music library research

1. Music Research: Tips for Success
Tracey Snyder
Assistant Music Librarian
tls224@cornell.edu

2. About Google
 Use sparingly
 Consult Wikipedia article for overview
 Look at list of bibliographical references—are
they scholarly sources? If they are articles from
magazines and newspapers, they may be of
value, but they are not scholarly writings.
 A general Google search is all but useless for
scholarly research, but tools like Google Books
and Google Scholar have value.

3. Some Types of Research Tools
 Subject encyclopedias (Grove, Garland, etc.)
 Good starting point for getting background
information
 Bibliographies (pub’d separately, or with
encyclopedia entry)
 Good starting point for choosing sources
 Periodical indexes/literature indexes (RILM, etc.)
 Good for discovering other scholarly sources on
your topic
 Cornell’s catalog and Cornell’s articles tab
 Good for locating known items and discovering
related items

4. Grove Music Online
 Access through Library Guide or Music Library
home page
 Major scholarly reference source for topics in
music—use in place of (or in addition to)
Wikipedia
 Search for relevant entry
 Scan the bibliography, looking for items that are
somewhat recent, and on topic

5. Cornell’s Catalog (Books)
 Search title of overall work cited in Grove (or
other) bibliography (not title of chapter) to locate
it in the Cornell Libraries (or, can link to it from
within Grove)
 Advanced Search works well for known-item
searching

6. Cornell’s Articles (Articles)
 Search title of article cited in Grove (or other)
bibliography to access the article if available in
electronic form
 Advanced Search works well for known-item
searching
 * If the article is only available in print form,
search title of journal (not title of article) in
Cornell’s catalog

7. ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses
 Access to the full text of dissertations and theses
by music scholars (soon-to-be faculty)
 Keep in mind that each of these scholars usually
publishes a book based on the dissertation
several years later—search the author in the
library catalog to find out if the book has been
published yet
 Title usually differs somewhat
 Content is updated, so prefer the book over the
dissertation

8. RILM and Music Index
 Indexes to the scholarly literature in the field of
music
 Can be searched separately or simultaneously—
some overlap
 Why are these useful?
 Article-level/chapter-level indexing
 Variety of material types, including books, chapters,
articles, dissertations, etc.
 Detailed subject headings
 Abstracts—truly helpful!
 Try out search terms as general keywords; can
also specify to search for terms in abstract,
subject heading, title, etc.

9. Finding More Articles
 In addition to RILM and Music Index, check for
articles in:
 JSTOR
 Project MUSE
 RIPM (if appropriate)
 ProQuest Historical Newspapers (if appropriate)

10. Back to Cornell’s Catalog and
Articles
 RILM and Music Index often link directly to the
article if it is available in electronic form (Get It!
Cornell)
 If not, search in Cornell’s catalog and articles tab,
as before
 Use catalog for books
 Use articles tab for articles (in electronic form)
 Use catalog for journals (for articles in print form)
 Use ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (for
dissertations)

11. Cornell’s Catalog and Articles
Again
 Try different keyword searches to discover more
sources
 Catalog: When you find something promising, look at
the subject headings, and use them in a new search
to find similar items. (Click a subject heading, or enter
terms in Advanced Search by Subject.) Also look at
the call number (1st part before the period).
 Browse the call number range for similar books in
“Classic Catalog” interface, or, browse the shelves in the
library (Reference and stacks)
 Ask a librarian for suggestions of call number ranges for
your topic
 Articles: Browse subject headings etc. using the
facets on the left; try out different possibilities

12. About Scholarly Research
 Search several different places for sources
 Search several different ways for sources
 Be prepared to spend time searching
for, selecting, and locating sources
 Start searching early; allow time for requesting
materials that are already checked out or are not
yet owned by Cornell
 Ask a librarian or your instructor for help if you are
getting stuck or feeling unsure about your results

13. In Summary
 Expect to see some of the same sources turn up
in different places—that’s a good thing
 Embrace serendipitous discoveries
 Think of searching for sources as an iterative
process
 Find out about it
 Find it
 Find more like it