Music

Officially described as “A record of music and books about music recently published in Great Britain, based upon the material deposited at the Copyright Receipt Office of the British Library, arranged according to a system of classification, with a composer and title index, a subject index, and a list of music publishers”. Although the Catalogue is more relevant to British music scholarship, it is a substantial resource for pinpointing music items published in the UK and other parts of Western Europe.

Duckles' bibliography is a monument of music scholarship and a vital guide to researchers seeking resources. Just about any kind of music research can be aided by the sources herein. The fifth edition features contributions by music librarians, lending an authoritative touch to its scholarly descriptions, references, and reviews of sources. The book itself is organized by these broad categories: dictionaries and encyclopedias, histories and chronologies, biographies, directories, yearbooks, catalogs of music libraries and music collections, discographies, and even other bibliographies.

In print since 1966 and now available as a subscription database, RILM is comparable to IIMP and The Music Index, but is far more comprehensive. It includes bibliographic citations of more than just the periodical literature and provides abstracts for every record. In addition to the standard periodical literature (journal articles, reviews, etc.), RILM includes essays, dissertations, bibliographies, and papers published for symposiums and conferences. The abstracts are typically written and signed by the authors of the original articles.