• Lenora Schneller and the Reference/Circulation Staff (general reference, information and circulation policy questions): musicref@cornell.edu, 255-4011
• Bonna Boettcher, Music Librarian (bjb57, problem reference questions, materials requests).
• Jim Alberts (Asst. Music Librarian, Audio-Visual Materials and other requests): ja253@cornell.edu, 255-6160

Searching in the library catalog

To find scores and recordings, choose “Guided Keyword Search.” Enter the composer’s name in the “Search for” box, and choose “Author/Creator” from the “Search in” pulldown menu. Enter a word from the title in the next “Search for” box, and any other descriptive information (another word from the title, an identifying number, etc.) in the third “Search for” box. You can limit to just scores or just sound recordings, if you’d like. Remember the difference between transcribed and uniform titles.

To find books about a piece of music, choose “Basic Search” and use a subject heading search to search for the composer (last name, first name). Check the array of headings available, remembering that the piece you’re interested in may be mentioned in more general works, too.

To find course reserves, follow the link on the catalog search page and choose your course.

Browsing in the music library stacks

M: music scores
ML: music literature, including music dictionaries, bibliographies, biographies, etc.
ML410: books about composers; shelved alphabetically by composer’s last name
ML420: books about performers, shelved alphabetically by performer’s last name
ML421: books about performing groups, shelved alphabetically by group
MT: music education materials, analyses, methods

Databases

Grove music is a database that combines the contents of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2^nd ed., The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2^nd ed.

Music Index (1975-present online; 1949-present in print) and RILM Abstracts (1969-present) both include citations to a variety of periodical and other literature. If you wish to search for articles published prior to 1969, use the print volumes of Music Index.

Electronic journals

JSTOR includes the full text of 36 music journals. All journal coverage begins with the first issue of each journal and stops from three to five years from the present, depending on the contract with the individual journal. You can search the full text of the articles.

Many individual journals are available electronically, usually from ca. 1996 to the present. You can search by title in the catalog, or follow the e-journals link from the Gateway.