We welcome your contributions to the development of the MusRef site and database. Please send your contributions and suggestions to david_day@byu.edu

Let Us Announce and Review Your Publications

We welcome review copies of bibliographies and other reference materials. We also welcome information on Internet resources that fit the profile of a music or dance reference resource.

Tell Us about Your Online Reference Sources

If you are involved in the creation or maintenance of a digital collection, music e-journal, composer website, music portal, or other online music reference tool, not currently covered in our database, please let us know. We are eager to help publicize your efforts.

Help Us Locate Scans of Print Sources Available Online

We hope to provide links to all public domain reference tools scanned as part of the Internet Archive and Google Books projects. If we have overlooked any titles you are aware of, please let us know.

Share Student and Other Unpublished Bibliographies

If you teach the graduate music research course at your institution and have your students prepare bibliographies, we are happy to post examples of your best results. We also welcome submissions from independent scholars and librarians interested in sharing their bibliographic research with others.

Help Us Write Critiques

The online bibliography of reference sources includes critiques for more than 1,880 entries. We are looking for partners to help write critiques to improve the usefulness of MusRef.

There is a growing number public domain sources that have been scanned and made available on the Internet. The Creative Commons approach to licensing is also resulting in an increasing number of resources that can be accessed for free online. Please help us identify these resources and include them with their URL links in our bibliography.

Please send information to David Day at david_day@byu.edu.

Some tips on navigating the site and searching the database.

Each critique should include 6 categories or items: (1) A complete Turabian citation with the call number below it, (2) Use/Purpose, (3) Scope or Coverage/Criteria, (4) Organization, (5) Pros /Cons, and (6) Reviews. The necessary specific details for each of these categories are described below.

Turabian Citation and Call Number

The bibliographic style of these citations is based on the Turabian style manual and the Chicago Manual of Style. Some local preferences and variants will be apparent. We are working on guidelines to document these local preferences.

Use/Purpose

1. Ask yourself, how or for what reasons would I or someone else use this source.
2. Avoid vague statements such as “a guide to resources related to the piano” or “useful for the undergraduate or specialist.” Instead state the specific aspects of the resource and explain how an undergraduate or specialist would use it.

Coverage/Criteria

1. Coverage should explain the scope of the content of the publication in terms of publication types, language, time frame, geographic region, etc.
2. These aspects of coverage should be examined in terms of the criteria for inclusion. Most prefaces will explain the criteria the author(s) used in selecting the sources they included. Try to put yourself inside the mind of the author or editor. CRITERIA, CRITERIA, CRITERIA is the key for this category.
3. Do not confuse organization with coverage.

Organization

1. Think of organization on two levels: First, consider the broader picture or how the source is organized as a whole. Is the book (or site) grouped by chapters or sections? How is each chapter or section organized? Does it have special appendixes or indexes? Second, examine the nature and quality of the information provided at the level of each entry. For example, is the bibliographic information complete? How detailed is the description of each entry. How well is the information presented? In some cases the preface to the source will explain both these aspects of organization.
2. When you state how the entries are organized avoid confusing or contradicting statements such as “listed alphabetically by author and title” or “listed alphabetically by author in categories of genre and date.” These statements must be perfectly clear.
3. If the main method of organization integrates categories such as author and subject, then be sure to use the word “integrated.”
4. In the case of dictionaries and encyclopedias focus mostly on the content of individual entries. Also comment on bibliographies, works lists, illustrations and articles on special topics. Ascertain any obvious editorial bias.

Pros and Cons

1. Make judgements of coverage and organization. Comment on special features or lack thereof. Also comment on currency if appropriate.
2. If a source is out-of-date, state this in a way that refers to the date of publication rather than indicating it as a matter of coverage.
3. Avoid vague statements such as “clear typography.” Instead, indicate what specifically is good or bad about the typography, or how it is helpful, etc.
4. Just because a resource has an index that is not necessarily a Pro. Only indexes of an unusual value should be mentioned as a Pro. If a book has no indexes, that is not necessarily a Con. You need to be able to explain what type of index is needed and why.
5. Avoid describing a feature of the source’s organization.
6. If an editorial bias is evident this can be mentioned, but be sure to explain the specific nature of the bias and why it is bad (or possibly helpful).

Other

1. Include a full citation for each source in the Turabian format. Include the call number beneath the citation.
2. When describing the organization do NOT use quotation marks to designate chapter of section headings. Capitalize chapter titles and section headings.
3. Compare your critique with the information found in Duckles.
4. Search RILM Abstracts and IIMP to see if there are any reviews of your source. If there are reviews cite them below the critique in the following format: [Reviewer's Last Name], [Reviewer's first name]. [Title of the Journal the Review is Published In ] [volume number] ([Month or Season] [Year]): [pages].
5. Always spell out states in full in the bibliographic citations.
6. Unless a source gives library locations, use the term “identify” rather than “locate.”
7. Do not use superscript for ordinal numbers.
8. Do not use any bold or tabs.
9. ABOVE ALL AVOID VAGUENESS. INCLUDE THE WHYS, WHATS AND HOWS!

Welcome to MusRef, a site devoted to music and dance bibliography and reference. The site consists of five main features:

1. An online bibliography of music and dance bibliographies and reference sources (both print and online).
2. A blog devoted to music and dance bibliography and reference.
3. Basic introductions to reference tools intended to help students understand how reference sources can guide them to appropriate research materials.
4. Links to unpublished bibliographies.
5. A corresponding Facebook page designed as a forum for interested librarians, scholars, and students.

We welcome your comments and suggestions. We also invited interested music and dance bibliographers, librarians, and researchers to contribute to the development of the site. Unfortunately, our blog cannot accept direct comments. Please email communications to the site manager, David Day at david_day@byu.edu. We invite everyone to “Like” our Facebook page where you can post your suggestions directly.

The Online Bibliography

At present the bibliography includes more than 7,300 bibliographies and reference sources (both print and online), approximately 1,880 of which are annotated with critiques on use, coverage, organization, and pros and cons (click here for guidelines on writing critiques). Many entries also list published reviews for the corresponding sources. The bibliography is growing actively with new sources and critiques added on a regular basis. The coverage of the bibliography was initially based on the music and dance reference collection at Brigham Young University, but many additional citations gathered from WorldCat and earlier bibliographies are entered on a regular basis. We have not copied or borrowed annotations or descriptions from any other sources.

The types of sources found in the bibliography include the following:

• Directories
• Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
• Periodical Indexes and Other Specialized Indexes
• Bibliographies of Music Research
• Repertory Guides and Bibliographies of Music
• Composer Thematic Catalogues and Bibliographies
• Performer Bibliographies
• Catalogues of Music Collections and Exhibits
• Discographies
• Chronologies
• Select Histories and Guides to Music Librarianship

The content of entries includes basic data from the MARC records (information found in library catalogues). The data from the original MARC records has been modified somewhat to provide uniformity throughout the bibliography. For example, state’s abbreviations, author’s and publisher’s names, and statements of editions have been adapted from the original records for a more uniform presentation.

We are attempting to provide direct links to items in the bibliography that are available online. At this point in time we have provided links to online scans of print reference books in the public domain. These include books that were scanned as part of the Internet Archive and Google Books. We also provide links to articles and reviews found in JSTOR. Access to JSTOR resources requires authentication through an institutional license.

The data of the bibliography is currently made available on the Internet through Brigham Young University’s CONTENTdm server. CONTENTdm has some known limitations that users should be aware of.

1. CONTENTdm functions as ONE database of multiple digital collections. As a result our database will display links to other digital collections at BYU. Most notably in the far upper left corner of the display you will see the following text:

Digital Collections Home : browse : advanced search : preferences : my favorites

To avoid a confusing detour to unrelated collections, please ignore these links.

2. CONTENTdm does not support italics.

3. CONTENTdm does not function well with Boolean operators. To search multiple keywords just enter the terms alone without Boolean operators. The default function joins the terms with AND.

The Music Reference BLOG

The blog will be used as tool to inform interested colleagues in all aspects of music and dance bibliography and reference. We will post reports of progress on the Bibliography, Unpublished Bibliographies, and Facebook Network. Other threads of commentary will relate to online resources, new publications, and solutions to reference questions.

Unpublished Bibliographies

This component of the site will be devoted to highlighting unpublished research and works in progress. Initially it will feature outstanding bibliographies produced by students in the graduate research methodologies class at Brigham Young University. It is certainly not meant to be an exclusive club! We welcome submissions from other institutions and independent scholars. Send submissions to David Day at david_day@byu.edu.

Facebook Network

Our Facebook network is intended as an open forum that will enable interested librarian, scholars, and students to stay informed about the activities and projects of their colleagues. Admittedly there is a lot of annoying advertising, but the potential is significant. This type of social networking is common among students and may prove to be a useful tool for engaging a new generation of researchers.