Report of Blue Book Commission

International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts

Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle

ANNEXE 2

Report of Blue Book Commission

Documents et Témoignages des Arts du Spectacle: Pourquoi et Comment? / Collecting and Recording the Performing Arts: Why and How?

Société Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle / International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts

20ème Congrès International / 20th International Congress

Antwerp 4-7 September 1994. Acta. Antwerp : 1995, pp. 124-125

Since the 1988 SIBMAS Congress in Mannheim, there have been continuing efforts to succeed the 4th edition of Performing Arts Libraries and Museums of the World (known as the Blue Book) with a publication that would better meet the needs of the institutions and researches badly in need of a concise directory of holdings of performing arts materials. During those six years much has happened and action on the new publication was finally taken by the SIBMAS Council on Saturday last. A contract between SIBMAS, in the name of the Executive Committee, and Emmett Publishers in Surrey, UK, has been drawn up, that will be signed by the president of SIBMAS and the publisher within the next few weeks. The projected title of the publication is The International Directory of Performing Arts Collections, which will probably be called the "SIBMAS Directory", for short.

Emmett Publishers is a major publisher of reference materials in many formats, and will produce the new work at no cost to SIBMAS; the contract also provides for a royalty to SIBMAS and a 15% discount on purchases of the volume by SIBMAS members. The volume is to be bound in a "perfect" binding with a stiffened papercovered board cover. The projected list price is to be $80.00US.

This new volume is to be produced from a data bank established by Paul Ulrich in Berlin, into which has now been entered over 4500 entries from 150 countries, using many directories from many international sources. After the contract is signed, Ulrich will send the basic data to Emmett publishers, which will send out proof sheets with basic information presently in the data base, including information on holdings, if already known. The proof sheets will be accompanied by a cover letter from the SIBMAS president and mailed by the publisher by December, 1994. If there has been no response by a given date in the Spring of 1995 to Ulrich in Berlin, the entry of the institution will be published as in the data base currently. The updated discs will be sent to the publisher, who plans to have the volume ready by December 1995, if there are no glitches or hitches.

The simplification of the data means that there will be no need for much translation or transliteration, except for the English names of institutions and putting names of all special collections into the Roman alphabet. Each institution will be able to list what it considers its ten most significant special collections, though it may indicate the total number of such collections of which the ten are but a small selection.

As we are about to prepare for this first edition of a new directory, we need your help in two ways. First, to take any name and address printouts that Paul Ulrich has with him that have not been picked up by someone from the country concerned and try to get them to someone who can check and correct them to get them to him by mail or FAX within one month. Second, is to denote a contact person in your area or region, so that if Paul notifies such person of overdue returns on the mailing, institutions can be called to encourage them to respond to the proof sheet.

The first edition of the directory will contain a request for updates and correction of data to be sent to Ulrich in Berlin. Emmett is to publish every two or three years by contract, for the forseeable future in paper. There may be CDRom and/or on-line service possibilities later, but there will be mutual agreement between SIBMAS and the publisher regarding rights and royalties on all formats.

An information sheet about SIBMAS and its significance and services to its members will be bound into the first edition, along with the notice of the member discount on the publication, and a membership application.

Emmett Publishing has excellent publicity and distribution possibilities and plans a first printing of 3000 copies. This surely should lead to both royalty and membership possibilities for SIBMAS.

Footnote to the Report:

James Emmett, director of Emmett Publishing, was made a member of the Editorial Board of the Directory by the SIBMAS Council at the September 3 meeting. At the same meeting it was agreed that a copy of the discs containing the Directory data base would be deposited at the Biblioth豵e Nationale in the Departement des Arts du Spectacle for safekeeping.

Respectfully submitted,

Richard M. Buck for the

Editorial Board:

Roger Rennenberg, Belgium
Paul S. Ulrich, Germany
Ruth Freydank, Germany
Claire Hudson, UK
James Emmett, UK
Richard M. Buck, USA

20th Congress

URL: http://www.sibmas.org/congresses/sibmas94/antw_37.html

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