Music in Public Libraries in CanadaAuthor(s): Isabel RoseSource: Fontes Artis Musicae, Vol. 34, No. 4 (Oktober-Dezember 1987), pp. 184-187Published by: International Association of Music Libraries, Archives, and Documentation Centres(IAML)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23507509 .

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184 I. Rose: Music in Public Libraries in Canada

Berliner records of Canadian or foreign artists and 330 early Pathé records. The Music

Division also owns the first published electric recording, together with descriptive notes and

photos. This is the Memorial Gramophone Record recorded during the ceremony of the

burial of the unknown warrior in Westminster Abbey, London on November 11,1920 by the

Guest-Merriman electrical process. (Captain H.O. Merriman was a Canadian engineer.) In 1977 and 1982 Dr. André and Pearl Ross of Toronto presented the National Library

with 650 spoken-word discs from the first half of the century, featuring the voices of famous

actors, monarchs, statesmen and other celebrities.

In 1979 the Music Division acquired the collection of Harold D. Smith, who had been an

executive of the Victor Company in the United States in the 1915-1935 period. Included are

Victor recording ledgers for 1922-1925, the years of transition from acoustic to electrical

recording, many numerical catalogues for Victor and associated foreign companies, posters,

photos of recording artists and company executives, dealer magazines, artifacts such as a

plaster model of the famous HMV Victor dog "Nipper", and the unpublished text of Smith's

own history of the phonograph, The Thing Talked.

Another goldmine for the recorded sound historian is the collection of the late Paul Voigt, a recording engineer who travelled through southeastern Europe during the years

1926-1929, recording for the English record label Edison-Bell. The Music Division owns 743 of his 10-inch discs, mostly test pressings of folk and popular music. Accompanying the discs

are logbooks with technical data about each recording session.

Music in Public Libraries in Canada Isabel Rose (Toronto)*

Music collections in public libraries in Canada are creations of the twentieth century. Growth at the end of the 1970s shows that while collections are quite numerous, they vary in size and quality, with collections of sound recordings the most developed resource. Holdings of musical Canadiana form an

important aspect of collections in a number of libraries across the country. It is likely today, as in the late 1970s, that the collection at the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library is the only collection in a

public library able to support serious research on a wide scale.

Historical Background

Prior to the twentieth century, collections of music in Canada existed mostly in private hands, in collections of religious orders or churches or in a few conservatories that had

sprung up by the end of the nineteenth century.

Early in the twentieth century public libraries in Canada began to take music seriously, including in their collections books on music and volumes of printed music. In 1915 the Toronto Public Library issued a list of 528 circulating "books of music and relating to music".1 By 1956 the first survey of music libraries showed that holdings of more than 5,000 items (scores, books and recording combined) were reported by six public libraries across

* Isabel Rose is the Head of the Arts Department and former Head of the Music Department in the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library.

1 A List of Books of Music and Relating to Music Which May Be Found in the College Street Circulating Library of the Toronto Public Library System. (Toronto 1915).

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I. Rose: Music in Public Libraries in Canada 185

Canada.2 Until the mid 1950's public libraries were the main sources of music materials in Canada with the collection at Toronto Central Library (now the Metropolitan Toronto

Reference Library) being the largest. Today, following a period of accelerated growth in the

1960s and 1970s, the collections of a number of university libraries and the Canadian

Broadcasting Corporation libraries surpass the collections of any public library. Neverthe

less, close to 91 public libraries across Canada report music collections of some size.3

Collections

The survey taken by the National Library of Canada and published in 1980 as Music Resources in Canadian Collections shows that at the end of the 1970s music collections in

public libraries in Canada, while quite numerous, varied greatly in size as well as in quality. Collections of sound recordings, ranging from pop to classical music, were generally well

developed and not surprisingly formed the largest part of the collections (32,000 records in

the largest collection, 15 in the smallest). Holdings in monographs, consisting largely of

biographies, librettos or stories of operas, instructional materials on how to play, build or

repair musical instruments, varied from 13,000 volumes to 12 volumes. The number of music

periodicals reported ranged from two to 150. Holdings of scores, sheet music and

performance materials were generally not well developed in all but the few largest collections. Staff, designated as specifically music staff, numbered the equivalent of 48

persons in the 91 libraries or library systems reporting,4 and since of these, 11 staff were in

the Metro Toronto Reference Library, one readily understands the lack of development in

holdings of printed music. The following list adapted from the National Library 1978/79

survey provides approximate statistics for basic music materials in the 10 largest public

library music collections. It excludes the combined holdings of library systems in the

Metropolitan Toronto area where the branches of the North York system, for example contain a total of more than 75,000 recordings.

Library Books Scores Records Periodicals

Metro Toronto Ref. Library 13,000 30,000 10,000 130

Winnipeg, Manitoba 3,000 700 32,000 36

Edmonton, Alberta 4,100 4,200 24,000 50

London, Ontario 1,700 7,100 20,500* 42 Vancouver, British Columbia 8,000 8,000 - 130 Ottawa, Ontario 1,500 1,600 12,000 34

Calgary, Alberta 2,500 500 10,500* 10 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 1,800 200 12,000 50

Hamilton, Ontario 4,500 3,200 3,200 56

Kitchener, Ontario 1,200 700 9,500*

* Includes records held in branches.

Beyond the basic materials in music collections, a number of libraries have added picture

files, slides, films and microforms to their holdings. Important components in some libraries

are vertical file materials, program collections and local history documentation.

2 The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Edited by Helmut Kallmann, Giles Potvin, Kenneth Winters. "Libraries".

Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1981. 3 National Library of Canada. Music Resources in Canadian Collections. Research Collections in Canadian Libraries

no. 7, Ottawa, 1980. 4

According to my count.

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186 I. Rose: Music in Public Libraries in Canada

Canadiana

In a country where the published output of music is relatively small, where the literature

about musical activity provides inadequate documentation, ephemera make a considerable

contribution towards the study of music. The public libraries of Vancouver, Edmonton,

Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Hamilton, London, Metropolitan Toronto, the City Library of

Montreal, and the Newfoundland Public Library have in their various holdings materials

such as concert programs of local importance, newspaper clippings, archival documents,

scrapbooks, and historical sheet music. Existing often to support these materials are files

and indexes to provide access to the literature about and musical activity of Canadian

musicians.

In their acquisition policies, several public libraries indicate the goal of building strong

holdings of musical Canadiana;5 they include the Winnipeg Public Library (for recordings), the Jewish Public Library in Montreal (for publications of Jewish Canadian interest) and the

Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library (for current materials as well as for retrospective materials of all kinds: sheet music, hymnals including those of native Canadian people, song

books, pedagogical texts, periodicals, monographs, concert programs, pamphlets, trade

catalogues, manuscript scores, etc.)

Physical Arrangements

Musical materials are organized and housed in Canadian public libraries in a variety of

ways. In the smaller libraries material tends to be integrated with general collections. In the

larger collections, records are found most frequently in the audio visual department, and

print materials in the general collection. Two libraries (again according to the National

Library survey) have designated "Arts and Recreation Department", two have departments named "Fine and Performing Arts (Music) Departments", and one, a separate "Music

Department" (at the Metro Toronto Reference Library which began in 1987 the process of

amalgamating its former Theatre, Fine Art and Music Departments into an "Arts

Department").

Equipment and Services

Canadian public libraries housing music materials are frequently well equipped, offer

efficient service and provide generous borrowing privileges. Inhouse listening facilities (for cassette, tape, disc), photocopy facilities, in-library seating and study spaces, reference

services, the organization of lectures and/or concerts, displays and bulletin boards

announcing current events/lessons/items for sale, etc., are commonly found. Four libraries

in 1979, all in the province of Ontario, provided practice room(s).6 While free library service in Canada dates back to the Ontario Free Libraries Act of 1882

and is deeply rooted, free borrowing privileges are usually restricted to local residents.

Frequently with the payment of a small annual fee, borrowing privileges may be extended to

non-residents of a particular region. One library in north-western Ontario indicates that "a

library card from anywhere in the world (is) accepted for borrowing privileges".7 At the

Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library, where the collection is essentially an in-house reference collection, a large part of the printed music collection circulates - the only source of such material in the Metropolitan Toronto region.

NLC, Music Resources, p. 46. Ibid., according to my count. Ibid., p. 70, no. 74.

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N. Boisclair: Les Centres de documentation des Conservatoires de musique du Québec 187

Conclusion

Music collections in public libraries, as in academic libraries in Canada, are creations of the twentieth century. Today a statistical overview shows that their existence across the

country parallels the economic situation of the eleven provinces with the richest resources

found in Ontario, followed by Quebec and British Columbia, the mid-western provinces of

Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and the Atlantic provinces. Growth to the end of the

1970s shows that while collections were quite numerous, they varied in size and quality with

collections of sound recording the most developed resource. Diminished financial support in

the 1980s is having its impact. It is likely today, as in the late 1970s that the collection at the

Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library (some 16,000 books, 41,000 volumes of printed

music, 20,000 records, 178 periodical titles, archival resources of Canadiana) is the only collection in a public library able to support serious research on a wide scale.

Les Centres de documentation des Conservatoires de musique du Québec Nicole Boisclair (Montréal)*

Cet article donne un bilan descriptif des centres de documentation, jumelés aux sept conservatoires

de musique de la province de Québec dont le directeur-fondateur fut Wilfrid Pelletier. On y fait état de

l'institution qui fonctionne sous forme de réseau, tout en donnant, en bref, l'historique de chacun de ces

conservatoires. On rend compte des collections qui s'y trouvent, du personnel responsable de son

fonctionnement et de l'organisation du traitement documentaire, pour terminer par la clientèle

desservie par un éventail de services, en particulier ceux qui sont offerts au centre de documentation du

Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.

On ne peut faire revivre les débuts des conservatoires sans évoquer le nom et la pensée de

Wilfrid Pelletier.1 Ce musicien exceptionnel fut le directeur-fondateur d'une institution qui joua et joue encore aujourd'hui un rôle déterminant dans la formation des musiciens

professionnels au Québec.

C'est grâce à sa persévérance, à sa capacité de rallier à son point de vue les divers

intervenants, ainsi qu'à sa foi en la jeunesse, qu'il réussit à trouver les appuis politiques favorables à la création de cette institution. Deux extraits de ses mémoires viennent

confirmer l'importance qu'il accorda à la formation musicale des jeunes et à l'épanouisse

ment culturel du milieu: «Je ne voulais pas que les élèves apprennent seulement à souffler

dans les instruments de bois et de cuivre, mais qu'ils reçoivent la technique voulue pour

produire de beaux sons, éléments d'une bonne musique, pour devenir en un mot des

musiciens professionnels pouvant rivaliser avec les diplômés de n'importe quelle école de

musique au monde».2

«La renommée de nos conservatoires dépassa bientôt les limites de la province de

' Nicole Boisclair est Directrice du Centre de documentation, Conservatoire de musique; Montréal, Québec.

1 Montréalais de naissance, Wilfrid Pelletier fut chef d'orchestre régulier au Métropolitain Opera de New York, de

1929 à 1950. En 1936, il créa le concours radiophonique «Métropolitain Opera Auditions of the Air». L'Encyclopédie de la musique au Canada donne une biographie détaillée de ce musicien. 2 Wilfrid Pelletier, Une symphonie inachevée, Montréal, Leméac, 1972, p. 224.

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