It's funny that an archive, usually a place that attracts more dust than activity, was the catalyst for a lively international gathering of composers in Akron this week.

Composers William Brooks, Herbert Brün, Randolph Coleman, Thomas DeLio, Jean-Charles François, Benjamin Johnston, Eugene Novotney, Daniel Senn, Ralph Shapey and Stuart Saunders Smith congregated at the University of Akron Monday and Tuesday to celebrate the dedication of the Sylvia Smith Archives.

Sylvia Smith, a publisher based in Baltimore, recently donated the contents of her catalog, which specializes in music by living composers, to UA. Anyone is welcome to listen to recordings or look at the scores in the archives, row on the second floor of UA's Bierce Library.

Diversity was the watchword in the concerts Monday and Tuesday night. Senn, for example, said he started creating his sound sculptures (displayed in the Guzzetta Hall atrium) because he disliked contemporary music so much. And while composers nay not agree on whether these ore good times or bad, there ha e never been more choices for he audience.

At a panel discussion Tuesday, the 10 composers offered their answers to the question:"What is the role of new music in contemporary society?" Their replies were as far around the map as their homes, which range from Oberlin ( Coleman ) to Lyon France (François).

Yet, with their assorted university affiliations, they are living proof that for composers in the United States to earn their keep and hear their music played, the best option is to teach at a university. This state of affairs removes "classical" composers (an anachronism if there ever was one, but a better term than "serious" composers) from everyday life. It segregates composers from audiences and separates university composers from independent ones.

Is that all bad?

True, European composers are in closer touch with their audiences, Deli said. But the isolation in which American composers work is the strongest influence on their work. Why not celebrate it as a strength?

Controversy abounded. On one hand, panelists noted the diversity of cultures that composers may draw on now because of fast travel and communication. But an independent composer in the audience observed that diversity hasn't shown up yet in the demographics of composers.

Looking at the panel, he noted that every member was a white male. (Each was chosen because his music is published by Smith Publications, which so far has published music by only one woman, Pauline Oliveros.)

More questions were raised than were answered, as is usually the case at such meetings: François wondered aloud who would get the university appointments if diversity flourished to the point that no one style could be considered superior. Then, he conjectured, success would depend on packaging, not content.

Commerce has never been far from art, and François was not the only one to address the tough issue of financial survival. Shapey, who has cultivated his outspoken, cantankerous style over the last 70 years, summed it up: "Everything is money."

Still, ideals remain. When a young composer in the audience asked for advice, one veteran told her, "Find your friends," that is, colleagues who believe in the same things. Another said, "Be an artist." If there wasn't always harmony in the question-and-answer session, the intensity of the debate left no question as to these individuals' conviction.

Concerts held Monday and Tuesday nights sampled pieces from Smith's catalog; she was on hand for all the activities. Composers talked about their pieces before they were played, and from this some of their compositional credos emerged.

Organization of time was an important issue for Deli, who said he wanted to strip his music of gesture so that listeners would experience his piano composition Sequence moment by moment. Removing gesture and ending up with a composition that still engages the attention sounds impossible. But Deli succeeded in this pared-down writing, which was given a compelling performance by UA faculty member Lynn Tschudy.

Brün's evocative percussion and piano piece At Loose Ends was episodic, with no obvious links between sections, yet it progressed with an inevitable logic. The student performers managed its nuances beautifully.

Each evening featured a different work by Stuart Saunders Smith, husband of the publisher. Percussionist Joseph Patrick's first class performance of Tunnels presented a fascinating close-up of the parallels between spoken language and music.

Flutist Melinda Lintern and vibraphonist Matthew Apanius had memorized their parts to Smith's absorbing In Common. They played as if speaking, their conversation evolving as the audience watched and listened.

In Common is a close neighbor to improvisation. But there is no easy category for this composition. Along with many other innovative works on these programs, it did credit to Sylvia Smith's judgment as a publisher.