New music library for Leeds’ cultural quarter

In 2017, Leeds College of Music will be moving their music library to the Quarry Hill Skyline building, dramatically increasing the resources available to their students, and opening up their impressive facilities to the public. The new library will house Leeds College of Music’s huge vinyl archive and music collection, which includes over 30,000 items…

Happy New Year!

For academic librarians throughout the UK and Ireland it’s the start of another academic year. Over the next few weeks we’ll see lots of eager new faces, often looking slightly scared along with worried looking final years. Some of the librarians are looking pretty worried too as they start library induction tours and talks; and…

All the fun of the fair

Despite September’s impressive attempts to imitate our August heat wave, summer is finally over. Autumn has rolled in and schools and universities have resumed business as usual. Here at Westminster Music Library, however, we do not resent the end of summer. The beginning of the school year brings with it thousands of students, and many…

In a child’s mind

It’s not just scores! Some unexpected items to be found in a music library. The BBC over the last few years has tried to get children to become more involved in classical music. November 2014 saw the introduction of Ten Pieces, an initiative aimed initially at children of primary school age. There was a “Ten…

The Big Friendly…..Music

It’s The Summer Reading Challenge again, and Westminster Music Library does not like being left out, but what could we do to inspire our Summer Reading Challenge participants that would embrace this years’  theme – The Big Friendly Read? We love reading, we love music, and we like to celebrate all things musical in a…

IAML Roma 2016 – a Cambridge conference diary

Roma 2016 was my 10th IAML congress and I returned as usual full of enthusiasm. I would even dare go further and say that it felt like one of the most successful conferences since I first attended at San Sebastian in 1998, when I was the fresh and relatively young face from Antwerp Conservatoire Library.

IAML Rome 2016

All the fun of the opening session – “big” IAML meets in Rome.

The Force is with us

This has been a fantastic year for Westminster Music Library’s Choir Joint Force Singers, since 2015, they have performed at prestigious venues and events from Lords MCC to Pimlico Proms, Westminster’s Community awards to the magnificent Guards Chapel at Wellington Barracks. And it was at the Guards Chapel that our grand finale concert took place,…

More on “Free our history”

You may recall the “Free our History” campaign back in 2015 which sought to lobby the UK government into bringing unpublished text based works back to the normal term of lifetime plus 70 years. Unfortunately that wasn’t successful in persuading the government, which means the 2039 rule is still proving costly for libraries and institutions….

We’ve got a choir!

Strife, spirit and soul were the themes of a spectacular performance by Westminster Music Library’s own Joint Force Singers. Think choir concerts are boring? Joint Force Singers made us think again, with their showcase of music in a wide range of styles, periods and even languages! The impressive Guards’ Chapel at Wellington Barracks played  host…

Humming in Harmony – Westminster Music Library supports Mental Health Awareness Week

“The power of music to integrate and cure . . . is quite fundamental. It is the profoundest nonchemical medication.” – Oliver Sacks Westminster Music Library’s five month programme of mindfulness workshops – Humming in Harmony – clearly demonstrates how true this statement is.   These simple workshops, designed to improve mental health and beat isolation,…

Hertfordshire Libraries: Performing Arts wins IAML Excellence Award for 2016

At Hertfordshire Libraries: Performing Arts we are delighted to receive a 2016 IAML Excellence Award.  One of 13 libraries to be recognised, the panel “noted the number of warm and kind comments from users of the service.  The access to the service, including long opening hours and a one hour enquiry response was particularly commended. …

From The Strad to the Sex Pistols!

The Barbican Music Library team was thrilled to receive its 3rd IAML Excellence Award; in this era of uncertainty for public services it is heartwarming to receive recognition from colleagues who understand the challenges that we all face. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to Professor Jan Smaczny and the other panel members…

Ask the reader

Library staff at the Royal Northern College of Music were delighted to win a third IAML (UK & Irl) award for Excellence in Music Libraries, as were other staff and students in the College who have congratulated the Library staff via e-mail or in person. It is very affirming to receive recognition from professional colleagues to…

Here be extreme cataloguers

The staff of the Gerald Coke Handel Collection at the Foundling Museum collected a IAML Excellence Award at the Annual Study weekend in Manchester recently.  With only two part-time staff, and occasional volunteers, we look after the Gerald Coke Handel Collection of around 10,000 items from the eighteenth century to the present, and provide facilities for study…

On winning a IAML Excellence Award

The Whittaker Library at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland was a proud recipient of a 2016 IAML Excellence award this year: an award which means a great deal to the Library team and an award which gives us a fantastic opportunity to raise our profile both externally, but most crucially on occasion, internally too. We…

“And the Award goes to…”

On Saturday the 2nd of April, in a swish hotel on the outskirts of Manchester’s vibrant City Centre during this years’ ASW, we paused while the red carpet was rolled out and the assembled delegates were transformed with sparkly frocks, frightening ‘up dos’ and slick tuxedos… well maybe not quite that sparkly or frightening, but…

IAML (UK & Irl) celebrates Excellence

IAML (UK & Irl) celebrated both institutional and individual Excellence at its recent Excellence Awards ceremony held at Chancellor’s Hotel, Manchester on Saturday 2nd April 2016. The Excellence Awards are presented every two years and acknowledge activity in music libraries which demonstrates sustained good work and good practice with the potential to be adopted and adapted by others….

A whistle-stop tour of the ALS (Phew!)

The Academic Music Librarians’ Seminar 2016 Tube, train, Magical bus, a little dash and I’m in, just in the nick of time (or almost) for this year’s Academic Music Librarians’ Seminar. Run parallel to the Public Libraries Seminar, it is arguably one of the most unmissable of all the Annual Study Weekend’s completely unmissable gatherings,…

YML closed and on the move

As many of you will know, Yorkshire Music Library has closed. The speed of the closure meant that some borrowers were left in limbo not sure where / how they are going to get their music or where to return it. There was good news today from the Music and Performing Arts department at Leeds Central Library,…

President’s Report

It is hard to believe that my term of office as President will come to an end at the Annual General Meeting at the beginning of April 2016. The time seems to have flown by at an incredible speed. However, the Branch has done a huge amount and I thought it might be a good…