University of Melbourne Library Louise Hanson-Dyer Music Library

 

 

 

Finding books on Music

Browsing | Google Options | Using Catalogues | Research Collections |
Subject bibliographies | Guides to music research | Book Review Sources
Browsing library collections - important call numbers
Browsing through the collection is highly recommended as scanning the contents pages and book indexes offer more detailed indexing than library catalogues. Knowing the shelf arrangement makes it easy to find the best place to browse the shelves.

Even from home, you can use the library catalogue to virtually browse the book shelves. Use the Call no. search option. For example, try a call number search using 780.9033 - Music History : ca.1750-1825.

There are two sequences of Dewey numbers in the Music Library, the general and folio sequence for taller books. Use the above numbers to browse both sequences.


Google Options
Google Advanced Book Search - Using Google Book Search

Search the full text of books to discover those that are most useful to you. From your results, you'll be able to see everything from a few short excerpts to the entire book. Click on a book title and you'll see the Snippet View. You may also see the Sample Pages View if the publisher or author has given permission or the Full Book View if the book is out of copyright. Alternatively, check for local holdings in :


Google Scholar Search @ unimelb - Learn Google 201
Google Scholar searches books, journals and other materials from academic publishers, professional societies and pre-print archives. This configuration will access SourceIt @ Melbourne links to University of Melbourne holdings and subscriptions.

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Using Catalogues
Catalogues of large, historical, music collections are invaluable for finding materials for comprehensive research. Read through some Catalogue searching tips to improve your searching skills and try Smart Searching guides to learn better searching techniques.

Search the library catalogue by title, author, keywords, subject, or the other indexes available.

  1. Searching by Keyword.
    If you are new to a topic, start with a keyword search to find some initial resources. Search using any distinctive words that describe the information that you seek. This may include a composer name, a type of music, or even the name of a country or state. For example:

  2. Searching by Author and/or Searching by Title.
    If you know the name of an author or the title of the work, then search by Author or by Title. Once you have some books in hand, these resources will often provide bibliographies -- lists of books and articles that will allow you to discover what else is available on a subject. Another strategy is to use the call numbers of given works from your course lists to find other works on similar topics by doing a search by Call Number.

  3. Searching by subject
    A useful way to focus your search, a subject search must use the controlled terms of the Library of Congress Subject Headings and may not be the same as your keywords. It may be useful to do a keyword search first, then check the Subject field in records retrieved to see the subject headings used in the catalogue.

Research Collections
Australian Collections
  • Australian Music Centre - Online Public Access Catalogue
    Search the catalogue of a unique collection of the works, recordings, books, videos and articles on Australian composers.
  • Libraries Australia Search Service - Australian National Bibliographic database
    Search more than 40 million items held in over 800 Australian libraries. You can search for any item and locate which library in Australia holds it. Search for books, journals, newspapers, theses, pictures, music, manuscripts, maps and more. Many online resources such as digitised images and full text publications can also be accessed immediately online. A Searching for Music in Libraries Australia guide is available.

International collections
  • National Library Catalogues Worldwide, from University of Queensland.
    "National libraries are responsible for collecting all publications issued in their respective countries. For this reason, the catalogue of a national library is the best guide to publications issued in the country in question, and anyone wanting information on the publications of that country should make the catalogue of the national library the starting point of their search."
  • The European Library - searches the content of European national libraries.
    Allows searching limited by format - newspapers, maps, music collections, photographs, theses, etc. Also limit by specific country, or browse collections by subject, or by description, e.g. sound, software, etc.
  • WorldCAT - a catalogue to the holdings of a large library network.
    Books and other materials in libraries worldwide, but especially at U.S. academic institutions.

Britain
  • British Library Integrated Catalogue
    One of the most comprehensive collections of Western Art music, the catalogue identifies printed books on music, including periodicals, libretti and printed music in both the Hirsch and Royal Music Libraries as well as collections of popular vocal and instrumental music, concert programmes, etc.
  • COPAC - Academic and National Library Catalogue
    A union catalogue which provides access to the merged online catalogues of the largest university research libraries in the UK and Ireland PLUS the British Library & the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales.

United States
  • Library of Congress Online Catalog - also access to SONIC (Sound Online Inventory & Catalog)
    Another outstanding collection including music, books on music, sound recordings, etc. (from 1960- present). Be aware that "older materials in the general collections cataloged before 1980 may ... not be represented in the Online Catalog. Onsite researchers should use the Main Card Catalog. Some examples of collection materials not comprehensively available in the Online Catalog include: 78 rpm sound recordings, prints and photographs, films and videos, maps, libretti, sheet music, .... "
  • New York Public Library Catalog
    Includes the catalogue of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts for materials cataloged since 1971. Earlier material can be found in the published catalog volumes at: UniM Music REF 016.78 NEW Dictionary Catalog of the Music Collection (1964) 33 vols., plus suppl. (1973) 10 vols. This print catalogue lists books, music, and indexes PERIODICAL ARTICLES up until 1973.

Italy
  • Italian Digital Library Portal and Cultural-Tourist Network
    "An integrated access system to the digital and traditional resources of libraries, archives, and other Italian cultural institutions, in order to promote and enhance the knowledge and availability of the cultural heritage to a national and international level. The Portal offers didactic, professional and institutional information concerning the Italian cultural heritage and related activities. The Portal presents both the general and the specialized user with the opportunity to search bibliographical information and digital contents coming from different information sources.

    The version online offers, at present, a first nucleus of information and services. Future releases will be focused on new contents and tools."


France
  • Union Catalog of France (Catalogue collectif de France/CCFr)
    "The Union Catalog of France (Catalogue Collectif de France/CCFr) is one of the most powerful online bibliographic and document research tools in France. Its main purpose is to provide a single search interface for the three major French catalogs:
    • the Catalog of Digitized Municipal Library Collections (Catalogue des Fonds des Bibliothèques Municipales Rétroconvertis/BMR);
    • BnF catalogue général ;
    • and the University Documentation Catalog (Catalogue du Système Universitaire de Documentation/Sudoc).
    The CCFr makes it possible to locate more than 15 million documents available in the French library system."

Germany

Sweden
  • LIBRIS WebSearch
    Search the holdings of approximately 300 Swedish research libraries, consisting of 5,5 million titles.

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Subject Bibliographies
Book lists, compiled by experts, are invaluable publications, outlining the lists of writings on a topic, period, composer, etc. Often includes critical annotations for each entry and includes books, articles, conferences, dissertations, etc. A must for the start of any literature review or comprehensive research topic. Many are located in our Reference Collection and some examples include :


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Guides to music research and the music literature
  • Crabtree, Phillip. UniM Music REF 016.78 CRAB
    Sourcebook for research in music / Phillip D. Crabtree and Donald H. Foster.
    Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c1993.
  • Empirical musicology : aims, methods, prospects / edited by Eric Clarke and Nicholas Cook.
    Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.
    Contents; Introduction : What is empirical musicology? / Nicholas Cook and Eric Clarke -- Documenting the musical event : observation, participation, representation / Jonathan Stock -- Musical practice and social structure : a toolkit / Tia DeNora -- Music as social behavior / Jane Davidson -- Empirical methods in the study of performance / Eric Clarke -- Computational and comparative musicology / Nicholas Cook -- Modeling musical structure / Anthony Pople -- Analyzing musical sound / Stephen McAdams, Phillipe Depalle, and Eric Clarke -- Data collection, experimental design, and statistics in musical research / Luke Windsor.
  • Mixter, Keith E. (Keith Eugene), 1922-. UniM Music REF 016.78 DETR v.75
    General Bibliography for Music Research. 3rd ed.
    [Warren,] Mich. : Harmonie Park Press, 1996. (Detroit studies in music bibliography; no. 75)
  • Pruett, James W.UniM Music REF 780.01 PRUE
    Research guide to musicology / James W. Pruett and Thomas P. Slavens.
    Chicago : American Library Association, 1985. (Sources of information in the humanities ; no. 4)
  • Watanabe, Ruth T. (Ruth Taiko) UniM Music REF 780.01 WATA
    Introduction to music research .
    Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, c1967. (Prentice Hall history of music series)
  • Wingell, Richard, 1936- UniM Music 780.72 WING
    Introduction to research in music / Richard J. Wingell, Silvia Herzog.
    Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Prentice Hall, c2001.
    Contents: Resources for research -- Research in music -- The art and science of research -- Search strategies -- Kinds of research in music -- Print resources for research in music -- Libraries and archives -- Bibliographies of books about music -- Music dictionaries and encyclopedias -- Histories of music -- Periodicals, collections of essays, indexes -- Dissertations -- Print resources for locating music -- Bibliographies of music -- Thematic catalogues -- Monuments and editions -- Music manuscripts -- Studies of music publishers -- Discographies -- Sample pages from print resources -- Electronic resources for research -- Equipment -- Types of material -- World Wide Web sites -- World Wide Web: samples -- World Wide Web sites: illustrated examples of methodology -- History of notation, publishing, and printing -- Notation and the theory of signs -- Limitations of notation -- The history of notation -- Examples of manuscript notation -- Music printing and publishing -- Examples of printed music -- Comparison of editions -- Writing a research paper -- Planning a paper -- Topic and thesis -- Critical thinking -- Assembling materials -- Reading your sources -- Proposals and abstracts -- Outlining -- Writing the paper -- Contexts that require footnotes -- Acceptable use of other writers' materials -- Editing and proofreading -- Presenting and publishing your work -- Conclusion -- Format and style -- Guidelines for written assignments -- Using musical examples -- Special problems related to writing about music -- Punctuation guidelines -- Bibliography and footnote form -- Citing electronic resources -- Annotating a bibliography -- Sample article and discussion -- Index of resources cited.

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Book Review Sources
  • Amazon.Com - find useful reviews, both by professionals and amateurs.

 


If you have a question about locating the information you need, contact us for expert assistance.

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