Music Library Advocacy Committee Annual Report 2023

submitted by Rebecca Littman

Current Roster

  • Rebecca J. Littman, Chair (2027)
  • Laurie A. Bailey (2021-2025)
  • Carol I. Lubkowski (2026)
  • Sarah Ward (2026)
  • Jacey Kepich, Ex-Officio (2025)

List of Previous Goals and Progress Made

  • 1. Present an advocacy session at the 2023 annual meeting.
    • This supports Goal Area 2, “Develop and maintain membership,” and specifically Objective 2.6, as it will help promote MLA as being an Association that will advocate for our profession, our members, our users, our institutions and for diversity.
      • This presentation was successfully presented. The video & slides are available at https://sched.co/1ET6N.
  • 2. Maintain our Humanities Commons site, adding and publicizing advocacy resources as new resourcces are discovered.
    • The HC Music Library Advocacy group currently has 73 members. Since our last annual report we have posted several links to MLA-L as an “Advocacy Resource of Interest.”
  • 3. Serve as the designated MLA liaisons to the Library Futures Coalition.
    • Committee members have attended most of this organization’s monthly “coalition calls” and have compiled notes on their content. Resources and invitations to participate in conferences and letter writing campaigns have been shared with the MLA community

List of Future Goals

  • 1. Expand on the music library advocacy toolkit which offers resources for a variety of basic advocacy needs and scenarios.
    • This supports Goal Area 2, “Develop and maintain membership,” by providing tools to support the preservation and growth of music libraries and their staff. It addresses Objective 2.4 by supporting members working in various disciplines within an organization that also includes aspects of music librarianship, as well as Objective 2.5, by encouraging member retention through targeted programs and support for member engagement at all career levels.
  • 2. Continue to attend meetings of the Library Futures Coalition and share information about their activity with MLA members.
    • This supports Goal Area 1, “Organize strategically,” specifically with regard to Objective 1.6, which supports open-access publishing (OA is a major focus of the Library Futures Coalition).
  • 3. Continue to pursue collaboration with the other MLA committees and other Arts & Advocacy related organizations suchs as Theatre Library Association, IAML, Library Futures Coalition (already mentioned) on specific advocacy efforts.
    • Several MLA committees reached out to collaborate on possible presentations for the 2024 annual meeting, but the calls came a little too late to be viable this time around. The Chair has formally been appointed to the IAML Advocacy Committee
      • This supports Goal Area 1, “Organize strategically,” and specifically Objective 1.3, to cultivate mutually beneficial relationships with other organizations.