A Partial Pecha-Kucha: the Librarian-Researcher

When my line-manager suggested I could give colleagues an update on my current projects and plans, I must confess I freaked out a little bit. Everyone else was talking about things happening in our library. I worried that ‘What Karen gets up to when she’s not being a librarian’ might come across as a boast-fest. It wasn’t about library news and developments, or services, or anything like that. I don’t research librarianship – I research music. My ‘research family’ are interested, but there’s no reason why anyone else should be! I tried to be absolutely factual, and to demonstrate how I chose my research subject because I wanted to study something relevant to students on one of the degree courses at the Conservatoire. I wanted it to be useful.

I was once told people’s attention begins to wander after 20 minutes – so I allowed myself about five minutes – three quarters of a Pecha Kucha presentation.  Hopefully, that wouldn’t be too long?

First I had to explain my interest in research. I shared that, back in 2004, I decided to fund myself to study for a PhD, in my spare time.  (I had never finished the one I had once studied for in Exeter before I even trained to be a librarian. Believe me, it wouldn’t have been useful in the workplace. Cantus firmus treatment in fifteenth century English polyphony? Definitely only for mediaeval enthusiasts! I had started writing that first thesis, but think I lost interest partly for that very reason.) To keep myself interested, the new PhD topic had to be relevant to RCS, and my circumstances (a full-time working mum with three primary-school aged sons) meant the university had to be local.  That’s how I ended up researching Scottish music at Glasgow Uni. I hoped the knowledge gained would be useful.

Next, I described how the Scottish song-collectors that I researched for my PhD, lived a long time ago, and even my subsequent research projects stopped when Queen Victoria was young. This meant that whenever I was asked to talk to our trad music students, I found that I had less to say about the 20^th century Scottish song-books in our collection. However, I didn’t want to leave the impression that nothing much happened between 1920 and the second half of the 20^th century.  (The teaching staff cover the recent history, so that didn’t concern me much!)

I explained that, having done the PhD and a couple of research projects, I decided I wanted to write another book, to fill in the gap I’d identified.  I approached my publisher again.

A Social History of Amateur Music-Making and Scottish National Identity: Scotland’s Printed Music, 1880-1951

Naturally enough, I suggested a title at that point.  But in the end, my publisher chose a better title for me – this one – when I signed the contract.  It says exactly what it ought to say, but it’s a bit long! However, the book is about amateur music-making, because that’s what Scottish music publishers published – and it is about national identity, because they published so many Scottish songbooks!  A long, accurate title can only be a good thing. Without a word of a lie, if anyone asks why the library has so many Scottish song-books, the answer is that it’s because they reflect different interpretations of national identity over a couple of hundred years. And my book will hopefully back this up!

My narrative began in 1880, because that’s where my first book stopped.  I decided the book would finish in 1951.  As well as some significant events that year, it marked when television came to Scotland.  That was one topic too many; and my music publishers were dying out anyway!

I described what the book is about. It begins by focusing on two Glasgow publishers (I may have mentioned the occasional woman publisher or RCS woman piano teacher … )

Then I wrote about dance music – I may also have mentioned racism in Victorian music – and I wrote about books of songs for children. I wrote about Scottish songbooks costing a lot – and very little.

I wrote about educational music published by the Scottish music publishers, and I wrote about the publishers’ efforts to get Scottish music to expats who had emigrated. 

Although I never intended to write about recording music or broadcasting it on the radio, the publishing and recording and broadcasting all seemed to be connected in different ways, so … I covered that too.

And then when I’d done all that, I decided to write about why Scottish music publishers didn’t publish classical music. 

My book has been sent to the publisher; there will be reviewing and editing and indexing before it’s ready to actually be published. I’m waiting to hear if the reviewer liked it, right now. Nail-biting times!

Hoping that my audience weren’t getting tired of the sound of my voice, I also mentioned that I’m about to take up a temporary honorary research fellowship at the University of St Andrews, in the School of History, from September to December.  It’s the first Ketelbey Fellowship, named after the first woman history lecturer in St Andrews.  Doris’s brother was an English composer – we have some of his music. I’ll be in St Andrews on Wednesdays and Thursdays, but still working back in RCS Whittaker Library the rest of the week. I anticipate editing the book, doing some more research, getting to know other scholars in the department, and I’ve been invited to give a couple of lectures – one in History and one in the Music department.

Next summer, I’ll be retiring from the library, but I hope I’ll still be a part-time researcher at RCS.  If anyone else needs a part-time researcher, do get in touch – I couldn’t stand a retirement filled with daytime TV!  I freely admit – I’m the librarian that is utterly sick of cataloguing, but loves doing research. An embarrassing oddity? Can’t be helped. Ideally, I’d like my book to have been published by the time I retire from librarianship, but who knows?  Meanwhile, the fellowship gives me the opportunity to build up the research side of my profile.

I didn’t want to be boastful – I hope it didn’t come across that way! But at the same time, I didn’t want to sell myself short, and I didn’t want to be apologetic for being who I am. I hope I succeeded!