Best Resources for Music Research

Laurie J. Sampsel

Library Catalogs

• Local Catalog–Next-Generation Catalog

• Consortia Catalog• WorldCat –http://www.oclc.org/worldcat/–http://www.worldcat.org/ (free)

General Music Encyclopedias and Dictionaries

• Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online–http://alexanderstreet.com/

• Oxford Music Online –http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online

• E-book version of the encyclopedia published 1998–2002

• Audio examples are included• Articles have not been updated

Oxford Music Online

Includes:• New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,

Second EditionPlus:• New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, Second Edition• New Grove Dictionary of Opera• Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women

Composers

Oxford Music Online

Also includes:• Oxford Companion to Music• Oxford Dictionary of Music• Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Fourth

Edition (optional add-on)

Oxford Music Online

Does not include:• New Grove Dictionary of American Music

(1986)• New Grove Dictionary of Musical

Instruments (1984)• But it will include the forthcoming second

edition of both, which are in preparation

Best Biographical Dictionary of Musicians

• Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Music, Ninth Edition –Part of Alexander Street Press’s Classical

Music Reference Library–http://alexanderstreet.com/

Best Dictionary of Musical Terms

• Harvard Dictionary of Music, Fourth Edition–Available online from Credo Reference–http://corp.credoreference.com/

Music Periodical Indexes

• International Index to Music Periodicals (IIMP) and IIMP Full Text – http://iimp.chadwyck.com/

• Music Index– http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/music-inde

x• RILM Abstracts (International Repertory of

Music Literature)– http://rilm.org/

IIMP (ProQuest/Chadwyck-Healey)

• Best Bet for Recent Articles with Full Text• Number of records: over 900,000• Dates: primarily 1996–present; there is some

retrospective indexing back to 1874• Journals Indexed: over 480 titles indexed; 167 titles

are full text• Abstracts provided for citations from 1996 forward• Full Text Available? Sometimes• Update Schedule? Monthly

IIMP Search Tips• Use “select from a list” especially for subject terms• Subject searches only work on citations from 1996 forward• Use “*” for truncation• Use option to limit search to citations with full text when

necessary• Check box “Exclude reviews” and/or “Peer-reviewed

articles only”• After searching, use “Filter Results By” to reduce the

number of results• Use the online help for more information

Music Index

• Number of records: almost 2 million • Online Dates: 1970–present (with some indexing

back to 1952)• Paper Dates: 1949–2005; be sure to search the

paper index for 1949–1970• Journals Indexed: ca. 680• Abstracts Provided? Some abstracts are available• Full Text Available? No• Update Schedule? Weekly

Music Index Search Tips • Use the “Advanced Search”• Use “Limit your results”• Use “Indexes” and “Browse an Index” to find correct forms of

search terms• Use “Choose Databases” to also search RILM Abstracts, RIPM,

etc., if those are available from EBSCO• Try the “Narrow Results by” options to reduce the number of

results• Try the “Refine your results” options including “Source type”

and “Subject”• Use the online help for more information

RILM

• Number of records: about 670,000• Dates: 1967–present• Journals Indexed: over 680 core titles and over

650 secondary titles• Abstracts provided? Yes• Full Text Available? No• Update Schedule? Monthly

RILM Abstracts Search Tips

• Varies by Vendor– EBSCO–ProQuest/CSA

• RILM offers tutorials on each platform; see http://rilm.org/

General Periodical Indexes

• Academic Search Premier– http://www.ebscohost.com/ – Includes over 30 music journals

• JSTOR– http://www.jstor.org/– Includes over 80 music titles

• Project MUSE– http://muse.jhu.edu/ – Includes over 10 music titles

Music Dissertations and Theses

• ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT)– http://proquest.com/ – Use subjects “music” and “music education” with

keywords• Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology Online– http://www.ams-net.org/ddm/ – Includes registered dissertations in progress

Online Scores

• International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) (free)–http://imslp.org/

• Classical Scores Library and Classical Scores Library: Volume II–http://alexanderstreet.com/

Online Scores, Individual Composer Site Examples

• Neue Mozart-Ausgabe: Digitized Version (NMA Online) (free)–http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/main/?

• Beethoven Haus Bonn Digital Archives (free)–http://www.beethoven-haus-bonn.de/

Online Recordings

• Classical Music Library–http://alexanderstreet.com/ – Includes almost 6,000 discs (almost 90,000

tracks) from 65 labels• Naxos Music Library–http://www.naxos.com/ – Includes almost 55,000 discs (almost

800,000 tracks) from over 400 labels

Online Videos

• Classical Music in Video–http://alexanderstreet.com/ – Includes over 400 hours of video

• Opera in Video–http://alexanderstreet.com/ – Includes over 250 operas licensed for

educational use

Online Multimedia Library Projects• American Memory–http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html – Includes 32 performing arts and music

collections with images, audio, and video• Performing Arts Encyclopedia–http://www.loc.gov/performingarts/pae-ho

me.html–A guide to the LC collections in several

divisions, including the Music Division

Directories of Online Music Research Tools

• Harvard College Library’s Online Resources for Music Scholars–http://hcl.harvard.edu/research/guides/on

music/– Selected and updated by music librarians