CANADIAN MUSIC CENTRE/CENTRE DE MUSIQUE CANADIENNE by Mark Hand, National Librarian

[With this article on the CMC, we begin a descriptive series on individual Canadian music resource collections, in the hope of sup- plementing and amplifying the coverage of the NLC/BNC survey, pub- lished in 1980. -Ed.]

and biographf cal information are a valuable The Canadian Music Centre is Canada's national source of information to students, scholars collection of music by our major concert and journalists. composers. The Centre's activities, conducted through the national office in Toronto and In theory, the library collection of the its regional offices in Montreal, Toronto, national office in Toronto is duplicated Calgary, and Vancouver, are organized to in each of the three regional branches; support the creative work of more than 200 in practice, this is not exactly the case, composers who are callea Associates of the but the branches co-operate to supply patrons CMC. The Centre collects, promotes, re- with materials which, for whatever reason, produces, records and aistributes the As- are not available locally. sociates' music. In these services, then, it works with Canadian and international The music scores are available on free loan musicians, conductors, scholars, educators, to any interested person or organization. and other creative artists and groups such The loan period is two months, but can be as choreographers, film-makers, and broad- extended depending on the circumstances. casters. Orchestra parts for unpublished works are available on a rental basis. D'abord fond6 et 6tabli i Toronto en 1959 par le Conseil canadian de la musique, sur Printed materials and recordings are available recomnendation de l'Association aes Composi- for reference use within the Centres and teurs Auteurs et Editeurs de Canada (CAPAC) may not be borrowed. Listening rooms and et de la Ligue canadienne de compositeurs, a piano are provided. i1 existe maintenant i Montreal deouis octobre 1973, i Vancouver depuis octobre 1977 et Staff members are available to assist clients i Calgary depuis fevrier 1980. Un bureau in finding appropriate materials in the independant, qui dessert la province de library and to answer reference questions I'Ontario, a 6tb cr66 en 1983. on contemporary Canadian music. To people finding us listed in a library directory The library consists primarily of music or in the phone book, our name, Cdnadian scores, of which there are currently about Music Centre, often implies that the scope 9000, by Associate Composers of the Centre. of our collection is broader than it actually We also have a sizable collection of Canadian is. We are primarily Concerned with collect- music on disc and cassette tape, vertical ing information on Associate Composers of files on our member composers, and a small the Centre and their involvement in the collection of monographs. The vertical concert music, rather than popular music, files which consist of clippings, concert scene. Thus we are not always equipped Drogrames, programme notes, photographs, to adequately answer the variety of requests for information the library receives. We our cataloguing, which has developed in do, however, refer patrons to other muslc an idiosyncratic manner as the collection organizations, such as CAPAC and PRO, or grew. Description of materials will conform other music libraries such as the Music to AACR 11 stanaards and subject headlngs Dlvlslon of the Natfonal Library of Canada, wlll be asslgned in French and Engllsh. when we cannot furnish the Information or At present, subject access to the col lectlon materials. Is very llmited; aesplte the fact that the majority of our users are performers, lndexlng Nos llstes annuelles a'acquisltions sont of the score collection by Instrument has le moyen prlvfligfi de permettre un accBs been minimal, making searches tlme consuming. continue aux usagers qui ne peuvent se pre- On-llne access will make using the collection valolr en personne des servlces du Centre easler and faster for both patrons and staff, ou de ses succursales. Les bulletins publiis and automatfon should provide for enhancement par les riglons ae la Columble brltannlque, of current awareness services and production des Pralrfes, et de l'ontarlo, de &e que of prlnted catalogues. les tableaux d'affichages dans chaque blblf o- th&que renselgnent les composf teurs et les La blblloth&que prf ncipale, qul emplole amateurs de musique contemporatne quant cfnq personnes, est sftu8e aans la Maison aux contours, concerts, et autres nouvelles Chalmers, le bureau central au CMC. En d'lntirit. Les exposltlons dans le foyer 1981, John Miller, le directeur giniral, de la Malson Chalmers mettent en rellef entreprlt les formalltis d'achat a'une demeure les personnages et les ivinements d'lmportance hlstorlque situie au coeur de 1s vflle de de la sckne de la musfcale canaalenne. Toronto, au 20 rue Salnt-Joseph. le bureau d'architectes Morlyama et Teshlma recut The publfc Is welcome to vlslt the Centres le contrat affn a'effecteur les rinovatlons from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays to Frlaays ne'cessaf res. Le nouveau Centre fut f nauguri (the hours vary sllghtly in the sumner from en juln 1984 i I'occaslon au vlngt-clnqui&me reglon to region) and the staff is available annlversalre au Centre de muslque canadlenne. to asslst in the use of the collectfon. Larger groups, such as school classes, are Wlthln Chalmers House, besfaes the lfbrary, advised to make appolntments In aavance, are the admlnlStratlve offlces for the CMC, especially if a tour Is aeslred. Many of ana for the Centrealscs am of the organlza- our most regular users cannot come In person tton, which produces dfgltal ly-recorded to the Centre or any of Its branches. In albums on our own label "Centredlscs/Centre- fact, more than half of the scores loaned, dtscques" and dlstrlbutes a varlety of and questlons answered, are in response records and tapes whf ch feature Canadfan to requests by letter and telephone. Our muslc. clients are based not only In Canada but around the world. The sfze of the Centre, and the varlety of servlces It provldes to its composers The lfbrary Is In the process of Investlgatlng and the publlc, make ft one of the most a system for automatfng the catalogues and envlea In the Internatlonal comnunl ty of circu1atlon of our materfals. The slze muslc Information centres which exlst in of the collectlon is small compared to many twenty-three countries around the world. llbrarles, so although the sfze of the data- base wlll be manageable, the great alstance Further readfng: between the branches may pose some problems. Kfeser, Karen. "The Canadian Music Centre: Instftutlng an automated system wfll mean A Hlstory/Le Centre de muslc canadlenne: a retrospective recataloguing of the collec- Present et Passi" In/dans CC1ibratlon. tlon, g1vi.ng us an opportunltj to standardize Toronto: Canaaian Musfc Centre, 1984.