Selecting Printed Music in Public Libraries: A Committee-Driven Method for Curating Printed Music

ABSTRACT

The height of the COVID-19 public health emergency saw libraries conducting collection audits of their materials, including their print music collections. The trend in contemporary public libraries in the United States is one which emphasizes generalization in its workforce regarding domain specialty knowledge and skills. This has necessitated an influx in inquiries delivered to the Music Library Association’s Public Libraries Committee on the topic of print music collection development from public library staff who lack the necessary training and experience. In response, the Public Libraries Committee created a document focusing on best practices in print music collection development that recommends 250 print music titles for public library acquisition. Selecting Printed Music in Public Libraries was produced using strategies similar to focus group research methods and addresses a novel dilemma found in public libraries – library workers tasked with managing music collections without the knowledge, skills, and abilities to effectively do so. This article is framed as a case study and offers an overview of the development of the Public Libraries Committee’s (PLC) document, Selecting Printed Music in Public Libraries. Additionally, this article describes the content included within the PLC’s document and offers recommendations for how to improve it moving forward.

KEYWORDS:

• Public libraries
• collection development
• Music Library Association
• Committees
• focus groups
• print music

Acknowledgments

The author would like to express sincerest gratitude to the following members of the Public Libraries Committee who presented on Selecting Printed Music in Public Libraries at the 93rd Annual Meeting of the Music Library Association and contributed to this article by reviewing it and providing suggestions for revision: Kristie Nelsen, Anchorage (AK) Public Library; Julie Hanify, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (PA); Steve Landstreet, retired from the Free Library of Philadelphia (PA); and, Laurie Bailey, San Diego (CA) Public Library. Thank you all for being such excellent colleagues and collaborators.

The author would also like to thank the editors and reviewers for their efforts and diligence toward revising, publishing, and printing this article. It is a service often taken for granted and as such, deserves recognition and appreciation. Thank you very much.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).