Music Research Tips Subject Guide
Books, Scores, Recordings, Videos
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Use the library catalog to find books, periodicals, scores, sound recordings, and videos in the WMU Libraries. The catalog does not include articles from journals and magazines. Use WorldCat to identify materials in other libraries.
Classic Library Catalog WMU's Classic online catalog (also known as WestCat), is used to identify books (including electronic books), government documents, journals, audio and video, slides, music scores, and other items in the University Libraries' collections. The catalog can be searched by title, author, subject heading, keyword, call number, and more.
New Library CatalogIn 2009 we added a new interface to our catalog. It still identifies books (including online books), journal titles, government documents, music, videos, maps, and other items in the University Libraries. It can still be searched by title, author, subject, but now you can choose the format and location in your first search. There are easy ways of narrowing your search in the left column, it offers "did you mean" spelling, favorite lists, and lets you tag items with your own labels.
WorldCat Comprehensive catalog of books and other materials in libraries around the world. Contains millions of records in hundreds of languages. Nonbook materials include (among other publication formats) the titles of journals and magazines, manuscripts, maps, electronic resources, websites, computer programs, music scores, films, slides, sound recordings, conference proceedings, and videotapes. Items located through WorldCat must be requested through Interlibrary Loan unless they are also listed in the WMU Libraries catalog.
Librarian's Comment: For books about a person, first try a Basic Search using the last name first, followed by the first letters of the first name. In the "Search by" box, select "Subject Heading." For books on a topic, it is usually best to combine two or three terms related to the topic (names, words from a title, subject terms) in an Advanced Search. Remember that even if you do not find a book that is devoted entirely to your topic, there is often useful information in general histories of music and books about various types or styles of music.