MLA Best of Chapters

I’m thrilled to share that my pre­sen­ta­tion at the Fall 2025 South­east Music Library Asso­ci­a­tion meet­ing, “‘The Library’s Respon­si­bil­i­ty Towards Nation­al Music’: The West­ern Canon, Amer­i­can­ism, and Seg­re­ga­tion in Music Col­lec­tions in the Ear­ly 20th Cen­tu­ry” was one of two pre­sen­ta­tion that won the Music Library Asso­ci­a­tion’s Best of Chap­ters com­pe­ti­tion!

I have been invit­ed to present my paper again at MLA’s 2026 Annu­al Meet­ing in Salt Lake City. The pre­sen­ta­tion exam­ines arti­cles, books, and oth­er writ­ings by ear­ly Amer­i­can music librar­i­ans to learn about their col­lec­tion devel­op­ment prac­tices and what kinds of mate­ri­als they rec­om­mend­ed col­lect­ing. In addi­tion, I also explore how libraries for black cit­i­zens, such as the West­ern Col­ored Branch in Louisville, Ken­tucky, pro­vid­ed music mate­ri­als for their patrons.