Music Reference Guide

NEW ACQUISITIONS:

Volumes 3-7 consitutes Part II of the Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World and is subtitled "Locations"

See the project's website for more details:

www.continuumpopmusic.com

This guide aims to help researchers identify the most effective reference tools for their specific information needs. It points to specialized bibliographies, catalogs, indexes, repertory guides, dictionaries, discographies, etc. that offer better coverage on specific music topics than is usually found if searching only the Library Catalog or the Internet.

In many cases the focused content and custom organization of a specialized reference tool can result in direct easy access to the most pertinent information. For example, an undergraduate student writing a term paper on a specific composer can often be directed to a book-length annotated bibliography of research on the composer's life and works. The compilers of such composer-specific bibliographies have devoted years to finding and evaluating the most important research. They generally provided complete citations and annotations that help assess a source's value.

This Music Reference Guide indexes more than 3,200 reference books in the Music and Dance Library at Brigham Young University. It also indexes a growing number of Internet sites and periodical articles of a bibliographic or reference nature. Approximately 1,000 of the reference sources indexed are supplemented with critiques that explain their use, coverage, and organization. A growing number of these critiques include links to sample pages from the reference source, enabling students to better understand how to use it and determine its appropriateness for their research. In addition to standard keyword and browse searching, a “Guided Search” mode is available to step users through the process of identifying reference tools that match their information needs.

The Music Reference Guide is maintained by David Day. Its online interface includes a “comments” option for individual entries. Commentary, suggestions, and corrections are welcome. Collaboration in writing critiques and translations, as well as information on additional reference sources, is also invited. Click here for guidelines on writing critiques.