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| International Federation of Libraries and Archives for Music | |
|---|---|
| Name | International Federation of Libraries and Archives for Music |
| Founded | 1927 |
| Founder | Henri Rabaud, Paul de Mendelssohn-Bartholdy |
| Headquarters | Paris, Vienna |
| Type | Non-governmental organization |
| Region served | Worldwide |
| Language | French, English |
| Leader title | President |
| Leader name | Marina Kourkoutis |
International Federation of Libraries and Archives for Music is an international professional association for institutions preserving, cataloguing, and providing access to music collections. It brings together music librarians, archivists, curators, and scholars from libraries, archives, conservatories, and museums to coordinate standards, advocacy, and scholarship. The federation interacts with cultural organizations, national libraries, and international bodies to promote access to musical heritage.
The federation traces its origins to early 20th-century initiatives linking the Bibliothèque nationale de France, British Library, Library of Congress, Austrian National Library, and Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin with conservatory archives such as Conservatoire de Paris and Royal College of Music. Founders and early influencers included Henri Rabaud, Paul de Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, and administrators from the International Council of Museums and International Association of Music Libraries. The interwar period saw collaboration with the League of Nations cultural committees, while post-war reconstruction involved partnerships with the UNESCO Secretariat and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. During the late 20th century the federation engaged with digitization projects alongside institutions like the British Library, Library of Congress, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Stadtbibliothek Frankfurt am Main, and the National Library of Russia. Recent decades brought collaborations with the European Union, Council of Europe, UNESCO Memory of the World, and research centers such as RISM and IAML Research Centre.
The federation's mission emphasizes preservation, access, and professional development. Objectives include supporting standards used by the Library of Congress Subject Headings, Resource Description and Access, MARC 21, and the International Standard Bibliographic Description community; promoting interoperability with projects like Europeana, Digital Public Library of America, and Gallica; advocating for legal frameworks shaped by the Berne Convention and regional copyright regimes such as the EU Copyright Directive; and fostering education through ties with conservatories including Juilliard School, Royal Academy of Music, and Moscow Conservatory.
The federation is governed by an executive board comprising representatives from national and regional bodies including the American Library Association, British and Irish Association of Music Libraries, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Musikbibliothek, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Biblioteca Nacional de España, National Library of Australia, National Diet Library (Japan), and university libraries such as Harvard University Library and University of Oxford Bodleian Libraries. Specialized committees work with standards organizations like IANA for identifiers, with scholarly liaisons to institutions such as Royal College of Music and Sibelius Academy. Regional sections reflect continents and major cultural regions, coordinating with the African National Congress, Pan American Health Organization cultural programs, and the Asia-Pacific Regional Meeting of library associations.
Core activities include conservation training with partners like The National Archives (UK), cataloguing workshops using standards from the Library of Congress, and digitization initiatives compatible with IIIF and Dublin Core. Programs support musicologists from institutions such as King's College London, Columbia University, and University of California, Berkeley for source studies, and provide fellowships in conjunction with archives like Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Hofbibliothek collections, and municipal archives of Vienna and Paris. Outreach includes public exhibitions with museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, and concert-halls like Carnegie Hall and Konzerthaus Berlin.
The federation organizes biennial international congresses in cities including Vienna, Paris, London, New York City, Tokyo, São Paulo, and Cape Town, attracting delegates from Royal Danish Library, National Library of China, Russian State Library, National Library of Brazil, and Biblioteca Nacional de Chile. It publishes a peer-reviewed journal featuring scholarship from scholars affiliated with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and research centers such as RISM and International Association of Music Libraries study groups. Proceedings, guidelines, and best-practice toolkits are disseminated to partners like Europeana Foundation and DARIAH.
Members include national libraries (Library of Congress, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Deutsche Nationalbibliothek), academic libraries (University of Cambridge, Yale University Library), conservatory archives (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Conservatorio di Milano), municipal archives (e.g., Archivio di Stato di Firenze), and cultural institutions such as Smithsonian Institution and Musée de la Musique. Affiliations span international bodies: UNESCO, International Council on Archives, International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, and regional networks like European Bureau of Library Information and Documentation Associations.
Significant projects include coordinated cataloguing initiatives aligned with RISM and linked-data projects interoperable with Wikidata and VIAF; large-scale digitization collaborations with Europeana, Gallica, and the Digital Public Library of America; preservation campaigns for endangered collections in regions such as Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine in partnership with Blue Shield International; and training programs that produced standards adopted by the Library of Congress and incorporated into curricula at institutions like Juilliard and Royal College of Music. Notable conservation efforts saved manuscripts associated with composers whose archives are held at Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Mozarteum University Salzburg, Verdi Museum, Bach-Archiv Leipzig, and the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Stiftung. The federation's advocacy influenced policies at UNESCO and helped shape digitization funding streams within the European Commission cultural programs.
Category:International cultural organizations Category:Music libraries