Chamber Music: What's Where?

What resources are available to assist me with research?

1.   Online [library] catalog
         Use to find:
            Books
            Scores
            Recordings
            Videos/DVDs
            Journal subscription/holding information
         Do NOT use an online catalog to find:
            Magazine and journal articles!  (Use a periodical index instead!)
         Types of Library Catalogs:
            Indivdiual library catalogs - provide info on the holdings of a particular library
               (for example:  the Maag Library Catalog:  maag.ysu.edu)
            Union Catalogs - provide info on the holdings of more than one library
               (for example:  WorldCat - accessible from the Maag Library Home
                 Page -- click "Research Databases -- By Name -- U-Z")

2.   Commercial Online Databases - click "Research Databases"
          These are resources for which the Library pays a subscription fee
          In general, the info in these databases is more reliable than most of what
               you find using Internet search engines
         These resources may provide:
                  An index to articles in a specific set of magazines and journals which may include:
                  Citations - author, title, journal name, volume, number, date, pagination
                  Abstracts - brief summary of what the article is about  [Music Literature (RILM)]

            Full text of resources also available in print, such as:
                  Encyclopedias - Oxford Reference Online
                  Newspapers - Newspaper Source, Newsbank, LexisNexis Academic
                  Journals - Academic Search Complete, Humanities International Complete

3.   Print reference sources, including:
          Encyclopedias - The New Grove, The Garland Encyclopedia of World
               Music, Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre, Encyclopedia of Jazz 
          Dictionaries - The Harvard Dictionary of Music; Baker's Biographical
               Dictionary of Musicians
          Monographic bibliographies - books that are lists of sources of info for
               specific topics.  The Library has a number of composer-specific bibliographies!
         Periodical Indexes - Oxford Music Online, RILM Abstracts
         Complete Works of Composers, such as Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Haydn, Mozart, etc.
         Musical Monuments - scores of historical significance categorized by
               genre or national origin - Das Chorwerk, Denkmaler deutscher Tonkunst

4.   Internet resources
         Specially selected Websites for Music are available on the Music LibGuide
         Internet search engines (such as Yahoo, Google, Bing, etc.) can also be useful

5.   Librarians and Faculty Experts!            

Librarians are available by asking at the Reference Desk on the main floor of Maag Library.

Dana's Faculty Members have fine expertise in a wide-ranging variety of areas!

• Before you begin your search, think of as many different terms that are relevant to your topic as you can, such as:
  • Key terms / terminology.
  • Synomyns for key terms.
  • Names for key terms in relevant languages (especially when you're trying to find scores and recordings!).
  • Possible alternate spellings.
  • Important names (of people).
  • Relevant time period(s).
  • Relevant style periods (e.g., Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic,, etc.) - again, this is very helpful in locating information about music and composers.
  • Significant/relevant geographic locations.
• If you don't find sufficient information after considering all these elements, try broadening your topic.
• If you find too much information, try narrowing your topic by a specific aspect, time period, geographic location, etc.
• When using an online catalog (MaagNET, WorldCat, etc.), begin wtih KEYWORD searches.  This will enable you to search for terms in multiple fields (e.g., author, title, subject, notes) simultaneously!
• Don't forget about truncation (shortening of a word to its root or base using symbols such as *, ?, $, !, etc.) to help you locate different forms of a word or alternate spellings.  REMEMBER:  each database and/or catalog uses specific truncation symbols!  Use the "Help" feature of the database to learn WHICH truncation symbol to use!