A SS O C I AT I O N P R E S E N TAT I O N

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A L L I S O N P H I L L I P S

Mission Statement

“Founded in 1937, the Theatre Library Association supports librarians and archivists affiliated with theatre, dance, performance studies, popular entertainment, motion picture, and broadcasting collections. TLA promotes professional best practices in acquisition, organization, access and preservation of performing arts resources in libraries, archives, museums, private collections, and the digital environment. By producing publications, conferences, panels, and public events, TLA fosters creative and ethical use of performing arts materials to enhance research, live performance, and scholarly communication.”*

*http://www.tla-online.org/about/mission.html

History

Founded in 1937 under the directive of Harry M Lydenberg, director of the New York Public Library

George Freedley, curator of the Theatre Collection of the NYPL, was elected as the first president

Officially became an affiliate of the ALA in 1938

In 2012, the Annual Anniversary Gala celebrated the 75th anniversary of the association’s founding by staging an abridged reading of the original 1937 roundtable discussion*

“TLA has recently taken an active role in the discussion on digital humanities and the performing arts.”**

Image: George Freedley

*http://www.tla-online.org/about/history.html**http://library.columbia.edu/news/libraries/2013/2013-7-17_NancyFriedland_TLA_President.html

Current Leadership/Membership

Image: Nancy Friedland

Members include: “curators, librarians, historians, archivists, scholars, performers, writers, designers, collectors, and students.”*

President: Nancy Friedland of Columbia University

Vice president: Angela Weaver of the University of Washington

Executive Secretary: Laurie Murphy of NYU

Treasurer: Colleen Reilly of Slippery Rock University**

*http://www,tla-online.org/about/mission.html**http://www.tla-online.org/about/executiveboard.html

Annual Book Awards

George Freedley Memorial Award Annual book award honoring a work on live

performanceRichard Wall Memorial Award

Annual book award for a work on recorded performance, film, television or broadcasting

Special Jury Prizes are also sometimes awarded

Awards recognize “exceptional scholarship” in the field*

*http://www.tla-online.org/awards/bookawards.html

Highlights of Recent Book Award Winners

Images:

Award

Winners

2012 Freedley Award Winner: Great Lengths: Seven Works of Marathon

Theatre. University of Michigan Press, 2011.

“Considers large-scale theater productions that often run five hours or more and present special challenges to the artists.”* Looks at the appeal of these long works in an era of very limited leisure time and endless distractions.

2012 Wall Award Winner: Soul Searching: Black-Themed Cinema

from the March on Washington to the Rise of Blaxploitation. Wesleyan University Press, 2011.

“Reveals how race relations [in the 1960’s] influenced Black-themed cinema before it was recognized as commercially viable by the major studios.”*

*http://www.tla-online.org/awards/bookawards.html

Additional Awards and Honors

Louis Rachow Distinguished Service in Performing Arts Librarianship Award “Honors an individual who has made a noteworthy

contribution to the profession”*Honorary Membership is awarded to

individuals who have “demonstrated longstanding dedication to TLA”*

Brooks McNamara Performing Arts Librarian Scholarship “Acknowledges the accomplishments of promising

students”** *http://www.tla-online.org/awards/professionalawards.html**http://www.tla-online.org/awards/scholarship.html

Upcoming Conferences

Joint Conference of the International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts (SIBMAS) and Theatre Library Association Event Title: Body, Mind, Artifact: Reimagining Collections Event Date: June 10-13, 2014

Joint Conference of the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) and Theatre Library Association Event Title: The Paradox of the Post-Human: Archival

Subjects, Systems, and Sites Event Date: November 20-23, 2014

http://www.tla-online.org/events/conferences.html

Events

The Executive Board meets three times per year—Winter, Spring, and Fall

The Annual Business Meeting is held every October at the NYPL for the Performing Arts in NYC. All members are invited to attend*

Symposia held every four years, beginning in 2003. The next Symposia is expected to occur in 2015. The most recent Symposium concerned “authenticity and adaptation” in productions of the works of Shakespeare**

Image: Symposium Flier

*http://www.tla-online.org/events.meetings.html**http://www.tla-online.org/events/symposia.html

Publications

Broadside Newsletter Published three times every year Established in 1940, then

became an online publication in 2006. Back issues are in the process of being digitized

Contains “articles and news items” about relevant topics*

Performing Arts Resources, a monograph, is not published on a regular basis

A few E-Papers are also published on an irregular basis

Members and non-members (who must pay for access) are able to view all materials via the TLA website**

Image: Recent Broadside Cover

*http://www.tla-online.org/publications/broadside.html**http://www.tla-online.org/publications/otherpubs.html

Performing Arts Libraries, Archives, and Museums of the Midwest

Chicago Theatre Collection, CPLIndiana University Bloomington Theater and

Drama CollectionJerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre

Research Institute, OSUThe Newberry Library Dance CollectionRoosevelt University Performing Arts LibraryUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Music

and Performing Arts LibraryWisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research

http://www.tla-online.org/links/libraries.html

List of Resources

http://library.columbia.edu/news/libraries/2013-7-17_NancyFriedland_TLA_President.html

http://www.aate.orghttp://www.ala.org/groups/affiliates/affiliates/tlahttp://www.astr.orghttp://www.atds.orghttp://www.athe.orghttp://www.firt-iftr.orghttp://www.sibmas.orghttp://www.tla-online.org

Images

Slide 1: http://www.tla-online.org/index.htmlSlide 3: http://www.tla-online.org/about/history.htmlSlide 4:

http://library.columbia.edu/news/libraries/2013-7-17_NancyFriedland_TLA_President.html

Slide 6: http://www.tla-online.org/awards/bookawards.html

Slide 9: http://www.tla-online.org/events/symposia.html

Slide 10: http://www.tla-online.org/publications/broadside.html