Newsletter of the MIT Music Library
Fall 1995
Music Library, 14E-109
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
Forrest Larson, Circulation and Reserves Assistant,
617-253-5689
Christina Moore, Sr. Assistant & Processing Assistant,
617-253-5689
Peter Munstedt, Music Librarian,
617-253-5636
Music Library Home Page:
http://libraries.mit.edu/music
NEW ACQUISITIONS
Please let us know if you have any requests. Forms are available in the Music
Library.
LIBRARY RENOVATION PLANNED
We are delighted to report that plans are underway for the Music
Library to be renovated during the summer of 1996. Ellen Harris,
Associate Provost for the Arts, announced that a major contribution
has been received from Cherry Emerson '41 to renovate the library.
The renovation will include a new mezzanine, compact shelving,
improved listening facilities, a keyboard room, office and meeting
space, a special collection room, and increased study space. The
collection will have room to grow well into the 21st century. The
library staff is helping to finalize the floor plans this fall. We
will keep you informed regarding this exciting news.
NEW GEAC ADVANCE COMPUTER SYSTEM ARRIVES
We are gradually becoming accustomed to the new library computer
system which was put in this summer. Patrons will notice a new
appearance and somewhat different search techniques in the online
public catalog (the handout "How to use Barton, the online catalog,
Advance version" gives instructions and tips). The actual database
you are searching is the same Barton as before. Remote access users
will probably find searching easier now (for telnet access, use the
following command: telnet library.mit.edu).
A big advantage will be that, since this is an online system rather
than a CD-ROM catalog, new titles will appear almost immediately in
the public catalog; we understand that for most materials the longest
delay will be overnight. In fact, we're a little nervous that users
will know about some new materials before we've received them! If
this happens, we hope you will put in a request with the Processing
Assistant who can notify you when the item is here.
CHECK OUT THE HARVARD LIBRARIES
MIT and Harvard have agreed to provide reciprocal library borrowing
privileges for faculty, graduate students and research staff. This
agreement became effective September 1, 1995. Check with Peter to
obtain the necessary paperwork for your card.
OVERHEARD AT THE CIRCULATION DESK
Do you have the original-cast recording of The Messiah? (Now,
wouldn't that be worth a pretty penny!)
How can I find Debussy's Afternoon on the Lawn? How about Mozart's
I'm Inclined to Knock Music?
Does the library own the complete works of Arnold Schwarzenegger?
(i.e. Arnold Schoenberg?!?)
CUTTING BACK ON SERIALS
Due to inflation and a sagging dollar overseas, the Libraries will be
undertaking another cutback in the serials budget. We are expected to
cut between 8%-12% of the current budget. Peter has met with the
Music Faculty Library Committee concerning these cuts. Music faculty
will see a list of serials to be cancelled.
WHAT WERE THE JUDGES SMOKING?
In a surprise decision, the MIT Library Council voted the Music
Library's "Tribute to Johann Nepomuk Krank" the winner of this year's
Library Council Exhibit Award. In making their decision, the judges
commented that the exhibit provided "an extremely creative April
Fool's Day tribute to that fictitious yet astounding musician." Watch
for next year's Krank Kase, planned to contain even more bizarre
documentation. Of course, contributions to Krank research are always
welcome (as long as they meet our sub-standards of absurdity).
NEW GUIDES TO THE COLLECTION
New bibliographies have been appearing on the display stand at the end
of the circulation desk. These are the product of the collaborative
efforts of Peter Munstedt, Christie Moore, several of our student
staff, and Christine Moulin of the MIT Libraries' Acquisitions
Department. To date we have produced guides on American Music, Brass
Music, Musical Theater, Piano Music, Popular Music, Songs, and Western
Art Music; a few more are planned for the future. We hope you will
find these guides useful, and that you will give us your comments.
LIBRARY STAFF ACTIVITIES
Full-time staff: Peter Munstedt is staying busy as the Chair of the
New England Chapter of the Music Library Association (NEMLA). Among
other activities, Peter is setting up a NEMLA home page with the help
of student assistants/Webmeisters Solomon Douglas and Jeff Morrow.
Christie Moore is continuing to compile the "Recordings Received"
column for the ARSC Journal (Association for Recorded Sound
Collections) which she began while Peter was Recordings Review Editor.
Forrest Larson has begun playing viola in a newly-formed ensemble, the
Lila des Graces Trio, with Christa Miniuks, flute (Barker Engineering
Library) and Pamela Schechtmann, cello (Humanities Library). Look for
them at the annual MIT Library Staff concert in January 1996.
Student staff members: Chad Musser played alphorn for the commencement
of a Swiss hotel school in Connecticut this August. (Instead of Pomp
and Circumstance they played Gruss aus die Alpen.) Sara Gaucher
played with MIT's Gamelan Galak Tika (the name means "intense
togetherness") in a program of Music and Dance of Bali on September
29th during Family Weekend. Jeff Morrow was in the Family Weekend
concert played by the MIT Brass Ensemble, the MIT Concert Band, the
MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, and the Brass Quintet on September 30th.
Sharonda Bridgeforth sang with Cross Products in the Family Weekend A
Cappella Fest; the Muses, the MIT-Wellesley Toons, the Logarhythms,
the Chorallaries, and Techiya were also featured.
THIS ISSUE'S SELECTED ACQUISITIONS LIST
We have been even more selective than usual in listing new materials
for this issue of the newsletter. This list shows the breadth of what
is being collected and, we hope, whets our readers' appetites with
particular titles. Much of the World Music was obtained through our
second grant from the MIT Council for the Arts, for which we reiterate
our thanks.
NEW MATERIALS OBTAINED BY DONATIONS
Once again, we were fortunate to receive many generous donations and
special monies for acquisitions:
Paul Earls added to the large gift mentioned in our last newsletter
with an additional 80+ items (books, scores, and sound recordings)
which included many 20th-century compositions not held in our
collection.
Special money obtained through the Libraries was used to purchase CD
sets of the J.S. Bach Sacred cantatas (complete); Verve's Four decades
of jazz; Olivier Messiaen; The Debut recordings of Charles Mingus; and
Thelonious Monk's Riverside recordings (see compact disc listings,
below).
Funds donated by Dr. Richard J. Breed '73 purchased English song,
1600-1675, a 12-volume set of scores published by Garland. The John
N. Pierce Memorial Fund purchased Seventeenth-century keyboard music,
a 22-volume Garland set of scores. And special thanks to Peter D.
Matthews '44 for his generous donation of $500 for the purchase of
books, scores, CDs and laser discs.
DONORS SINCE OUR SPRING NEWSLETTER:
Arhoolie Productions, Inc.
Charles A. Bruen
Paul Earls
Jose L. Elizondo Cecenas '95
David Epstein
Stephen Erdely
European American Music
T.G. Febonio
Robert C. Hall
Madeleine Heymann
Forrest Larson
Lowell Lindgren
Longy School of Music
Martin Marks
Peter D. Matthews '44
Jennifer Merritt '97
Evelyn Perez
Dianne Goolkasian Rahbee
Lee Ridgway (New England Composers Recording Project)
George Ruckert
John Saylor
Nico Schler
Charles Shadle
Thank you!