Abstract
Patrick Lo is already well known and well established as a compiler of works based on interview with leaders in the field that forms the subject of the book. In 2013, he published an interview with Robert Sutherland (one of the co-editors), the first such with a performance librarian in a widely recognized library journal. This resulted in Lo’s Conversations with the World’s Leading Orchestra and Opera Librarians (Rowman and Littlefield, 2016). Stories and Lessons from the World’s Leading Opera, Orchestra Librarians, and Music Archivists is the latest of these publications.
The importance of this present work is immediately evident from the three forewords, by Riccardo Muti, Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Patrick McGinn MOLA (Association of Music Performance Librarians) President, 2020–2021, and F. Paul Driscoll, Editor in Chief, Opera News. But there are other resounding endorsements, including those from Zubin Mehta and James Conlon as well as a range of distinguished instrumentalists from around the world. All these people recognize the fundamental importance and value of the music library and the music librarian in the performance setting.
That is but the beginning. The two volumes (with 25 and 28 chapters respectively) bring together interviews with more than 50 orchestra, opera, and ballet librarians and archivists working for some of the world’s leading performing arts and educational institutions in countries around the globe, including: Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, England, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, the United States and Wales.
This is the most significant and attractive strength of Stories and Lessons from the World’s Leading Opera, Orchestra Librarians, and Music Archivists. Despite the often-significant differences in the backgrounds and contexts in which music librarians work, there is nevertheless a strong thematic and professional link between the many contributions, much aided by the concluding chapter common to both volumes; not surprising, given Robert Sutherland’s comment that the music performance library ‘is often regarded as the information centre or hub for the entire performing arts organization’.
As Paul Driscoll adds: ‘the professional music librarians of the world’s opera and orchestra libraries are the guardians of a great tradition . . . anyone who loves music will treasure the stories of these women and men and be humbled by their individual and collective devotion to music’. Not only that, but they are also key to organizational success in a more fundamental way, it could be argued, than in any other sector of librarianship, and with a broader remit than most within the profession, despite, as is evident from many of the stories in the present volumes, being almost invisible for much of the time.
This publication, then, provides a rich source of applied theory and practice that goes well beyond the subject-specific case studies in an area which has been under-researched until now. Because of the interview methodology used and the standardized ‘template’ approach to questioning, underpinned by the careful selection of interviewees (a roll call of major figures in the field and more) and the consistent and coordinated research, the librarians featured in this publication ‘speak directly’ to the reader about trends, practices, cultures, organizational structures and more. An ability to respond to, and fully satisfy, user needs in demanding and often pressurized circumstances (including during the COVID pandemic and in straitened financial environments) and a deep understanding of the material required, including the diverse and changing uses to which it will be put, are clearly of paramount importance!
As a result, the people interviewed for this book are deeply integrated with their user base like no other, in some cases, because they are also professional musicians as well as professional librarians! The career histories and skills matrices of the interviewees are especially instructive, given the practical nature of the role and its diverse demands as well as what the book describes as the ‘unique’ aspects of the music performance profession. In some cases, ‘deep-end training’ has been the only way forward!
This book will serve as a useful ‘handbook’ for future generations of music performance librarian because of its drawing together of such a wealth of experience (including the future forecasts made, whether by senior or less long-serving librarians in the field) and as an informal benchmarking tool for all involved in this and similar work.
Lo and his co-editors are to be congratulated on Stories and Lessons. While it will clearly be of central importance to those working in the music and creative industries more broadly, it will also be of considerable interest to all working in the broader field of library and information science and of archives and related work.
