Transcript Guide to Using RILM Abstracts Online

Guide to Using RILM Abstracts Online
Created by Rachel Crane, Music/Fine Arts Librarian
Wichita State University
978-5078 [email protected]
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature
• Provides abstracts and indexing for musicrelated items from 1967 to the present
• Covers over 500 scholarly journals, books,
bibliographies, dissertations, festchriften, etc.,
• Covers different journals than Music Index, but
with some overlap
• Has a much more scholarly focus relative to
Music Index
Access RILM Abstracts through the library webpage by
clicking on the link to “Electronic Databases.” (Or click on the
“Resources by Subject” link, or select the “Subject Guides”
tab, and choose “Music” from the lists of guides by subject.):
Type “RILM” in the search box, or click on
the letter ‘R’ and see it listed as the 4th
item:
Click on the title link for RILM to enter the database. Choose the
to icon to view a print guide to the database:
(Note: For off-campus access you will need to log-in with your
myWSU ID and password.)
To search both RILM and Music Index simultaneously, Select
“Choose Databases” toward the top of the screen. Click the check
box for the additional database and then click “OK.”:
In the RILM database, enter a search term or phrase in
the first field. Accept the default search and make no
selection in the field on the right, or search a specific
field from the pull-down menu:
You may add an addition row if needed.
A broad search for Bruckner
resulted in 2263 records:
Focus the search further by adding a term. Use an ‘*’
as a truncation sign to provide all ending forms of a
word (ex. symphony, symphonies, symphonic, and
etc.).
This search resulted in 848
records:
Limit further by “Source
type”:
Results searching for “Journal Articles” or an “Article in a
Collection,” about Bruckner and Symph* (550 records):
The search may also be limited to “Peer
Reviewed” publications, a date range, RILM
assigned subjects, or journal title (Publication).
Do not use the “Linked Full Text” option.
Again, DO NOT USE the “Linked Full Text” option. When this option is
checked, it displays ONLY those articles that appear with a full-text
option through the RILM database. This excludes all other articles that
the library may offer having full-text online through additional
subscriptions. For example, it will exclude full-text articles found in
JSTOR.
Note that although this publication is in German, the abstract is in
English. Abstracts, when available, are always in English.
Reading through abstracts may present new ways to develop or
refine a topic.
This is the top portion of a typical entry. The
subjects may provide additional suggestions for
search terms:
Explore/browse additional subject headings
through the link at the top-left of the page. Here is
a search for “harmonics.” It is confirmed as a
subject heading.
Click on “Explode” links to see the list of records relating to that
subject. Click “Expand” to view narrower subject headings. Linked
subject headings, such as “aesthetics of perception” lead to a single
record.
A typical abstract and additional citation information:
(Note: the original search terms are in bold.)
The “Source” field provides is the journal title, volume and issue
number.
To check to see if WSU has a copy of this article in the
collection, click on the “WSU Full Text Finder” link.
In this case, the full text is not available online. (If full text is available
online, links will automatically be provided, or the article will appear
directly.) The page then provides recommended steps to assist in
locating a copy of the article. Next, try the ISSN link to see if a print
subscription is available in Ablah Library. If not, you may click on the
“Submit request” link to send a request to the Interlibrary Loan
department, and so on, down the page.
The tools to the right will assist in organizing the
research process. (Note: Beware of potential
inaccuracies with the “Cite” tool.)
If you have any questions or need
further information, please contact
me by email:
[email protected]
Revised June 2011