A man on a punt forms the first initial of 'IAML' advertising a Congress in Cambridge.

IAML Congress 2023, Cambridge UK

The preliminary programme for the IAML Congress 2023 (Cambridge, 30 July-4 August) is now available on the IAML website. Please check back for updates in the coming weeks. More about the exciting series of accompanying events and tours, and practical information about registration, travel and accommodation, can be found on the Congress website. The early…

IAML Outreach Fund – but hurry!!

A message from our parent organisation (‘Big’ IAML) about support for attending the international Congress in Cambridge this year:- The deadline for applications for the IAML Outreach Fund (Support for attendance at IAML congresses) is 1 April 2023. Applications to the fund may be made by music librarians, archivists and individuals working with music collections whose papers/posters have been accepted for the…

Forthcoming Events: News from our Events & Training Committee

Daniel Jones successfully delivered our first webinar for 2023 on PRS. A big thank you to Daniel for delivering an enlightening webinar. It was great to see everyone. We’ll alert members when the recording is available. We’re pleased to announce our next 2 webinars. Please have a look:- Make Music Day – Speaker Rob Guest (Co-Director,…

IAML(UK & Irl) Exec needs You!

IAML (UK & Irl) is seeking members to serve on the Executive Committee of the branch for 2023/24. We would welcome nominations from colleagues working in any area of the profession. The Committee holds three meetings during the year and these are normally on a Wednesday afternoon in May (in person in London – travel…

Online Open Day at Henle Urtext Editions

A IAML colleague with their finger on the pulse, has alerted us to this forthcoming event:- Henle Urtext Editions are holding an online Open Day this Thursday, 23 March. It looks to be a very full and interesting programme.  If you’re interested, you can register at: Henle Open Day (vfairs.com) The various sessions are being…

Bursaries for attendance at IAML 2023 in Cambridge

The Music Libraries Trust is now accepting applications for bursaries to attend the Cambridge 2023 IAML international congress, including funds from the Ian Ledsham bursary. This year’s IAML International Congress in Cambridge will be held from 30 July to 4 August. See the conference website for more information and booking details. As the IAML International Congress is being…

IAML UK & Ireland Branch – Excellence Awards

Are you an excellent music librarian, and a member of the UK & Ireland branch of IAML? A gentle reminder that nominations for the 2023 Excellence Awards need to be submitted by 31 January. If you have already submitted your nomination and have received your self-assessment form, these need to be returned by 31 March….

International IAML – Publications Awards

As most UK & Ireland Branch members will know, we are actually part of a larger international organisation, the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres. They publish Fontes, which is IAML’s international journal. If you are professionally ambitious, and/or aspire to international recognition, then Fontes is one of the key publications in our…

International Music Council’s Statement on Music Rights in Afghanistan

IAML supports the statement about music rights in Afghanistan, formulated by the International Music Council – please, see below. The declaration has recently been published on our website, among IAML’s policy statements and is in line with our endorsement of the Five Music Rights, first proclaimed by the International Music Council in 2001. IMC Statement about music rights…

A celebration of Black British musical families

Barbican Music Library’s current exhibition, Black British Dynasties in Music: A FamilyAffair, celebrates the enormous contribution made by Black British musical families to theUK’s musical and cultural scene. It is curated by the Black Music Coalition which representsBlack music executives and professionals, and was established in 2020 to challenge andraise awareness of racism affecting Black…

IAML 2022 Prague Congress

As you may know, our international organisation (‘big IAML’) is meeting in Prague this week, 24-30 July 2022. Conference Schedule – click here. If you’re curious to know what’s going on, do follow the Twitter hashtag, #IAML2022, and make sure you follow both ‘big’ IAML’s and our own Twitter accounts:- @IAML_AIBM and @IAML_UK_IRL Now is…

CILIP/IAML (UK & Irl) Memorandum of Understanding

We are very pleased to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, and welcome the opportunity to work more closely together.  We look forward a fruitful collaboration with CILIP, as we work to preserve and make available the rich musical heritage in our libraries. IAML(UK & Irl)…

Title page from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's "Nourmahl's Song". Written on manuscript paper, the title page reads: Nourmahl's Song scena for contralto and piano or orchestra. Orchestrated from the original unpublished piano manuscript in his possession by L. Kirkby Lunn Pearson. Text from the poem "Lalla Rookh" by Thomas Moore.

New discovery at the Royal College of Music Library

The Royal College of Music Library is delighted to announce the discovery of a previously unknown composition by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Nourmahal’s song. This short, unpublished, song by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor has long been assumed to be related to his two-movement piano work, Nourmahal’s song and dance, op. 41. Although the names are similar, comparison of the…

Music Librarians Announce Winners of C. B. Oldman Award 2020 and 2021

IAML(UK & Irl) are delighted to share the two citations for the winners of the 2020 and 2021 awards.  2020: Trevor Herbert, Arnold Myers and John Wallace Herbert, Trevor, Myers, Arnold, & Wallace, John (eds).  The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Brass Instruments.  (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019).  ISBN: 978-1-10718-000-0  The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Brass Instruments is the first major…

Ledsham Bursary – Prague 2022

The Music Libraries Trust is accepting applications for the Ledsham bursary. The Ian Ledsham Bursary is awarded annually to a member of IAML (UK & Irl) in order to assist attendance at IAML international conferences. This year’s IAML international congress will be held in Prague, 24-28 July 2022. The preliminary programme may be found here and the…

Music Librarians Shortlist Candidates for C. B. Oldman Award

As music librarians, it goes without saying that we are specialists in terms of what goes into music libraries – and that embraces not only music, but books about it as well. The C. B. Oldman Award is a long-standing and prestigious award celebrating the best of today’s writers about music. This year we have…

True is The Dream (Barbican Music Library exhibition)

Barbican Music Library’s current exhibition, True is The Dream, showcases the photography of Derek D’Souza who, over four decades, has taken insightful images of The Jam, The Style Council, and Paul Weller. In 1981 he submitted some photographs which he had taken at The Jam’s gigs to the band’s fan club, as a result of…

St Anne's College Oxford viewed from Woodstock Road

ASW 2022 Booking

After two years of online-only events, it is exciting that the Annual Study Weekend (ASW) 2022 is set to proceed in person this year. The event will take place at St Anne’s College Oxford from Friday afternoon 1st April until lunchtime on Sunday 3rd April 2022. The ASW is a great opportunity to network and…

Another Successful Seminar

The Branch’s annual Academic and Public Music Library seminars were again combined into a single event this year, on the afternoon of Wednesday 17 November. As in 2020, COVID made it more practical to organise a Zoom, rather than in-person, event, one silver lining to this continuing pandemic cloud being that attendance at the seminar…

Public Libraries Discussion Session on Digital Provision

Purpose Earlier in the year IAML (UK & Irl) hosted a discussion session on music-related digital provision in public libraries. We were delighted to welcome twenty-one attendees from a variety of sectors, including representation from eight public libraries. Running the session on Zoom was also a great opportunity to receive input from a number of…

Sourcing Performance Materials: Encore21 Re-launch

Refreshed service on a new platform IAML(UK & Ireland)’s Documentation Committee Chair, Caroline Shaw, tells us about an exciting new platform to help orchestral and choral organisations locate performing materials via UK libraries. The Encore21 Migration project Working Group is delighted to announce the launch of the refreshed Encore21 service.  Encore21 is the UK’s union…

Tangerine Dream celebrated at Barbican Music Library

Barbican Music Library’s current exhibition, Tangerine Dream: Zeitraffer, celebrates the music and legacy of the pioneering German electronic band, Tangerine Dream, and showcases the remarkable musical vision of their founder, Edgar Froese. Founded in 1967 in Berlin, Tangerine Dream became one of the most important and successful bands that Germany has produced. Their influence on…