A Career as a Music Librarian

by Barbra Weidlein

A career as a music librarian is worth exploring if you’re someone with a background in music with strong organizational and research skills. The work utilizes both analytical as well as creative thinking and bridges technology with the arts.

The role of music librarian is one of support – for musicians, students, music faculty, and more. But music librarians also perform and use their music skills and backgrounds in other ways as well.

What do music librarians do?

According to the Music Library Association (MLA), music librarians may do any of the following:

• Organize, catalogue and maintain collections

• Instruct library users in use of the library

• Respond to reference inquiries

• Select music, books, journals, recordings, microforms, and sometimes manuscripts and rare materials for acquisition by their library

• Recommend preservation and housing of materials

• Supervise support staff

Depending on where they work, music librarians may also be responsible for planning exhibits, concerts, lectures, classes, and collaborative events with other institutions. With digital scores so prominent on stage and in music studios, knowledge of the main digital scores platforms and other up-to-date technology skills are essential.

Academic music librarians

Most music librarians working in universities and conservatories have a master’s degree in music as well as a Master of Library and Information Science degree accredited by the American Library Association. Prior experience working in a library is also helpful in getting hired; according to Misti Shaw, Head of Music Library Public Services and Outreach at Indiana University Jacob School of Music’s Cook Music Library, “Internships can be useful… many library science master’s degree programs require them.”

According to Stephanie Bonjack, Associate Professor and Music, Theatre & Dance Librarian at University of Colorado Boulder College of Music, “A background in classical music will give you the broadest number of options for jobs, but it’s not the only background you could have. Basically, you need to be able to understand the needs of the departments you serve. Someone with a background in jazz, for example, will just have to learn how to scale up their knowledge of classical music if they end up working with a more traditional department. I have a B.M. in Vocal Performance and that has positioned me well to work with a variety of music programs.

“My job has many components!” Bonjack says. “They all relate to providing information literacy and access to resources in the performing arts. I build digital and print collections in areas of music, theatre, and dance that are taught at the university. I go into the classroom and teach sessions on how to effectively find scholarly resources in the performing arts. I interact with faculty and staff members to ensure that the library collections reflect the teaching and learning happening in their classrooms and studios. As a tenured faculty member, I participate in creating the scholarly record in music and performing arts librarianship. I do this by authoring peer-reviewed articles, presenting at conferences, and conducting workshops. I am also active in professional societies that support music and performing arts librarians.”

The job itself may dictate the education and background needed. According to the MLA, a “thorough knowledge of music history and repertory” is essential to this work. And libraries focusing on specialized music such as non-Western music typically require training in ethnomusicology and possibly relevant languages.

Andrea Schuler, who holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in Viola Performance from Eastman School of Music, coordinated Eastman’s summer program for several years. She now works in Eastman’s Sibley Music Library as a Library Associate in the Ruth T. Watanabe Special Collections. Her current position didn’t require a library science degree but her work in public library circulation while freelancing as a musician bolstered her candidacy for the job.

“I help with research on a variety of projects, questions about historical Eastman faculty and alumni activity, recordings, photographs, student performances, etc.,” says Schuler, “and I assist patrons who visit the department or contact us online (retrieving materials from the collections for review, scanning items as requested). I also process materials for inclusion in our collections. I love that every day is different – I never know what I’ll get to see or learn about – and that there are so many amazing treasures in our collection!”

Ellwood “Woody” Colahan is the Music and Performing Arts Reference Librarian at the University of Denver (DU). He manages the music library at DU’s Lamont School of Music and also works in general reference and research support in DU’s main library. “Collection development in music is extremely time-intensive compare to other disciplines,” he says. “In most parts of the library collection, development is highly automated, with distributors sending us books based on criteria we define for them. In music, this is the case for books only. For scores and recordings, there is no comparable system so I have to go to a number of websites to identify materials and prepare order request spreadsheets for the library acquisition department. More and more often, composers self-publish their own scores, so I have to seek them out on composer websites. More and more often, they are available only as PDF downloads, so I have to request permission to print and circulate them in the library. Permission is not always granted. It is challenging.”

In addition to serving on several music-related committees at his school, Colahan also teaches “a required research and writing course all masters candidates in the Lamont School of Music must complete. If a school has this course, and a music librarian on staff, it is almost always the music librarian who teaches it.”

Orchestral music librarians

The Major Orchestra Librarians’ Association (MOLA) includes members representing hundreds of orchestras from around the world. MOLA members’ jobs include locating and accessing scores, obtaining the needed rights and permissions to use them, preparing musicians’ parts for performing in concert and on recordings, cataloguing music, and dealing with unforeseeable last-minute situations.

According to MOLA, orchestral librarians have a “broad range of training.” While not required to have specific degrees, they should have competencies in the following areas:

• Musical knowledge (score reading skills, transpositions, repertoire knowledge, instrumentation)

• Copyright and licensing

• Project/time management, supervisory skills

• Efficient interpersonal communication

• Research and reference

• Exceptional organizational skills with attention to detail

MOLA also describes “tact and sensitivity” and “curiosity and tenacity” as important components of a librarian’s capabilities.

Other settings where music librarians work:

• Opera companies

• Ballet companies

• Military bands

• Music publishing companies

• Major public libraries including the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library

• Radio and television station libraries

• Music societies and foundations

Music librarianship as a career

Some music librarians continue to perform as freelance musicians but in most settings, their library work is full-time. Professional development programs provide continuing education training with opportunities to learn to specialize in various relevant areas. Annual conferences, professional publications, advocacy efforts, copyright and cataloguing guidance, and streaming services advice all support newer as well as experienced music librarians in remaining current as well as feeling supported in their work.

Barbra Weidlein is co-founder and director of MajoringInMusic.com

Photo: Stephanie Bonjack, Music, Theatre & Dance Librarian, University of Colorado Boulder College of Music

Photo Credit: Owen Zhou