The President attends the Journée professionnelle de l'AIBM

On 17 November 2023 I had the pleasure to attend parts of the Journée professionnelle de l'AIBM while I was in Paris. The meeting took place in Cité de la musique Philharmonie de Paris and more than fifty people attended (not all of them IAML members, though). It was a great opportunity for me to get acquainted with several members of the French IAML branch. Everybody was very friendly and I was especially well taken care of by the President Isabelle Gauchet Doris, Maison de la Musique Contemporaine in Paris – MMC, and the Secretary Nathalie Castinel, Conservatoire national supérieur musique et danse de Lyon.

In spite of a very full programme I was kindly allowed to say a few words about “big IAML” in the beginning of the day when we all assembled at the Médiathèque at the Cité de la musique, where the head librarian Cécile Cecconi welcomed us.

The French IAML Branch has always played a prominent role within IAML and, as most of you know, the Association was founded in Paris in 1951. I have had the privilege to attend two IAML conferences in France. The first was the one in Boulogne-Billancourt in 1990, which was my very first IAML conference. The second conference took place in Périgueux in 2001, when IAML celebrated its 50^th anniversary. I have very fond memories from them both.

The French branch continues to flourish with many impressive recent achievements. I congratulated the branch on its new discussion list, the new logo, the French version of the IAML brochure and the redesign of the website, which is in progress. Apart from all this, an Orchestra Libraries Group has recently been established.

The French IAML branch has organized Journées professionnelles since the 1990s. The themes of the professional days have varied. There has been further training on uniform titles, FRBR-RDA, subject authorities, copyright, contemporary music and more.

This professional day was divided into two sessions with three optional workshops:

1. Bibliographic transition
2. Mediation and information literacy
3. Music libraries, orchestra libraries: special features, common challenges

After lunch the attendees could choose between three study visits: Musée de la musique, the Philharmonie de Paris and the orchestra libraries of Ensemble intercontemporain, Orchestre de chambre de Paris and Orchestre de Paris.

The day ended with a well-deserved drink at the Café de la musique around the corner and I was very content when I returned to my hotel in the evening.

Paris is always enchanting, but I do prefer April in Paris to November in Paris. The rain was pouring down – just like in Gothenburg…