Celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Austrian IAML branch

Photograph (c) Birgit Lechner

On 2 December 2002, the Austrian national branch of IAML was founded at the Music Collection of the Austrian National Library. The initiator was the then newly appointed director of the Music Collection, Dr. Thomas Leibnitz.

The members of IAML Austria met on 14 December 2022 again in the venue of the Music Collection of the National Library to celebrate its 20th anniversary. It was a small, very intimate celebration, during which Thomas Leibnitz gave a review of the history and activities of IAML Austria.

As an enrichment, IAML’s president, Pia Shekter, delighted us with video birthday greetings.

IAML Austria currently has 29 institutional members and one personal member. The members meet twice a year for an informal exchange and to discuss common projects and concerns, alternating in Vienna and in one of the provinces.

The anniversary meeting, however, had more of a celebratory character. Some new members introduced themselves and the long-established members also briefly talked about themselves and their institutions as a welcome to the newcomers. After the very informative review by Thomas Leibnitz, we moved on to the social part with food and wine, looking forward and backward in a familiar ambience.

20 years of IAML Austria

by Thomas Leibnitz, former president of IAML Austria

The 20th anniversary of IAML Austria, the Austrian branch of the worldwide IAML, is an opportunity to remember and to strike a preliminary balance. I would like to say in advance that this is done from my subjective, certainly also emotional, point of view.

What was the situation of Austrian music libraries when IAML Austria was established around 2002? The isolation is hardly imaginable today: Each library worked independently and had its own (card) catalogue. Networking, even knowledge about each other, was only rudimentary. Although several libraries were members of IAML, this membership had few consequences, as librarians did not even participate in the international IAML conferences.

As Austria’s only representative, I took part in the IAML conference in Prague in 1991. I was particularly interested in the cross-national bibliographical projects, especially RILM (whose Austrian editorial team I was in charge of) and RISM, to whose data collection Austria also contributed in many ways. The new projects RIPM and Hofmeister XIX seemed promising. Above all, however, I was touched by the openness and commitment of the numerous specialist colleagues, and from then on took part in the conferences every two years. As the lack of an Austrian branch organization was widely lamented and founding a branch was suggested, I had to counter these ideas with my conviction that such an initiative could only come from a library manager. As a kind of interim solution, I was appointed “national representative” of Austria. When I was entrusted with the management of the music collection of the Austrian National Library in October 2002, I made good on my announcements to the IAML President and convened a "founding meeting" to establish IAML Austria, which took place on December 3, 2002 in the Oratory of the Austrian National Library. Numerous colleagues took part and I was given “thumbs up” to start an Austrian branch organization.

First, there was the question of a legal form for this association. It soon became clear that the only option was to formally found a society. Prof. Herbert Lachmayer and his attorney Dr. Arno Tertschnig, who is still available to IAML Austria as an auditor, helped with drawing up the statutes, the association was entered in the Austrian register of associations, and I was elected its first president.

Around the same time and as an independent initiative, a music working group was formed within the commission for nominal cataloging of the VÖB (Association of Austrian Librarians). Considerations of merging the two groups, which largely had the same members, did not prove to be expedient; nevertheless, IAML Austria maintains a friendly and cooperative relationship with the current Commission for Music of the VÖB, and numerous joint events take place. The founding of the Austrian national group was warmly welcomed by the international organization of IAML, and as a result, Austrian participation in international conferences and projects increased.

On the subject of leadership: I was given the presidency in the initial phase, but I was very interested in resigning this presidency after two terms in office, as provided for by the statutes. From my point of view, institutions only function "properly" when they are not tied to specific people, but develop the necessary degree of momentum of their own. My colleague Thomas Aigner (music collection of the then Vienna City and State Library) made himself available as a candidate in 2009, and I am sincerely grateful to him for that. During his presidency in 2013 the biggest event in the history of IAML Austria to date was organized and implemented: the international IAML conference in Vienna. This major event has been linked to the name of my colleague Stefan Engl, who carefully and energetically prepared it and ensured that more than 300 conference participants were able to experience a well-organized conference, albeit in hot weather. Two concerts held in honor of IAML Austria by member libraries are still remembered with gratitude: one in Brahms Hall with old musical instruments, financed by the archive of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, and the second one, a chamber music concert at Schönbrunn Palace Theater contributed by the Vienna University of Music. Personally, I enjoyed both the founding and the development phase of IAML Austria, because I always encountered a lot of friendliness and interest, commitment and willingness to participate!

Photograph (c) Birgit Lechner