Hosting a Chapter Meeting, From the Inside
by Beth Royall
Do you feel the fickle finger of fate tapping your shoulder to host an Atlantic Chapter meeting? Fall 2004 was my turn. There had never been a Music Library Association chapter meeting in West Virginia, and President Carl Rahkonen set out to remedy this. Actually, Carl didn't have to do much arm-twisting, and I had good support from the West Virginia University Libraries administration. A detailed guide from Amanda Maple and many helpful hints from Mary Prendergast made the planning manageable.
Hosting a chapter meeting involves all the things you naturally expect – arranging meeting rooms and equipment, providing information on local events, restaurants and hotels. It also involves responsibilities you might not expect. Some of the local arrangements tasks that weren't initially on my radar were key participation in program selection, webpage design, registration, reception food and entertainment. The program selection, reception food and entertainment areas are opportunities to showcase the best of your local offerings. The Friday reception and entertainment have traditionally been sponsored by the hosting library, so if this kind of expense requires approval from your library administration, the smooth thing is to include these estimates in your initial proposal to host the meeting (she says with 20/20 hindsight).
Registration also involves small expenses for name tags and folders. The ideal arrangement is to have another MLA member or two in the area help with registration, both ahead of time and on the meeting day. But lacking fellow MLAers, any generous colleague is a great help.
So, what was special at the WVU meeting of the Atlantic Chapter? Most people don't expect to find a world-class steel drum program in Morgantown, West Virginia, so the Friday reception showcased a small, semi-pro group under the direction of graduate student Shawn Roberts. Chair-elect Steve Landstreet took the opportunity to focus on West Virginia music in three of the four programs, recruiting local experts – Dr. Christopher Wilkinson, WVU Professor of Music History, and Dr. John Cuthbert, Curator of the WVU Libraries' West Virginia and Regional History Collection. Dovetailing nicely with these local presenters was ATMLA's own Carl Rahkonen, and his personal tour of West Virginia traditional music venues. And to give us all something concrete and immediately useful to take home, ATMLA's Anne Harlowe discussed Temple University Libraries' work in developing guides for evaluating scholarly credentials, applied to the performing arts.
Hosting an Atlantic Chapter meeting allows you to showcase the treasures of your institution – the people, the facilities, the geography, the programs. It's also an opportunity to participate in every facet of conference preparation, on a small, friendly scale.