Update from the IAML President

This message originally appeared in IAML-L and is posted with kind permission.

Dear colleagues,

On this St. Patrick’s Day, New York City is filled with revelers, people marching in parade down Fifth Avenue (a tradition since 1762), and bars serving green beer. What better day to send an update about the activities of our Association?

The Ad-Hoc Committee on Organizational Structure (Level 2), co-chaired by Barbara Wiermann and John Roberts, is in the midst of its critical review of the current system of commissions, professional branches, committees, and other permanent groups within IAML. The committee submitted a thorough report to the IAML Board in advance of the mid-year Board meeting last month. The Board was impressed by the work of the committee, provided some feedback, and soon the committee chairs will be in touch with the membership directly, seeking input on its suggestions and proposals. Watch for these communications from the committee; we look forward to your thoughts.

The IAML Board met for its mid-year meeting on 13 and 14 February in London, where we were hosted by the British Library. The two-day agenda was packed and discussions fruitful. In addition to considering reports submitted by various committees, branches, commissions, and officers, the Board discussed many matters. One topic was the agenda for the two General Assembly sessions to be held in June in New York; now that Council no longer exists, the GA agenda is particularly full, and we discussed various ways to handle the sessions efficiently. Do come and see the results! Your feedback will be valuable as we adjust to our new two-tiered structure.

The various IAML publications are active and moving. As you may recall from an earlier post from Thomas Kalk, the forth issue of 2014 of Fontes has been delayed due to some glitches in the process; it is now in production. Further, Maureen Buja has the first three issues of 2015 well in hand already, and Jim Cassaro, Fontes’s new editor, is hard at work on his plans for the journal and its 2016 issues. The new IAML website is making rapid progress toward completion now, thanks to the enthusiastic and energetic work of the Web team. Stay tuned for more developments in this arena! In the meantime, IAML continues to be active in the social media sphere, not only on IAML-L, but also on Twitter and Facebook.

Plans for hosting you all here in New York in June are moving along well—and rest assured, no green beer will be served! The programme for the joint IAML/IMS Congress, 21-26 June 2015, at The Juilliard School in Lincoln Center, is a particularly rich one, thanks to the hard work of the Forum of Commissions and Professional Branches, and especially its diligent chair, Stanisław Hrabia, and to the IMS Programme Committee, chaired by IMS Vice President Malena Kuss, as well as to all those who have submitted paper and poster session proposals. You can find the programme here. All other details of the congress, including accommodation information, the social programme, tours information, the registration form, and much more, can be find on the congress website, here: http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org/page/IAML_IMS_2015/ (link is external). Be sure to register before 15 April, after which registration rates increase. (There is another reason to register soon, too: Some of the Wednesday afternoon excursions will disappear as they reach participant capacity, so the earlier you register, the more choices you will have.)

As a reminder, IAML’s next congress will be held in Rome at the Auditorium Parco della Musica from 3-8 July 2016. And I am delighted to announce that the IAML Board has received a solid invitation from our colleagues in Riga, Latvia, to host the 2017 congress at the new building of the Latvijas Nacionālā Bibliotēka. More information on both will be forthcoming in June.

Best wishes to all,
Barbara

Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie
President, International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres (IAML)