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Innovation in international library programs: The Slovenian Music Collection at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

by Peter G. Watson-Boone

Thanks to a generous bequest received more than 20 years ago, the Golda Meir

Library at the University of Wisconsin, Mil- waukee (UWM), has been able to develop an interesting and possibly unique set of ini- tiatives in international library activity cen- tered upon the music of Slovenia.

UWM is an ur- ban research uni- versity with more 24,0 students. The music de- partment offers programs to the master’s level in theory, perfor- mance, history, and education and has long had an involvement with various tra- ditions of ethnic music.

As is fairly typical of non-standard collecting missions in university libraries, this one began through the scholarly interests of one faculty member. UWM Professor of Music Leo Muscatevc, who was Slovenian- born, donated his own materials and persuaded Mary Ermenc, a local Slovenian-

National & University Library, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

American, to bequeath funds for the col- lection and performance of the music of Slovenia.

Slovenia

Slovenia, part of the former Yugoslavia, gained its independence in 1991, but it has had its own distinctive language, culture, and sense of na- tionhood for hun- dreds of years. Before ever being part of Yugoslavia, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

It is a nation of 2 million people, situated at the head of the Adriatic Sea, and extending northeast toward Austria and Hungary. The capi- tal city, Ljubljana, boasts one of the oldest public symphonic societies in Europe, the Academia Philharmonicorum, established in 1701, a time when most European orchestras were the property of kings, princes, arch- dukes, and others.

About the autho

r

Peter G. Watson-Boone is library director at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, e-mail: pwb@gml.lib.uwm.edu

Building the collection

To complement the UWM library’s mission of building a Slovenian music collection, a local community group, the Slovenian Arts Council, works under a related bequest by Mary Ermenc to arrange concerts, perfor- mances, and related activities.

For many years, the library’s sole collecting activity was the acquisition of modern printed scores as they became available in the United States from the Society of Slovenian Compos- ers, which has an agent in New York City.

A radical change came in 1998, when I was able to incorporate a visit to Slovenia into my trip to Eu- rope for the IFLA conference in Amsterdam. This highly fruitful visit turned out to be an excellent ex- ample of the cru- cial importance of direct, personal contacts in ven- tures of this kind.

This exposure to the Slovenian mu- sical community established a basis of personal trust, opened up several new channels of coopera- tion, made us aware of additional materials we could acquire, and thereby lifted our Slovenian collecting mission to a new, and very exciting level.

We still collect scores via the printed catalog of the Society of Slovenian Composers, but we have expanded our scope to include sound recordings and musicological works, contemporary Slovenian art, literature, architecture, culture, history, and geography to furnish the essential context for those who will use the music materials.

I returned from my 1998 visit with more than 90 CDs of Slovenian music, most of them unavailable through commercial channels in the United States. I chatted with the hotel concierge about why I was visiting his country; when he came to work the next day, he gave me an LP record (which I later found to be very rare in North America) of Slovenian folk music. I am told that the UWM Slovenian music collection is now the largest in North America.

Home of the oldest public symphony society in Europe, the Academia Philharmonicorum, 1701, Ljubljana.

Other recent activities

Professional visits:The head of the UWM Music Library has visited Slovenia to ac- quaint herself with the people and the nation’s music librarianship. In addition, I was able to fully fund a one-month visit from the head of the Music Library of the National and University Library in Ljubljana to improve UWM Library’s proficiency in cataloging our growing collection of Slovenian music materials.

Exchange agreements:We have estab- lished agreements with the National and Uni- versity Library in Ljubljana and with two branches of the Slovenian Acad- emy of Sciences and Arts, namely the Institute of Mu- sicology and the Institute of Ethnomusicol-ogy.

The basis for the agreements is simple: our Slovenian partners send us their cur- rent publications and/or library ex- change lists, and the UWM Library, not itself being a regular publisher, obtains and sends North American musicological and ethnomusico-logical publications the Slovenians tell us they need. All parties un- derstand that exact monetary equality for the services received is not possible; the inten- tion is for each party to receive benefits that are generally equal in value. The Golda Meir Library has obtained many excellent publi- cations through these agreements.

National Ethnomusic Archive:A particularly exciting part of the initiative is a relationship with the Institute of Ethnomusicology, whereby copies of the entire Slovenian National Ethnomusic Archive scores will be made available to the UWM Library. While touring this archive, housed in an old building of wooden infrastructure, I learned that the staff was planning to photocopy the entire printed archive for storage in a different building. I suggested that they make an additional copy for us, at the UWM Library’s expense, and this was agreed to in principle. The institute later decided to scan the archive, which will lead to new and interesting opportunities for technical cooperation between us, and should result in an end-product that is much more accessible to scholars worldwide.

Possible student visit:One enterprising UWM faculty member with an existing interest in the choral music of eastern Europe has responded enthusiastically to publicizing our Slovenian music materials. She has begun to program the music in local concerts, both on and off campus, and is planning to take the UWM student choristers on a summer trip to Slovenia in 2002, where they will give concerts, perhaps with Slovenian students.

Slovenia boasts four excellent summer music festivals. I was privileged to attend a student concert at one of them, the Brezice Early Music Festival 2000, where a most impressive student ensemble from Krakow, Poland, was performing.

Commission:During the mid-1990s I would occasionally joke to colleagues that our Ermenc fund was sufficiently large enough that if the Slovenian music we wanted didn’t exist, we could commission it. A wonderful moment came when I realized that institutional policy changes at UWM would permit me to do exactly that.

The UWM Library has therefore commissioned a piece of music from an accomplished Slovenian composer and, given a successful outcome, may commission further works. This is another example of how a deepening network of contacts and trust can produce new options.

In summary, what was at its inception a very low-key, traditional type of library operation to collect specialized material has been developed into a multifaceted, active, and highly rewarding venture in international library cooperation with direct links to scholarship and learning.

The benefits of increased knowledge and awareness of a little-known part of Europe are accruing to UWM students, faculty and staff, including library staff; the local Slovenian-American community in southeast Wisconsin is delighted to find out more about its ethnic homeland; and in Slovenia, the music community now has Milwaukee firmly in its sights as a primary center of interest and activity. ■