Grover Baker: Profile

About Grover...

Grover Baker began working in music libraries at Belmont University in 1995 (Music Services/Education Services Assistant), and was the Librarian at MTSU’s Center for Popular Music from 2006-2013, prior to taking his current position as Visual and Performing Arts Librarian in the James E. Walker Library. In this role he serves as liaison to the School of Music and the Departments of Art, Theatre and Dance, and Recording Industry, providing reference service, bibliographic instruction, and collection development in each of these areas.

Grover earned his B.M. in Church Music from Belmont University and an M.C.M., with a second major in conducting, from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. His areas of performance include voice, piano, and trumpet. He earned his M.S. in Information Sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Mr. Baker has published articles in Music Reference Services Quarterly and Tennessee Libraries and coauthored the “Mainstream Popular Music” chapter in the 4^th edition of A Basic Music Library: Essential Scores and Sound Recordings. He is an active member of the Music Library Association (MLA) and its Southeast chapter (SEMLA). One of his principal areas of interest is providing instruction in music librarianship for other librarians and paraprofessionals who have music responsibilities but who may not be trained in those areas or who may not even be musicians. In conjunction with SEMLA, he has organized several day-long workshops at universities throughout the Southeast, including Duke University, Vanderbilt University, Louisiana State University, the University of Alabama, and Tulane University, among others. Included in each workshop are courses on cataloging music materials, developing music collections, and providing music reference.

An active church musician, Grover sings in his church choir, occasionally serving as baritone soloist. He regularly plays piano in services and performs with his church’s brass ensemble.

The profile picture at left was taken by Gerry Szymanski.

Research Projects

Articles and Publications

• Susannah Cleveland and Grover Baker. “Mainstream Popular Music.” In A Basic Music Library: Essential Scores and Sound Recordings, 4th ed. Vol. 1, Popular Music, edited by Edward Komara, 65-83. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2017.
• Marci Cohen and Grover Baker. “Takin’ Care of Business: Music Business Reference,” Music Reference Services Quarterly, 18 (3-4) 2015: 157-163. DOI:  https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10588167.2015.1091691.
• Chris Durman and Grover Baker. “Music Reference: Just the Basics,” Tennessee Libraries, 60 (3). https://www.tnla.org/page/377.
• Grover Baker. “Monkey Biz-ness (Down in Tennessee),” Music Reference Services Quarterly, 10 (2) 2006: 13-32. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1300/J116v10n02_02.
• Breve Notes, Issues 104-present (April 2015 – Present), co-editor.
• Breve Notes, Issues 88-103 (January 2010 – January 2015), editor.

Presentations and Workshops

• “Arts in the Atrium: Guerilla Culture in the Library.” Southeast Chapter of the Music Library Association 2019 Annual Meeting in Oxford, MS, October 11, 2019.
• “Music Reference: Just the Basics.” Three-hour workshop presented with Liza Weisbrod (Auburn University) at the Music in Libraries: Just the Basics Pre-conference Workshop, in Oxford, MS, October 10, 2019.
• “Education Committee Town Hall.” Open panel session detailing current projects of the MLA Education Committee’s newly created Working Groups, with Lisa Hooper (Tulane University), Sonia Archer-Capuzzo (University of North Carolina, Greensboro), and Greg MacAyeal (Northwestern University) at the Music Library Association 87^th Annual Meeting in Portland, OR, February 2, 2018.
• “Trying to Get a Clear Vu of Music Search Behavior.” Southeast Chapter of the Music Library Association and Texas Chapter of the Music Library Association 2017 Joint Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, October 14, 2017.
• “Performance Based Research Skills.” Presented as part of James E. Walker Library’s Summer 2017 Information Literacy Librarian Discussion Series, July 26, 2017.
• “Information Creation as a Process.” Presented with Karen Dearing as part of James E. Walker Library’s Information Literacy Framework Discussion Series, July 27, 2016.
• “Digitizing Early American Music Manuscripts at the Center for Popular Music,” with Drew Beisswenger (Center for Popular Music, Middle Tennessee State University) at the Music Library Association 84^th Annual Meeting in Denver, CO, February 27, 2015.
• “Collecting the Pop Soundscape: Popular Music in Libraries and Archives.” Presented with
  Steve Weiss (Southern Folklife Collection), Susannah Cleveland (Bowling Green State University), and Andy Leach (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Library and Archives) at Music Flows: the International Association for the Study of Popular Music–US Branch 2014 Conference in Chapel Hill, NC, March 16, 2014.
• “Takin’ Care of Business: Music Business Reference.” Presented with Marci Cohen (Berklee College of Music) and Andy Leach (Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Library and Archives) at the Music Library Association 83^rd Annual Meeting in Atlanta, GA, March 1, 2014.
• “Country Music: Roots and Branches.” Lecture performance presented with Chris Durman (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), Gary Boye (Appalachian State University), Sarah Dorsey (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), Greg Johnson (University of Mississippi),
   Holling Smith-Borne (Vanderbilt University), and Jaden Smith-Borne at the Southeast Chapter of the Music Library Association 2013 Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN, October 12, 2013.
• “My Homeland: A Research Guide to Songs about Tennessee.” Southeast Chapter of the Music Library Association 2013 Annual Meeting in Nashville, TN, October 11, 2013.

My Guides