This is a statement agreed upon by the representatives of all the choral provincial organizations across Canada.

Guidelines for the Responsible Management of Choral Libraries

The Canadian choral community — including choirs, conductors, publishers, Provincial Choral Organizations (PCOs), and other music organizations and enterprises — has an important role to play in developing and maintaining a culture of appreciation of and support for all choral artists. This support should also include those who create music for choirs to perform: composers, arrangers, lyricists, publishers, and others.

Responsibly-run choral lending libraries provide many benefits to the choral community. Having scores available in libraries increases the reach of compositions and the visibility of composers and other creators. Libraries help make choral performances possible, resulting in increased performance royalties. PCO programs, which also contribute to increased library holdings when music is purchased, assist in the discovery and curation of great choral music, and can showcase composers and compositions on an ongoing basis.

Lending libraries also help to keep older scores and composers in the public mind. They enable choirs to try a piece of music that they may later purchase. They enable choirs to discover, perform, and grow to love composers whose work would otherwise be inaccessible to them, and thereby assist in building support and appreciation for choral creators.

As a responsible and ethical organization that operates a choral music lending library, BCCF makes the following commitments:

• Encourage the inclusion of Canadian compositions in choral programming
• Remind borrowing choirs that SOCAN/Entandem* fees must be paid for choral performances so that royalties go back to composers/artists
• Remind borrowing choirs that copying music, by photocopying or otherwise, is illegal
• Strongly encourage choirs to purchase music as their means allow, and in particular, to support local and Canadian composers and arrangers
• Encourage choirs to build lasting relationships with and commission arrangers and composers to create new choral music
• Inform and encourage strict adherence to licenses for purchased digital music (when PCOs purchase digital music and/or when choirs print music using PCO equipment)
• Limit the number of titles choirs may borrow for a concert, so that borrowed music supplements a choir’s concert repertoire and does not form the entirety of the program
• Comply with Canadian legislation and regulations regarding copyright and intellectual property, particularly when it comes to digital music lending, if applicable.
• Operate so as not to profit financially from lending libraries
• Share these responsible and ethical library usage guidelines on our website and distribute them to borrowers on an annual basis

*Entandem administers licenses for music performed at live concerts, shows and festivals on behalf of SOCAN. If recorded music is also used as ambiance, in the background or to complement the live show, then a RE:SOUND music license is also required. You can obtain both RE:SOUND and SOCAN music licenses at https://www.entandemlicensing.com/. License fees collected for live concert performances are distributed to the rights holders of the music performed at the show. Music programs and setlists are submitted to SOCAN by artists and their representatives, which are then used by SOCAN to distribute the royalties to the applicable rights holders (whether domestic or international creators). If you would like to submit a setlist for a performance at your show, please email it to concertsetlist@entandemlicensing.com.

These guidelines have been created in cooperation with other PCOs across Canada. Any questions about these guidelines should be directed to BCCF@BCChoralFed.com

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Need BCCF choral scores for your choir?

Our library of music is available to all BCCF member choirs, who can borrow free of charge. Our holdings grow as we host workshops, or as scores are donated, sometimes in the case of a choir disbanding. Since storage space is scarce, scores are often housed in the libraries of the borrowing choirs, and tracked by the BCCF office.

How To Borrow Scores

• View our new Online Library showing up-to-the-minute inventory, and the option to peruse scores! Simply choose a category, browse alphabetically, add items to a virtual cart, submit your order, and receive a message back from our BCCF Librarian. From there, we’ll work with you to coordinate pickup or shipping. (Still prefer an analog version? Look through the Catalog of the Virtual Library in spreadsheet form.)
• Write to the BCCF Librarian requesting a particular score. Applications will be taken in the order they arrive. In fairness to other users, choirs may be restricted in the number of sets they may have at any one time.
  
• Music must be programmed for public performance. The concert program should acknowledge the loan: “Music on loan from the B.C.Choral Federation Virtual Library”.
• Choirs are responsible for forwarding/returning the music scores via insured mail within two months of the performance date.

If your choir has original music scores you no longer need, the BCCF will gratefully accept your donation to the library.  Please contact the BCCF Librarian.

Help the Virtual Library Grow: BCCF Member Choir Library Database Project

To help the Virtual Library grow in value for everyone, we are compiling the library lists of member choirs. To make this happen, we hope that as choirs purchase new music, they will make some of their stored music available to their fellow choirs. We request that choirs refrain from programming their concerts with only library materials. For this reason:

• Choirs applying to use the Library Database must allow to their own libraries to be listed internally at the BCCF. By request of participating choirs, individual libraries are not listed on the BCCF web page.
• Photocopies are not acceptable on a library listing.
• Choirs searching for specific music should contact the BCCF Librarian. When the music has been tracked down, the applying choir will be put in touch with the choir possessing the music.
• Any loans or exchanges between choirs are arranged independently of the BCCF. Choirs without specific loan policies may use a standard agreement form obtained from the BCCF office. 

For more information on borrowing:

Contact Brigid Coult, BCCF Librarian:
(604) 272-4216 / (604) 272-4217 (fax)
projectmanager@bcchoralfed.com

BCCF Library Resources
P.O. Box 4397
Vancouver BC V6B 3Z8