on the St. Charles Streetcar line to ride to some of the spectacular restaurants for which New Orleans is famous. Upon returning to Loyola, attendees were treated to one of the most anticipated presentations on the program, a discussion on the current state of music in New Orleans led by Bruce Raeburn of the Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University and Matthew Sakakeeny of Tulane University. Raeburn first read his article, "'They're Trying to Wash Us Away': New Orleans Musicians Surviving Katrina," published in the December 2007 issue of the Journal of American History, to provide some historical and recent background on how New Orleans musicians have traditionally faced and continue to react to the many tragic circumstances (race riots, previous hurricanes, yellow fever and cholera epidemics) that have befallen New Orleans. He explained how the "jazz funerals" or, as these would be called by local musicians, "brass band funerals," embody the typical New Orleans response to tragedy which involves playing a dirge and mourning until the body is "cut loose" (separated from the procession) and then partying all the way back from the graveyard. He talked of the difficulties many New Orleans musicians who were out on tour when Katrina hit faced when they attempted to return and the role these and other musicians played and continue to play in popularizing the plight and rebuilding of post-Katrina New Orleans.

Chris Durman (Program Chair), Matthew Sakakeeny, and Bruce Raeburn (photo:Bertrand)

After offering some historical background explaining the cross-fertilization of musical cultures that created jazz and continue to make the music of New Orleans unique, Sakakeeny shared the fears held by many that local musicians, Mardi Gras Indians, and members of the community-based social organizations that sustained much of the cultural life of the city might not return after Katrina. He discussed the roles these organizations, musicians, and Indians play in the life of the city and showed videos of some of the first parades held after Katrina that showcased the immense joy felt by participants when some of these events, brass bands, and individuals did indeed return. Sakakeeny noted that many New Orleans brass band members often talk glowingly of their middle and high school band experience to illustrate the shortsightedness of the modern practice of discontinuing music programs in schools. To counter this trend, he promotes after school music programs such as The Roots of Music, which provides musical instruction and a meal to underprivileged children. Attendees had many questions for these two presenters. The question and answer period continued as all walked from Loyola the short distance to the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz at Tulane.

Created in 1958 when William Ransom Hogan proposed the establishment of a jazz archive to the Ford Foundation, the archive first concentrated solely on capturing the remembrances and artifacts of early New Orleans jazz. A series of interviews with early New Orleans jazz musicians forms the backbone of the collection and continues to draw researchers from around the globe, who are allowed to listen to the recordings and read the transcripts. Dr. Raeburn used the term "bad" to explain why transcripts alone are insufficient to understand an oral history. Meaning often depends on how a word such as, "bad," is stated and a literal reading might lead a researcher to believe the exact opposite meaning than the one actually intended. The archive's original sole focus on early New Orleans jazz was eventually recognized to be too restrictive, and the collecting focus has broadened to recognize and include the wider variety of music played in New Orleans. Recordings in various formats, films, the files of the local musicians' unions, and the papers of music critic Bob Palmer are just some of the items held in the archive, where work continues to make the audio interviews accessible via the internet.

Touring the William Ransom Hogan Archive of New Orleans Jazz (photo: Bertrand)

The new Music and Media Center on the 4th floor of Tulane's Howard-Tilton Memorial Library (photo: Bertrand)

While the Hogan Jazz Archive was relatively undamaged by Katrina, the Music Library at Tulane, housed prior to Katrina in the basement of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, was flooded by over eight feet of water. Even four years after Katrina, balloon-like ventilation tubes snake along the ceilings of the entire library. We were welcomed to the library by the Dean of Libraries, Lance Query, who expressed his appreciation for the donations of musical materials given by the many institutions represented by SEMLA and TMLA members. Music and Media Librarian, Lisa Hooper, showed sobering slides of the music collection before Katrina and immediately after the flood waters had been drained. She discussed the restoration work that has been done on salvageable items and showed the group examples of recovered items. While these items are now serviceable, water damage is noticeable on all and most have a noticeable odor. Ms. Hooper, Lenny Bertrand, and Darlene Bertrand then led us on a tour of the new Music and Media Center, which is now located on the fourth floor and which shows how successful they have been at rebuilding their music collection.

After these tours, attendees returned to their hotels to prepare for the banquet held that evening at the Palace Café on Canal Street. The restaurant, housed in the Werlein building (former home of Werlein's, the nation's oldest family owned retail music chain,) is owned in part by Dickie Brennan, of the famed New Orleans restaurant family. A graceful suspended spiral staircase that some members were unable to resist climbing ascends to the second floor. Our group was taken up to the banquet room on the third floor where all had a delightful meal served in a high style. The time passed quickly and the shuttle driver had to be asked to wait on our party just a bit later than he was initially told as we lingered in the luxury of the Palace Café.

Banqueting at the Palace Café on Canal St. (photo: Bertrand)

Sarah Dorsey (photo: Bertrand)

Sarah Dorsey of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro inspired our group to think green during Saturday's first presentation, "Never Waste a Good Crisis, or How the Budgetary Downturn is Greening Us All!" A lifelong environmentalist, Ms. Dorsey returned from a recent sabbatical to discover a new campus group, the Sustainability Committee, which she quickly joined. Her work with this group awakened her to the fact that her own library was not recycling. She and another colleague began a library group dedicated to sustainability issues and started a program stressing the potential cost savings sustainability practices can generate. To spur a discussion among the SEMLA/TMLA attendees, she polled everyone on their institutions' sustainability practices via an internet service, Poll Everywhere, which allows cell phone users to text their responses to polls. The results of this poll launched a discussion among attendees on their best practices and most difficult challenges related to the complicated issues surrounding environmental sustainability.

Roberta Chodacki Ford of Columbus State University gave the second presentation, "A Tale of Two Cities: Continuing Education Librarianship Opportunities for the Graduate Student to the Seasoned Professional," in which she discussed and compared two programs she attended: one jointly sponsored by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Oxford University and the other offered through Vanderbilt University's Peabody Institute. Both programs admitted approximately twenty students. The jointly sponsored two-week graduate seminar allowed attendees to visit Oxford University to study the history of Oxford, the colleges and libraries there, the Oxford community, and issues involving contemporary British libraries and publishing. All aspects of libraries and librarianship were covered and much time was allotted to allow attendees to explore the area and experience local culture. The Peabody Institute program was specifically designed for academic library administrators and managers and involved a diverse group of professionals including university presidents, library administrators, and teaching faculty. One of the most important lessons Ford shared from this program is that it is essential to be involved in the decision-making process. Ford highly recommended both programs, although attendees could not help but favor the lovely pictures made in historic Oxford.

Roberta Chodacki Ford (photo: Bertrand)

Gary Boye (photo: Bertrand)

In the final presentation of the meeting, "Microtonality in the Mountains: The Story of Tui St. George Tucker and Camp Catawba," Gary Boye of Appalachian State University told of his work acquiring the papers of composer Tui St. George Tucker. Beginning his tale with his first notice of St. George Tucker's death, Boye chronicled his research into her history, his first trip to Camp Catawba where he fortuitously met the executor of her will, and his subsequent discoveries of the historical importance of both St. George Tucker and Camp Catawba. Camp Catawba was a summer camp set up originally in 1944 by Jewish/German educator and poet Vera Lachmann for young boys who had, like Lachmann herself, escaped the holocaust. Tui St. George Tucker served there as music director until the camp closed in 1970. After Lachmann's death, the camp property was sold to the Blue Ridge Parkway, but arrangements were made by Vera Lachmann for St. George Tucker to remain on the former camp property for the rest of her life. Boye shared a few of the many stories locals undoubtedly tell of the free-spirited and often controversial St. George Tucker, discussed some of the preservation challenges faced while processing the materials ("Tui had cats" may explain some of these difficulties,) and told of attending St. George Tucker's memorial service at Camp Catawba that included several former campers, singing waiters from the Spring House Choir, and a traditional Māori funeral ceremony.

Smiles and much talk of "doing it again" were shared as the two chapters broke apart for their respective business meetings. The minutes from the SEMLA business meeting are included in this issue of Breve Notes.

SEMLA/TMLA 2009 Loyola University New Orleans (photo: Bertrand)

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Minutes

Southeast Chapter, Music Library Association
Annual Business Meeting
New Orleans, LA
Anna Neal, Chair, presiding
October 10, 2009

1. Call to order at 11:31 am.
2. Minutes for interim meeting on Feb. 19, 2009 in Chicago were approved by consensus as published in Breve Notes.
3. Treasurer's report

 

Southeast Chapter of the Music Library Association
Treasurer's Report
For period February 19, 2009 to October 6, 2009
Submitted by Scott Phinney
New Orleans, LA

October 10, 2009

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NET WORTH as of February 19, 2009	$20,582.46
INCOME
Membership dues	$9775.78^
Pauline Shaw Bayne Travel Fund	$394.15^
Other gifts	$75.00
Pre-Conference registrations	$560.04^
Joint Annual Conferencce Registration and Banquet	$3,346.83
Test deposit from PayPal	$.23
Interest on checking account (as of 9/30/09)	$.66 *
Interest on money market account (as of 9/30/09)	$11.44 **
TOTAL	$5,164.13
EXPENSES %
Stallings - 2009 Travel Grant Winner	$339.11
Conway - Reimbursement for Archival Storage	$52.49
TOTAL	$391.60
Checking account balance as of 10/6/09	$9,201.44
Money Market account balance as of 10/6/09	$16,153.55
NET WORTH as of October 6, 2009	$25,354.99
MEMBERSHIP (paid as of 10/6/09)
Individual	88
Institutional	8

^Figures are in partial dollars to account for fees assessed by PayPal
*Interest rates on the checking account were lowered once since the February meeting, from .05% to .02% on Mar. 6, 2009.
**Interest rates on the money market account were lowered once since the February meeting, from .15% to .10% on Mar. 6, 2009.
%2009 Conference and Preconference expenses will appear on Feb. 2010 report

1. Welcome to new members and first time attendees

Anna Neal welcomed Jacob Schaub (Vanderbilt University), Renée McBride (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Sara Nodine (Florida State University), Lisa Hooper (Tulane University).

2. Pauline Shaw Bayne Travel Grant
   1. Anna Neal mentioned that the Board had discussed several aspects of the Travel Grant:
      1. Expand the applicant base
      2. Increase the value of the fund
      3. Setting permanent dates for deadlines and announcement, possibly Aug. 24 deadline; Sept. 1 announcement of winner
      4. Place a permanent link to the travel grant information on the front page of the web site so people can discover it all year, not just when Breve Notes is issued in April
   2. Kyle McCarrell (University of South Carolina) and Jacob Schaub were introduced as Travel Grant winners.
   3. John Druesedow gave a brief biographical sketch of Pauline Shaw Bayne.
   4. Diane Steinhaus asked award recipients what they thought of the proposed changes.
      1. Kyle McCarrell agreed with the web site link idea and felt the timeline was fine.
      2. Jacob Schaub agreed.
3. Online Payment of Fees
   1. Anna Neal and Scott Phinney reported the membership was generally pleased with the implementation and use of PayPal.
   2. Scott commented that the fees assessed to SEMLA by PayPal equal 2.2% + $0.30 per transaction.
   3. Nara Newcomer submitted a report in absentia in which she stated that it was somewhat time-consuming to set up PayPal to work with the SEMLA web site initially, but further additions and changes should be fairly easy.
4. MLA Outreach Program (Preconference)
   1. Grover Baker reported that the preconference was a success, having attracted 17 registrants from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.
   2. There was a good mix of academic and public libraries represented, both librarians and paraprofessionals.
   3. 10 participants selected the cataloging track, taught by Keith Chapman and Jean Harden; 7 chose the reference/collection development track, taught by Mary Brower and Sarah Dorsey.
   4. Of the 15 evaluations submitted, 13 would recommend the preconference to colleagues, 1 marked "maybe", and 1 marked "No" because the program would not be applicable to other people in the respondent's institution.
   5. This year's fee was raised to $40 (early registration) and $50 (regular registration), but was still deemed acceptable to the attendees.
   6. One point of criticism was that the preconference was too aimed at academic libraries.
   7. Grover will create a timeline of events leading up to the preconference to assist in future planning.
   8. Alicia Hansen commented that the fee level as it stands now is inadequate to cover costs. She suggested that SEMLA retain any proceeds and cover any shortfalls; others suggested fees closer to $85 for early registration and $100 for regular registration.
   9. Instructors received housing and were given a meal on Wednesday evening, but no honorarium.
   10. Neil Hughes repeated his belief that instructors should be paid honoraria as a matter of professional principle; a show of hands indicated that the vast majority of the membership agreed.
   11. Grover said he would poll preconference attendees via e-mail to determine how much they would pay for such an event.
5. Breve Notes
   1. After 5 years of outstanding service, John Leslie is stepping down as Breve Notes editor.
   2. The SEMLA Board has received one application and will be receiving additional applications through the following week.
6. Updates
   1. Archives
      1. Ashlie Conway reported that she had created a partial container list of the SEMLA Archive holdings.
      2. She has been in contact with Vinny Novara at the MLA Archives at the University of Maryland and has determined that there are several items missing from the SEMLA Archives:
         1. Chair postal mail correspondence since 1981 (if any)
         2. Meeting attendees list 1978 (Auburn, AL)
         3. Meeting attendees list 1988 (Boone, NC)
         4. Meeting attendees list 1994 (Atlanta, GA)
         5. Meeting attendees list 1996 (Oxford, MS)
         6. Meeting attendees list 1998-2006
         7. Anything from the 2000 Loyola Annual Meeting
         8. Board schedules 2004-2007
         9. Any sort of annual report/fact sheet from 1978-1979, 1983, 1988-1993 & since 2001 (if any)
         10. Pictures
      3. She plans to:
         1. Pursue/acquire more items we are currently missing
         2. Plans to complete a full container list
         3. Send items to the MLA Archive at University of Maryland
         4. Work with Lenny Bertrand to back up SEMLA photos
         5. Work with Jenny Colvin to archive the completed oral histories
         6. Work with Nara Newcomer to possibly add a page on the SEMLA web site to house the container list, guidelines to transfer to MLA Archive, and other relevant information
   2. PR/Outreach
      1. Ashlie Conway and the Outreach Committee have created a brochure for SEMLA as well as a Facebook group site.
      2. The Facebook site needs a minimum of 100 "fans" to qualify it for a customizable URL and easier searching in Facebook.
   3. Best of Chapters
      1. John Druesedow reported that Holling Smith-Borne's presentation on the music of Uganda from the 2008 Greenville, NC meeting was submitted for SEMLA Best of Chapters and won nationally which will permit him to present it at MLA in San Diego in March 2010.
   4. Oral History
      1. Jenny Colvin reported that a deadline of March 2010 has been established to complete the oral history collecting.
      2. She is looking for volunteers to present the results at the 40th anniversary meeting in Columbia, SC.
7. Future SEMLA meeting sites and dates
   1. Anna Neal informed the membership that the following meeting sites and dates had been offered:
      1. 2010 – University of South Carolina (Columbia) – Oct. 14-16, 2010
         1. This will be SEMLA's 40th anniversary.
      2. 2011 – University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
         1. This will be the 75th anniversary of the UNC Music Library.
      3. 2012 – University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa)
      4. 2013 – Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN)
         1. SEMLA will be hosting MLA here in 2014; 2013 will be a planning meeting of sorts in keeping with SEMLA practice.
8. Election Results
   1. Scott Phinney was elected Secretary/Treasurer; Gary Boye was elected Member-at-Large.
   2. Grover Baker thanked the committee (including Leslie Kamtman and Mac Nelson) and the candidates (including Laurie Neuerburg for Secretary/Treasurer and Greg Johnson for Member-at-Large).
9. Old Business

None reported.

1. New Business
   1. Nancy Zavac mentioned that her husband Jeff Zavac has released a new CD and had them for sale [available at http://henrystonemusic.com/store/zavacgratitude.htm].
2. Passing of the Hammer
   1. Anna Neal thanked the following people and presented them with Awards of Appreciation:
      1. Alicia Hansen and the Local Arrangements Committee for hosting a fine meeting
      2. John Leslie for serving as Newsletter Editor (2004-2009)
      3. John Druesedow for serving as Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect (2008-)
      4. Grover Baker for serving as Member-at-Large (2007-2009)
      5. Chris Durman for serving as Member-at-Large (2008-)
      6. Lynn Jacobson for serving as Member-at-Large (2006-2008)
      7. Lynne Jaffe for serving as Chair/Past-Chair (2005-2008)
      8. Nara Newcomer for serving as Webmaster (2006-)
      9. Ashlie Conway for serving as Archivist (2008-)
      10. Scott Phinney for serving as Secretary/Treasurer (2007-)
   2. Anna passed John Druesedow the Yellow Plastic Hammer of Despotism a.k.a. Le marteau plastique du despotisme.
3. Adjourn at 12:30 p.m.

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All photos in this issue of Breve Notes courtesy of Darlene & Lenny Bertrand, Jenny Colvin, and Ashlie Conway.