Transcript Databases - Wichita State University

Music Materials at the Library,
Part II: Online Databases
…and other Web resources
(part 2 of our saga)
Back to the library home page:
Click on “Electronic Databases”:
Click on “By Subject”:
(After becoming acquainted with your options you may wish to use the
“By Title” link.)
Click on “Music”:
The small green arrow in the left-hand column indicates that
the database may be accessed from an off-campus location.
For further directions, click on the “Off-Campus Access”
link.
Directions for access off-campus:
Click on the “Music Index
Online” link:
Music Index Online:
• Indexes Music periodicals from 1979 to the
present
• Covers over 700 international music-related
journals
• Covers many different journals than RILM,
although some overlap does occur
• Tends to cover popular music-related
periodicals more so than RILM
Again, the Music Index online indexes journals from 1979 to
the present. Skip the basic search and click on “Expert,”
which provides opportunity for a more efficient search.
Enter your term(s).
This example searches for items about the opera “Wozzeck”:
Click on the “Start Search” button.
(Help instructions are located at the top of the screen, not within screen
view. Particularly note possible use of wildcard characters.)
The search results in a listing of 752 items.
Click on the underlined links to view a complete citation.
An example of a full citation:
Note any additional subject headings that may be useful in a
new search.
To help narrow your search, enter a second term.
Adding the term “analysis” to the search resulted in a listing
of 9 items. (Note the indication of “Dissertation Abstracts
International” in the eighth record. Dissertations are often
difficult to obtain, but the RILM database may contain a very
useful abstract about the same title.)
Another example of a “Full Citation”:
(Note, WSU does in fact own a copy of the journal “Musical
Quarterly,” volume 71, number 4, 1995. To find it’s exact
location, you will have to search the online catalog separately
for a call number. The JSTOR-Full Text link at the right is
misleading as WSU’s current subscription package does not
include music periodicals.)
If you are unsure of a spelling, enter a term spelled like you
think it sounds and choose the “Sounds Like” option from the
“Word Form Options” pull-down menu.
The “Sounds Like” option retrieved all established and
variant spellings in our search for “Stravinski.” (2073
citations)
If you can avoid it, do NOT use any additional
punctuation. Enter a first name followed by a
last name, ex. John Cage.
Enclose all names and terms with additional
punctuation, such as an apostrophe, in
quotation marks. Ex. “L’Histoire du Soldat.”
To print a citation, use the “File” pull-down menu from your
browser options. There are no email options or links to the
WSU catalog.
Click on RILM Abstracts of
Music Literature…
RILM Abstracts of Music
Literature
• Provides abstracts and indexing for music-related
items from 1969 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
Skip the “Basic Search” and click on the “Advanced Search”
link:
(Note the “Author” field designation. RILM does not search
keywords in the “Author” field.)
Note the “Help” icon…
The help screens in the “Advanced Search” option all relate
to the RILM database. (This is not the case in a “Basic
Search.”)
Note the “Browse Index” Icon…
After entering the term “Impromptu” click on the “Browse
Index Icon.
The “Browse Index” reveals that there are 81items related to
“impromptu.” It also shows that there are some related forms
of the term that may be useful. (Particularly the plural form
“impromptus.”) Click on the form of the term you wish to
search…
…and the search term is inserted back in the “Search for”
field. Click on the “Search” button to see the results.
The results show 81 records…
You can mark the boxes to refine your list…
As circled, the funny little icon shows that Wichita State has the
item (or part of the item) in it’s collection. You can click on
either the linked title or the “See more details for locating this
item” links to look at the full record.
A full record. Note the “Source” is often a larger work in which the item may be found.
Note the abstract, usually a very helpful description of the item. And the descriptors,
other search terms you may wish to use to help refine your search. Also notice the
links in the upper left corner, a direct link to interlibrary loan (ILL) the item, a link to
email a copy of the record to yourself, and a link to print the record.
Again, RILM will not seach a keyword in the
author field. Change the pulldown menu to
“author.”
This record for Professor Herzog was retrieved. Her
authorship is confirmed in the citation.
Click on the “Grove Music Online” link.
Grove Music Online
• This is the electronic version of the New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, the New Grove
Dictionary of Opera, and the New Grove Dictionary of
Jazz, all combined.
• Find here full text articles about people, places, styles,
musical forms, etc.
• Particularly useful for bibliographies and worklists.
• Paper copies may be found in the reference section of
the Music Library (the latest edition) and Ablah
Library (reference section and 2nd floor, 1980
editions).
The Grove Music homepage:
The “Search” box at the top only searches article headings.
Note the small, red, “opera” icon. This indicates an article from the New
Grove Dictionary of Opera. The opera article on Mozart focuses
specifically on Mozart’s operatic involvement.
Our search results:
(Note that both left and right outlines are links to portions of
the larger article. The outline on the left provides more
detailed subdivisions.)
When clicking on the link for “(Johann
Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart”:
A subsection of the larger article
on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:
An section of the “Works” list:
A section of the “bibliography” listing:
(Note: to find the full word or phrase represented by an
abbreviation, enter the selection in the “Find Abbrevs” box.)
Abbreviation search results appear on the left. The initial
section under examination remains in view in the right frame.
To search within the contents of
articles click on “Full Text”:
To search for a combination of terms, choose the “boolean”
option:
(Note: The search tips at the bottom of the screen.)
A search for “Cage” and “Cowell” results in a list of 43
articles referring to both composers.
As an example, the article on “Exoticism”
mentions both composers (highlighted in red).
If you are unsure of which headings exist, in the “Browse”
section, click on “Articles A-Z”:
Enter a term in the “Go to” box and hit the “enter” button.
(Note the “jazz” and “opera” icons for articles from the New
Grove Dictionary of Jazz and the New Grove Dictionary of
Opera.
In searching for the heading “Concerto” the matching search
term appears in red, surrounded by alphabetically related
terms. To skip to another alphabetical section, click on the
line of letters towards the top of the screen.
The “Concerto” article:
Other Online Sources…
Analyzing a website
• Authority
– Is there an identifiable author?
– What’s the author’s affiliation, background,
credentials?
– Are there any indications from the domain
name (.org or .com) if this is a personal page or
a page maintained by an organization?
This address: http://memory.loc.gov is an indication that this
is a government page. This site is maintained by the Library
of Congress.
With contact information at the
bottom of the page…
This site was clearly developed by the National Library of
Canada:
• Accuracy
– Are sources of factual information listed for
future verification?
– What were the methods used to obtain the data
on the site?
– Are there errors (factual or grammatical) on the
page?
In this case the image is a good hint that the
information here might not be factual.
• Objectivity
– Is there a commercial sponsor or heavy
advertising on the site?
– What is the purpose of the page?
– Is the site published by a professional
association?
In a search for “Lyrics Censorship” on the web, this page was
listed. There are links to censorship incidents, and the page
has an “official” look, but mostly it’s trying to sell a book.
• Currency
– When was the information gathered?
– Is there a publication or copyright date?
– Do most of the links work?
This page (the Music Library) provides the date of the latest
update.
The latest semester hours are also displayed, another hint
about currency.
• Coverage
– Is the length of the publication appropriate to
the purpose of the site?
– If there is a print equivalent, is the entire
version presented on the webpage?
– Does the site provide descriptive annotations or
just listings?
– What percentage of references are simply
external links to other sources?
This site, allmusic.com, is often very useful for information
about popular recordings. In this case the review is extremely
brief and highly opinionated. Other sources should be
consulted for further information.
While not too lengthy, the information at “Grove Music
Online” provides more information about the composer.
From the WSU Libraries homepage click on the “Music
Library” link.
The initial page describes the services and policies of the
Music Library. Click on the “Online Music Resources” link.
Find here links to WSU resources
and links to online databases.
General music related links…
Links for specific areas of music studies….
More…
More…
More…
And some interesting links, just
for fun…
If you have any questions or need further
information, please contact me by email:
[email protected]
To return to the Music Library page
Click here.