AIBM Conference 10-13 September 2013

Last week I had the pleasure of participating in the annual conference with the German national branch, AIBM. The conference took place in Universität der Künste, Berlin 10-13 September. I was very impressed by the programme and the meeting was excellently organized. There were no fewer than 190 delegates – about 50 of whom were Berliners. AIBM is the biggest national branch within IAML, with around 230 members. It is also one of the oldest. AIBM was founded 1953 – the same year as the Swedish and UK & Ireland branches. Consequently these three branches all celebrate their 60^th anniversaries this year.

Before the actual conference started there was an opportunity to take part in one of two half-day courses at a small extra fee (EUR 25):

1. Datierung von Musikdrucken des 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts

2. Erstellung von e-Tutorials

On Wednesday morning we were welcomed by the AIBM President, Jürgen Diet. He started by reading out a “telegram” (email) from the IAML President, Barbara Dobbs Mackenzie with cordial congratulation wishes on the 60^th anniversary.

The plenary session in the morning was devoted to “Musik in Berlin” from different aspects: The history of die Hochschule für Musik and its libraries and archive; the music history of Berlin during the 18^th and 19^th centuries; the situation for pop music from a political point of view and the “double structure” of Berlin. Due to historical reasons (the division of the city into East and West after the Second World War) Berlin has three professional orchestras and three opera houses. This has several implications on, for example, planning repertoires.

The theme of the plenary session on Thursday was “Musik digital” with presentations about muziekweb.nl, Wikipedia and copyright of digital material.

The third plenary session, on Friday, had “Musikbibliothekarische Erschliessungsstandards” as the focus. It dealt with uniform titles and RDA — now known as preferred titles.

A conference with AIBM is like a small IAML conference with parallel sessions. There are several subdivisions within AIBM:

Kommission fur Aus- und Fortbildung
Arbeitsgruppe Öffentliche Musikbibliotheken
Arbeitsgruppe Musikhochschulbibliotheken
Kommission für AV-Medien
Arbeitgruppe Musikabteilungen an wissenschaftlichen Bibliotheken
Arbeitsgruppe Rundfunk- und Orchesterbibliotheken
Projektgruppe Musikverlags-Wiki

Several study visits were organized:

Architecturführung Staatsbibliothek Unter den Linden
Musikinstrumentenmuseum
Musikbibliotheken der Zentral- und Landesbibliothek Berlin
Universität der Künste. Bibliothek

and

Deutscher Oper
Musikhistorischer Spaziergang – Andante in Mitte
Backstage Führung Stage Theater am Potsdamer Platz

Like the IAML conferences there was also an attractive social programme. On Wednesday evening we enjoyed a concert with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. It was the opening of “Musikfest Berlin” with music by Janáček, Martinů (a beautiful Rhapsodie-Konzert für Viola und Orchester wonderfully performed by Maxim Rysanov) and Bartók. On Thursday we were taken on a boat trip on the river Spree. As a result of a delicious buffet, not a little beer and distribution of prizes to the lucky winners of a quiz (related to the AIBM history and the year 1953) the spirits were quite high as we slowly passed by Berlin by night.

The complete programme can be found on the AIBM website: http://www.aibm.info/

The conference ended with the General Assembly where I had an opportunity to thank my German colleagues for their hospitality. Besides from all the professional input I received during the conference week, it was very valuable for me to participate in my role as Secretary General for IAML. I am proud that our Association has such a prominent branch among its members.

Pia Shekhter

Secretary General, IAML

Petra Wagenknecht