PUBLIC LIBRARIESAuthor(s): Liz HartSource: Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 30, No. 1/2 (Januar-Juni 1983), pp. 15-16Published by: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres(IAML)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23505324 .

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IAML Annual Conference in Brussels 1J

SUPPLY

1) Do you find that publishers supply what you need in good time? Answers received: 19: yes: 15; no: 4.

2) If no, is it because a) notice given is insufficient; b) publishers are inefficient? Answers received: 4: a) 3; b) 1.

3) Do you feel the hire fees you pay are reasonable?

Answers received: 19: yes: 13; no: 6.

4) In general, are you satisfied with the service you receive from publishers? Answers received: 19: yes: 10; no: 9.

OVERALL COMMENT ON SUPPLY

Generally, most of us are satisfied with the service we receive from publishers. On the case

of late delivery, the BBC's chief complaint would be with the composer, who changes his mind

at the last minute, and cannot meet a deadline. Many, however, are dissatisfied with the esca

lating cost of hiring music, and with the fact that more and more music is now available only on

hire. Probably this is a sad economic fact of life, but it makes our task more difficult, and of

necessity strips our libraries of performance material — as the old sets wear out, we can no lon

ger replace them.

In closing, a word of thanks to all of you who took such time and trouble answering this

questionnaire. I hope the results will be of some interest and use to you.

LIBRARIES IN MUSIC TEACHING INSTITUTIONS

A productive session on teaching students how to use the library resulted in comparative methods being hurtled across the floor at great pace. And an instructive time was had by all. But the practical work of

compiling a directory of MT4 libraries proved a little tedious. For 51 weeks we are all far flung across the world and coordination is hard to maintain. However some progress was evident and new contacts prom ise an escalation of receiving material before next year.

Even more tedious was the subject of international standards which we have studied for three years. A

draft of guidelines was examined by all delegates who could see room for certain improvements. A kind of

"hands-across-the-sea" working group was appointed which I am sure will correspond systematically dur

ing the course of th.e ensuing year. My thanks are due to all those who have worked so arduously in these projects so far.

Anthony Hodges President

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

The Public Libraries Branch held three meetings in Brussels with attendances of between 20 and 35

people. We were fortunate in having Daphne Kennard, Music Adviser, Disabled Living Foundation Lon

don, with us again for the first session, and delighted to report that she was created a Member of the Brit

ish Empire in the UK 1982 New Year's Honours in recognition of her work for disabled people. She

reported on the many developments there have been since she last spoke to us in Salzburg, July 1979.1

Fontes 27,1980, No. 2, pp. 77-84.

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16 1AML Annual Conference in Brussels

Several new publications have appeared, including two highly recommended books: Libraries and the

handicapped child, by Margaret R. Marshall, and Music for the hearing impaired, by Mary Hoare. The Foundation's Music Resource Papers are much in demand; some have been or are currently being re

vised, two new ones have appeared, and another, on Aids and adaptions for musical instruments is in prep aration. Details of these can be found in the item on the Disabled Living Foundation appearing in Fontes 1982/4.2 The Danish Information Office has also recently published a most attractive list of large print music called Gigantnoder. More and more is being learned about how to enlarge music, and the cost is

actually going down - indeed one architect's firm in London is prepared to enlarge music free of charge. New music includes 5 Songs for anyone, anywhere, anytime by Janet Wyatt (Lindsay Music, England), which with its simple words yet adult concepts fills a gap in music for mentally handicapped adults. Among new instruments the compact Casio V L Tone — with its 3 octave range and wide choice of instrumental sounds and rhythmic accompaniments

- could prove most enjoyable to handicapped people who have a

light enough touch to operate its small piano keyboard. Daphne Kennard's position as a music specialist within an organization concerned with disablement

appears to be unique in the world, and her overseas commitments have increased recently, with official visits to many countries gathering information regarding existing musical activities with or for disabled

people, and indeed inspiring further activities. Recent events on the library front include a survey of

public libraries in Denmark providing services to the handicapped (results to be published shortly in the Danish local authorities' journal), and a meeting in Holland of music and hospital librarians with music

therapists under the auspices of the Dutch Association of Creative Therapy. Others are planned. Also of interest to librarians will be the new organization Interlink, an information and exchange centre for arts for the disabled internationally.

The second session concentrated on the economic situation in public libraries. Following an enquiry from Nils Wallin, Executive Secretary, International Music Council, we were anxious to collect as much information as possible on the effect of financial cuts on public music library services, and we were very grateful to Alison Hall (Canada), Bente Honoré Kjeldsen and Christi Jorgensen (Denmark), Wim Dijk (Netherlands), Hanna de Vries Stavland (Norway), Suki Sommers and the IAML-US Branch, and Her mann Wassner (West Germany), who prepared reports for us at very short notice. A résumé of the pres ent situation, based on information gained at this meeting, appears in Fontes 1982/4.3

Also at this session Julius Hülek spoke about music sections in public libraries in the CSR, and his paper follows this report.

For the final meeting we joined forces with the Commission on Service and Training to discuss two

topics: "Training the public audiovisual librarian" (Evelyn van Kaam's report follows), and "Video and the public library". Speaking to this latter subject, Eric Cooper was concerned that education for the

library profession neglected so-called "non-book" materials generally. What instruction there was tended to be too intellectual, missing out on vital practical information which had to be filled in by ad hoc training at work and the occasional weekend course. He outlined some of the difficulties that librarians were having to cope with: video disc for instance with its five incompatible systems, video cassette with three and, in the audio field, the new compact disc. The video disc's presentation of information in structured rather than linear format posed new problems of cataloguing and classification that really needed tack ling. Then there was the arrival of cable and satellite TV, and the growing trend for information to be in the control of commerce and government rather than libraries, with a resultant reduction in their sphere of activity and influence for which librarians ought to be prepared. Members of the profession, he urged, should put pressure on the library schools to broaden the education they offer. There was some discussion about whether library schools could undertake such training before it was clear which systems would pre vail, but several participants felt that librarians could not afford to wait, Evelyn van Kaam citing the train ing programme already in operation in Holland, and Don Roberts expressing his concern that in the USA it appeared to be businesses rather than libraries that were showing interest in the various cable TV pack ages that are on offer there.

Bodil Foss gave a short paper on her continuing work as Co-Editor (Public Libraries) of Fontes. The main message still remains that Fontes will only carry material of public library interest if public librarians are prepared to write it!

Plans for the 1983 Washington Conference include work on a project proposed by the Branch's Presi dent, Eric Cooper, namely to produce an advisory pamphlet for public librarians, especially those in small, new or third world libraries, on the cataloguing and classification of sound recordings in machine readable form.

Liz Hart

Secretary

Ibidem, pp. 189f. Ibidem, pp. 190f.

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