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  • Conversations with the World's Leading Orchestra and Opera Librarians by Patrick Lo
  • Vincent J. Novara
Conversations with the World's Leading Orchestra and Opera Librarians. By Patrick Lo. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. [xviii, 276 p. ISBN 9781442255425 (hardback), $92; ISBN 9781442255432 (e-book), $87.] Illustrations, index.

Orchestra and opera librarians work in an environment characterized by expansion and contraction. Their skills and experiences extend beyond those of their peers in academic and public libraries, but their subject focus and clientele are much more confined. In each of his Conversations with the World's Leading Orchestra and Opera Librarians, Patrick Lo brings these considerations to the forefront by deeply examining the duties and demands of "performance music librarians" (p. xii), whose work encompasses general music librarianship, musicology, rights negotiations, resource management, materials conservation, and bindery operations. Indeed, the first interview, with Robert Sutherland of New York's Metropolitan Opera, describes challenges that might discourage novice librarians from investigating this corner of their field, but others might find the prospect of such high-stakes service thrilling. Lo's primary audience for this book—new music librarians and graduate students in library and information science—can discover the benefits and challenges of this career path thanks to the thoughtful conversations with the interviewees. While seeking to reveal the unique perspectives of these librarians "in diversely different cultural, social, and managerial settings," Lo also hopes, rather boldly, that this publication will improve the "status and recognition of the performance music librarian profession and thereby contribute to a more long-lasting effect on the artistic quality as well as the future survival of the art form itself" (p. 253).

Lo is currently an associate professor in Library, Information, and Media Science at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, after serving for eighteen years as an academic librarian. His experience as a music librarian is uncertain, as he has focused his research interests in other areas, including comparative studies in information science, art and design librarianship, and information literacy. Nevertheless, his discussions with the orchestra and opera librarians prove to be relevant and illuminating.

Each interview begins with questions that address the personal and professional backgrounds and music training of the librarians and context about the performing ensembles. Each interviewee, however, offers distinct perspectives in their own voices. A corollary benefit of Lo's book is the information that these interviews reveal about scheduling practices of ensembles and how the librarians factor into that activity. To a smaller degree, this book also allows the reader to compare the histories of these diverse institutions side by side. Included here are conversations with librarians who not only work for symphonies and opera and ballet companies, but also as personal librarians for the conductor André Previn and the soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. The last interview, which offers the performer's point of view, is with the soprano Elena Xanthoudakis. In an appendix, [End Page 466] Sutherland describes the creation of an in-house FileMaker Database for tracking the Met's collection.

The interviews present an assortment of themes, but a consistent topic is the level of advanced planning involved in concert preparation. Opera companies and established symphonies schedule performances one year, if not years, in advance, a time line essential to librarians working with various singers and their stand-ins to identify specific editions and alternate keys. Lo's subjects display their ingenuity and devotion in tales of last-minute changes (especially for premieres) or missing parts. However, these librarians do not often receive praise for their efforts; Benjamin Gould of the Qatar Philharmonic remarks that he knows he has succeeded "when [he hears] nothing from anyone" (p. 94). Lo's interviews show the commitment of these librarians to providing services that free conductors, soloists, and choreographers from the distracting logistics of how the music materializes on their stands. In the view of Xanthoudakis, the librarian "is vital to ensure the smooth running of the event but also allows the musical staff to concentrate on making quality music" (p. 250).

Clearly, the meaningful professional relationships that the librarians build with resident conductors influence the quality of their work in selection and acquisition. Licensing and...

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