The presidents/Les president(e)s/Die präsident(inn)en.

[from "The Growing of IAML", Fontes artis musicae 1 (1954): 10-11] [.,.] The Association has been undergoing another type of fission since the last Con gress, and this type may also deserve further study and clearer definition in the constitution. Three special sections have been set up—complete with full rosters of officers—designed to appeal to particular types of music librarians. The first of these, devoted to music libraries in broadcasting stations, was pro visionally authorized at the Paris Congress, although nothing was added to the constitution at the time to define its relation to the parent body. I believe every one thought of it as a special committee, rather than as a separate section, and thus there seemed to be no reason for broadening the provisions of the con stitution. Last year, however, another section was formally established for record libraries, and soon—probably before this paper appears—a third sec tion will be founded for the public libraries. Now, there is no doubt whatsoever that IAML must be all things to all mu sic librarians. It must obviously give the broadcaster, the record librarians, and the public librarians every opportunity to assemble and discuss their special problems. It would be absurd to proceed otherwise. At the same time, as these special sections continue to be formed, one cannot help but wonder what the end result will be. When ham is sliced too thin it loses its savour. My own personal reaction to this slicing procedure has been that it entailed almost more disadvantages than advantages, and furthermore I have never been entirely clear in my own mind what the relation should be between the sections and the parent body. As one special category after another has been lopped off the main trunk, that trunk has itself begun to take on the appear ance of a sub-section—a sub-section devoted solely to the interests of the large national, reference libraries. This would not necessarily be the case if the sec tions all met together and collaborated at least to some extent on common problems, but in point of fact this is not what has happened. The sections (par ticularly after their first meeting) have tended to meet quite independently at different times and at different places. A representative has usually been invited to attend the meetings of the Executive Council, but except for the General Secretary and sometimes the President, neither the officers, the Executive Council, nor the members in general are well represented at the sec tion meetings. In other words, there is a clear danger that the sections will gradually drift apart and become completely independent bodies. It is possible, of course, that this danger is entirely illusory, existing solely in the head of your President, but I should be a great deal happier if some concrete evidence