Abbey Thompson, LSTA Project Cataloging Librarian

On October 23rd, I drove down to Kansas City, Missouri for the Midwest chapter meeting of the Music Library Association. While we all know that the library world is a little too full of organizations with the acronym of “MLA” (the Modern Languages Association, Medical Library Association, Minnesota Library Association, just to name a few), this particular MLA is near and dear to my own heart. I’ve been attending various MLA functions since starting library school, and every conference has been nothing less than stellar. This meeting was no different, full of useful information and learning opportunities blended with copious prospects for networking and social interaction with fellow music librarians. The session on providing access to sheet music collections was particularly enlightening, considering my work with the Chatfield Brass Band collection. Though new to this particular chapter (previously I attended chapter meetings in the Southeast region), I felt immediately welcomed and encouraged by my new peers.

I have now been working with SELCO for just over three months, on the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library project. My excitement for the project has only grown in this time, and I particularly wanted to take the opportunity at this conference to spread awareness of this amazing collection and the work that SELCO is doing to make it more accessible. By the end of the weekend, the question that I had answered the most was, without a doubt, “What is SELCO?” The majority of music librarians work in academic library settings, so to be confronted with a name-badge bearing our unfamiliar acronym, rather than a university or college, was initially baffling to some. Once explanations were made, however, I received nothing but praise and excitement about the project. Most of the people I spoke with had never heard of the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library, and were stunned to hear of the size and scope of the collection. It truly is a unique resource, and I was overjoyed to see such a positive response from these fellow music librarians to both the collection itself and the work that SELCO has done on its behalf. Eliciting this kind of response was truly my goal for the conference – to spread the word about the collection and SELCO’s role in its transformation. By all accounts, this mission was an overwhelming success.