Greetings from the new Web Editor

Hello, my name is Andrew Justice and I'm the new Web Editor for IAML, appointed in Montreal this past July.  In my discussion with the search committee, I was asked to present my vision for the website, which I will now share with you:

The IAML website is first and foremost a "shop window" for our association: it informs people of who we are, what we do, why our work is important, and how we can be of use to them.  As such, it should reflect the expertise, passion, and energy of our membership in the content it provides.  We are an association of individuals, institutions, branches and other organizations who work with music, possibly one of the most universal art forms; however, we are also information professionals in a digital age, which means our work is dynamic, relevant, and often in demand.

Is this demand met?  A quick survey of library literature, in combination with my experience and those of my colleagues suggests the answer is "No."  It seems like I'm constantly hearing stories of a fantastic new library-created resource that relatively few people know about or use, when considered in proportion to the throngs of musicians and scholars and fans of music that we all know inhabit our planet.  Put simply, we need to do a better job of making ourselves and our work visible to the online community.

Obviously, I think the IAML website is an ideal place to such a thing: I want to make this a primary destination for international users to learn about music libraries, archives and documentation centres.  In other words, when someone wants to research music, this is should be one of the first websites they visit.

How do we get there?

• We do a better job announcing our work: why it's important, where it can be accessed, etc.
• We make ourselves available on a variety of platforms: traditional website, social networking (Facebook & Twitter), audio-visual (YouTube, Vimeo, podcasts, SoundCloud, etc.), RSS feeds, offer a mobile version of the website
• We make our content easily available in a variety of languages
• We offer services (bilbiographic, reference, cataloging) on the website to reflect the diversity of our membership, i.e. What streaming music resources are available in different parts of the world?

Basically, we have to be seen as an association that understands the value of making ourselves available to online users, who likely far outnumber those we see in person.  IMSLP recently had over 250,000 downloads in one day - think about just a fraction of that accessing the IAML site and what it could mean for our membership and work, both as an association and individual institutions.

To start, I'm soliciting any items of interest from the association: please feel free to email me at webeditor@iaml.info and/or expect to receive an email from me when I notice something you post on a listserv or elsewhere.  Comments and discussion on news items will be made available and I encourage dialogue on the website.

I will keep you updated as things move along, but that's the basic idea.  I very much look forward to serving IAML in this capacity.