While at the Simmons School of Library and Information Science, Anya Brodrick ’13MS found career inspiration in an obituary. “It was of the Boston Symphony Orchestra principal librarian,” says Brodrick. “I have a background in music, so I was instantly intrigued.”
She had just moved to Boston and was working full time at the Boston University Law Library while pursuing her degree, but that didn’t stop her from seeking opportunities to grow in a more musical direction. She volunteered for internships at the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra.
In 2013, she was a fellow in the library at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) summer home and training orchestra program. “After that summer, I knew I wanted to work in a performance library. I began working part-time at the BSO and transitioned to working full time.”
In January 2018, Brodrick became the ensemble librarian at Oberlin Conservatory, where she prepared music for a variety of large ensembles, including orchestras, opera, and contemporary music, among others.
Landing a job at her undergraduate library led her to study LIS. “I worked in every department: reserves, circulation, periodicals and reference. I loved it!” Her supervisor in the reference department mentioned that some universities have tenure-track librarians.
“I thought that was pretty interesting, so I started researching LIS programs,” said Brodrick. “I was drawn to Simmons because of its location, and it was my grandmother’s (Marjorie Klein Brodrick ’48) alma mater.”
Brodrick has recently joined the United States “The President’s Own” Marine Band.
“This is a great honor and a wonderful opportunity to work with the amazing musicians, but especially with the team of five other librarians,” says Brodrick. “Together, we prepare all the music that the band performs in its many different iterations and ensembles, as well as maintain the band’s archives of performance records, historic artifacts, proof and format program notes.”
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the band works and performs in a more limited capacity, with smaller ensembles. They collaborated with the Marine Chamber Orchestra on a collage video of “Amazing Grace,” and another video of John Philip Sousa’s march “Hands Across the Sea” with members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Central Band.
“However, the library is quite busy,” says Brodrick, “ordering, renting, cataloging and preparing music, obtaining sync licenses for streaming music, and updating the database with performances.”
Her advice for current students: “Be curious! So many organizations have a need for a librarian. Perhaps it’s not the librarian role you traditionally think of, but a library is all about knowledge. Librarians store, organize and share that knowledge, either within our organization or with the greater public. Often, librarians can learn from the organizations they serve. If you have the chance, work, or volunteer in a library or archive.”