Music Library News

Staff Changes

As previously announced, Jeanette Casey, Music Public Services Librarian, has left Northwestern to become Head of the Mills Music Library at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This is a great opportunity for Jeanette, and we wish her well in her new position. Since Jeanette worked closely with students and faculty to provide reference assistance and classroom instruction, her departure requires me to be sure these important services are covered until a replacement is appointed.

Reference and General Questions
Effective immediately, I ask that all e-mail reference questions and other general queries be sent to musiclibrary@northwestern.edu This is now the primary e-mail address for the Music Library, and all messages sent to that address will be routed to the proper staff member. For telephone queries, the Music Library's usual phone number should be used: 847-491-3434.

Library Instruction Classes
Faculty wishing to schedule library instruction sessions for their courses should contact me to arrange a time and to discuss what topic(s) you would like to have covered. For the interim, I will be coordinating all classroom instruction. In most cases, I plan to teach the sessions myself, but, when this is not possible due to scheduling conflicts, I may draw on staff from the Main Library's reference department to assist. Faculty who would like to include library instruction in their courses are encouraged to contact me as soon as possible.

The search for Jeanette's replacement has already begun, and just this week the position was advertised. With this opportunity to adjust responsibilities and to clarify the role of that position, the title has been changed to Assistant Head of the Music Library. This change in title reflects the position's increased involvement in Music Library administration, with greater responsibility and engagement in the areas of reference, instruction, collection development, and outreach. It is hoped that the Assistant Head will be hired this fall and working on our staff sometime in early 2008.

In other staffing news, I am pleased to report that a new Senior Music Cataloger has been appointed, replacing Kevin Medows. Joining us will be Morris Levy, who will manage all music cataloging operations, have responsibility for original cataloging of scores, sound recordings, and manuscripts, and oversee the cataloging of all rare materials. Morris comes to us from Harvard University's Houghton Library, where he has worked since 2001 as a cataloger of the Ward Theatre Collection. Prior to Harvard, he worked briefly at the Berklee College of Music's library. With this experience and an educational background that includes a B.A. in Music History and Theory from Oberlin College, an M.A. in Folklore/Ethnomusicology from Indiana University, and a Master of Library Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, we are very pleased to have Morris join our staff. His first day will be October 1.

After Morris's arrival, we will begin the search for a Music Cataloger, another position we currently have vacant. This position, a more junior position than Morris's but also quite important to our operations, will also involve a national search, and we hope to have the position filled sometime by late spring.

While all these transitions will make for a busy year, it is also an exciting time as we bring in new staff with new ideas. I look forward to the changes, and I thank you all for your support and continued interest in the Music Library.

Please feel quite free to contact me with any questions.

See you in September,
D.J.