Careers in Music Librarianship III: Reality and Reinvention ed. by Susannah Cleveland and Joe C. Clark (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Careers in Music Librarianship III: Reality and Reinvention ed. by Susannah Cleveland and Joe C. Clark Michael J. Duffy IV Careers in Music Librarianship III: Reality and Reinvention. Edited by Susannah Cleveland and Joe C. Clark. (Music Library Association Technical Reports Series, vol. 33.) Middleton, WI: Music Library Association and A-R Editions, 2014. [xi, 217 p. ISBN 9780895797872. $60.] Illustrations, bibliography, index. For music librarians who entered the profession in the early 2000s, Careers in Music Librarianship II: Traditions and Transitions, edited by Paula Elliot and Linda Blair (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2004) (hereafter CML II), was a useful compilation of career advice, both for the novice music librarian and the veteran professional ready to take the next step. It was also, but less prominently, a reflection on the status quo of music librarianship at the time. Its predecessor, Careers in Music Librarianship: Perspectives from the Field, compiled by Carol Tatian (Canton, MA: Music Library Association, 1990) (hereafter CML I), was not primarily a career manual, but rather a collection of considerations of the circumstances of the profession at the end of the 1980s. This collection, an outgrowth of a session at the 1988 Music Library Association (MLA) meeting entitled, “Dead Ends and Open Doors: The State of Music Librarianship,” comprised six chapters, of which three were essays and three were analytical studies. The chapters that were most similar to career manual material, by Laura Dankner (“Job Trends, 1974–1989”) and Richard Smiraglia (“Careers in Music Technical Services”), were not addressed primarily to those who might be looking for a job, but rather to the membership of the Music Library Association in general. The present volume, Careers in Music Librarianship III: Reality and Reinvention (hereafter CML III), has come a long way from the roots of the series. While it could be interpreted as a statement on the current condition of the profession, it is primarily a compendium of advice for those who wish to advance their music librarian-ship careers at the beginning and middle stages. CML III contains eleven chapters, including a bibliography. The first ten chapters are all essays, with the exception of Lindy Smith’s chapter, “How to Make Friends, Influence People, and Maybe Even Get a Job in a Music Library,” which combines an essay with discussion of a survey study. These three volumes have become a series within the MLA Technical Reports series and a tradition within the Music Library Association’s publication output. They have also given impetus to a body of criticism, with which the present review engages and which it continues. Such critical reviews complement the CML series nicely because they highlight what the CML volumes leave out. The first installment came from Alan Green, who reviewed CML I for Notes in 1992 (Notes 49, no. 2 [December 1992]: 637–38). Green criticized the original three analytical studies for their statistical methods, citing small sample size and “insufficient statistical control.” Green’s review was followed more than a decade later by three reviews of CML II. These were by Gary W. Markham (Music Reference Services Quarterly 9, no. 3 [2007]: 15–17), Cheryl Martin (CAML Review/Revue de l’ACBM 34, no. 1 [April 2006]: 38–39), and Nathan B. Putnam (Fontes Artis Musicae 54, no. 1 [January–March 2007]: 141–42). Markham praised CML II highly, though he expressed his desire for longer biographical sketches of the contributors, highlighting their professional development. Martin, on the other hand, criticized CML II for [End Page 135] omitting discussion of presentations and behavioral questions in job interviews, as well as discussion of music librarians in placements outside of academic or public libraries, collection development in difficult budget times, and faculty status. Putnam criticized CML II for lacking more substantive discussion of technological issues and advances, as well as lacking the voice of someone new to the field. In several ways, CML III rises to the occasion of addressing some of the topics that CML II was criticized for overlooking. First, Susannah Cleveland’s essay, “Success Is a Science: Tips for Applying and Interviewing for Music Library Jobs,” discusses presentations in job interviews, with advice on how to present effectively (p...