MLA California Chapter Newsletter 2014

The 2nd Annual Meeting of MLACC took place at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California from October 10-11th. We celebrated the 75th anniversary of the founding of the original California Chapter!

Jonathan Manton Presenting

Jonathan Manton (Stanford University) kicked off our program with his presentation, “Sounds of Stanford and the Bay Area: Embedding the Stanford Digital Repository into teaching and learning.” He discussed the classes that he and his colleagues have collaborated with that include assignments in which students deposit their research artifacts and products into the Stanford Digital Repository. Students learn about providing good metadata, issues regarding Copyright Law, and the logistics of submitting materials to the repository. Jon’s presentation was one of two awarded the “Best of Chapter” recognition for the opportunity to present at the Best of Chapter session at MLA 2016.

The second presentation was “Developing Information Literacy Skills for Future Music Industry Leaders” by Veronica Wells (University of the Pacific) and Keith Hatschek (Professor of Music Management, University of the Pacific). Their presentation discussed the ways in which they’ve embedded and scaffolded information literacy assignments throughout the music management curriculum. Employers of future music industry leaders are looking for information literacy skills in their new hires; therefore, it’s important that students get plenty of opportunities to practice these skills in a multitude of ways.

The panel presentation, “Recently Processed Music Collections,” consisted of two presentations. The first by Veronica Wells and Jim Haffner (Professor of Opera, University of the Pacific), was on Lucas and Kathe Underwood. The Underwoods came to the United States during World War II to escape Nazi persecution. They eventually came to the University of the Pacific where they helped to establish opera in the Central Valley. Their large collection of music scores, which includes scores from the 18th century, were donated to the University Library and recently added to the Holt-Atherton Special Collections.

In that same session Jon Manton, discussed the Richard Maxfield (1927-1969) Collection. The collection features several recordings of Maxfield’s compositions, which can be streamed online. Maxfield enrolled at Stanford University and later transferred to UC Berkley to study with Roger Sessions. Maxfield employed many chance techniques in his compositions, but also manipulated his works based on what he thought sounded best. For information see the finding aid for this collection here.

Tour of Holt-Atherton Special Collections
Tour of Holt-Atherton Special Collections

Michael Wurtz (Head of Special Collections, University of the Pacific) gave a tour of the Holt-Atherton Special Collections, which includes the Dave Brubeck Collection, the John Muir Collection, among others.

Beverly Wilcox gave a presentation entitled “Music in the Dépôts littéraires: The Nationalization of Music Libraries in France 1789‐1811.” She discussed how by 1791 in France, eight former monasteries had been repurposed as Dépôts littéraires and filled them with books and manuscripts seized by government officials. The works were sorted, catalogued, and inventories. Music proved to be difficult to organize. Wilcox showed examples of how sheet music was cataloged and discussed what later happened to the music.

MLACC 75th Anniversary Cake

We took a brief break from our program to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the original California Chapter with a special cake. Many thanks to Rhonelle for providing the cake!.

We concluded the day with two sessions “Show us your discovery system!” and Round Robin where we discussed what challenges and opportunities we are encountering at our institutions.

Scott Stone (University of California, Irvine) began our second day with his presentation, “A picture is worth a thousand words: Using Many Eyes to visualize your collection and its use.” As a new librarian at UC Irvine, Scott wanted to get a sense of how his collection was being used. He used Many Eyes, which is an analytical software application. He put in the circulation statistics into Many Eyes and assessed his collection by call number. While many of his assumptions were confirmed, he also found a few surprises. Scott was our other “Best of Chapter” award winner.

Music Librarians

David A. Wells’s (California State University, Sacramento State) presentation, “Abdon Laus and the Premiere of the Rite of Spring,” demystified the assumption that the bassoon solo in the beginning of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring was extremely high for the instrument. In fact, through his extensive study of bassoon works composed and performed during that time, including fingering charts, Wells showed how the bassoon solo in the Rite of Spring was not extraordinary in terms of its use of the high register. Wells also discussed the life of Laus and how his trip to the San Francisco world’s fair (The Panama–Pacific International Exposition) led to his position with the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Join us next year as we plan to meet in Southern California! Details will be available this spring.

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