Librarians: In their own words

I am in my 6th season as Artistic Administrator for the National Symphony Orchestra, following four years with the Chicago Symphony, and I have been blessed to work with really great music librarians. Currently I work with NSO head librarian Marcia Farabee, an amazing colleague and friend.

I cannot imagine doing my job without a top-notch librarian. A good portion of my programming includes Pops, Family, holiday and other “special” concerts. “Special,” of course, means it will not be an all-Beethoven night when parts can simply be pulled from the shelves, and bowed from our previous performances. Inevitably these concerts are a delicate balance of (a) lots of expensive and/or difficult to find music; and (b) a mandate that the program be done as cheaply as possible.

The process for us is as follows: after initial conversations with the conductor, I send the proposed program to Marcia. She advises as to expensive rentals and instrumentation. Obviously, we are all capable of looking up the instrumentation in Daniels but often Marcia will know from her personal files or memory if we have a version for reduced winds/brass/perc, if we can get by without the harmonium, or if there is a prepared cut version we have done when time is an issue. Next, I re-check the budget, go back to the conductor…rinse and repeat as necessary until we are finished.

One tool that has made this job a bit easier is OPAS, the orchestra management software. We are still in the process of getting the entire office up to speed but it has made a significant difference in the number of phone calls Marcia receives from me. The simple ability to see our performance history of any given work is an incredibly useful tool. I am also able to see what we have available in our library, what we own vs. rent, etc. This certainly isn’t a replacement for interaction with a librarian but at least I can start the conversation with some background information already in place.