The Ohio State University

Classes meet in Sullivant Hall, Room 066A, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 2:30 to 3:48. Office hours by appointment. (But feel free to stop in and see me at any time. I'm at the library Monday through Friday, and my office door is almost always open.)

Office: 166A Sullivant Hall
Phone: 614-688-0163

I will use email to let you know about last-minute class cancellations, changes in due dates of assignments, and any other urgent matters that may arise. Feel free to use email to reach me or phone me at any time. Use Carmen to email me or your classmates.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• To learn through lectures, class discussions, and independent projects how music and information on music are organized and retrieved in a modern academic research library.
• To gain critical judgment in using general and music-specific sources, including databases, catalogs, indexes, and reference works, whether print, microform, or digital.
• To gain an appreciation of scholarly method and of documentation in music by developing qualitative judgment and hands-on library and bibliographic experience.

Dr. Keith Mixter began teaching this course in the autumn of 1961, succeeding Henry Kaufman. Though it has changed in details and emphases over the years, the course has retained its chief purpose, which is to familiarize students with the bibliographic sources appropriate for postgraduate research in music, and to help students build a solid foundation in research methodology, including writing skills and critical evaluation.

REQUIREMENTS:

• An active OSU Internet username — for help, visit the OIT Support Center
• Regular attendance and participation in class discussion (10% of the final grade). In addition, the grade will be based on
  • completion of assignments: project 1 (1%); project 2 (3%); project 3 (3%); project 4 (3%)
  • a mid-term exam (30%)
  • submission of an extensive annotated bibliography (project 5) in correct bibliographic form (50%)
  • quizzes that you may take or forgo — each worth bonus points that can be applied toward your final grade. A grade of "incomplete," incidentally, will be given only in exceptional circumstances, e.g., serious illness or a death in the family.

TEXTBOOKS/SUPPLIES - PURCHASE REQUIRED:

• Music Research: a Handbook. Sampsel, Laurie J. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, c.2008. (For description, click here. Used and new copies are available at the OSU Bookstore.)

• Sourcebook for Research in Music. Crabtree, Phillip D. and Donald H. Foster. 2d edition. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005. (For description, click here. Used and new copies are available at the OSU Bookstore.)

• A three-ring binder to hold the handouts that I'll occasionally bring to class.

• An active Buck-ID account for use with library copiers and printers. You can add money to your Buck-ID online or at machines in various locations on campus.

• 100 5" x 8" index cards.

• The Chicago Manual of Style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003. A copy is kept on reserve for this course, another on the Reference shelves (Z253 .U69 2003).

• Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed., rev. by John Grossman and Alice Bennett. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. On reserve for this course (LB2369 .T8 1996 c.20).

• Barzun, Jacques, and Henry F. Graff. The Modern Researcher. On reserve for this course (LB2369 .B37 2002 c.2).

• Barzun, Jacques. Simple and Direct: A Rhetoric for Writers. Purchase not required, but recommended. (For description and cost, click here.) An excellent guide.

Session 1 - Introduction to the course; introduction to the OSU Library Catalog and the Music/Dance Library web site; brief discussion of library classification systems and brief introduction to Library of Congress Call Numbers; survey of the kinds of printed information and materials to be found on the Reference shelves; "What Is an Annotated Bibliography? What Is an Abstract?"; introduction to Vincent Duckles and Ida Reed: Music reference and research materials : an annotated bibliography; assigned reading for class discussion: Music Research: A handbook, pp. 37-55; Sourcebook for Research in Music, pp. 1-19

Session 2 - Project 1 due; discussion of Library of Congress Call Numbers; Melvil Dewey (1851-1931), Herbert Putnam (1861-1955), and Charles Cutter (1837-1903); introduction to search techniques; OhioLINK and OCLC WorldCat; introduction to Boolean searches; survey (continued) of the kinds of printed information and materials to be found on the Reference shelves; discussion of assigned reading

Session 3 - Boolean searches, truncation and proximity searches; controlled vocabulary searching (Uniform Titles, Library of Congress Subject Headings) versus keyword searching; Roget's Thesaurus and devising good keywords; introduction to style guides; introduction to thematic catalogs and other kinds of musical reference books; OCLC and interlibrary borrowing; useful non-English music bibliographic terms; survey (continued) of the kinds of printed information and materials to be found on the Reference shelves; discussion of assigned reading

Session 4 - Project 2 due; introduction to online databases - Music Index; RILM Music Abstracts; International Index to Music Periodicals; Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals; finding articles, whether at this Library or by interlibrary loan; searching for dissertations — introduction to Proquest Digital Dissertations and Doctoral Dissertations in Musicology; Bonus assignment (optional - worth 20 points): Write citations for five articles and five books on a topic to be chosen today in class.

Session 5 - Discussion of the final project (Project 5 annotated bibliography): choosing and limiting your topic; evaluating the quality of sources, online and print; WWW search engines: google.com, dogpile.com; discussion of International Index to the Performing Arts; Jstor Full Text; Grove/Oxford Online; and Lexis-Nexis Academic; survey (continued) of the kinds of printed information and materials to be found on the Reference shelves; review of controlled vocabulary searching (Uniform Titles, Library of Congress Subject Headings)

Session 6 - Review for the January 27 quiz; primary versus secondary sources; introduction to some principles of editing; urtext is best, isn't it? what a (good) editor does and why; historical attitudes toward editing; databases and print resources: Gaylord Music Library Necrology; Music Library Association Obituary Index; Biography and Genealogy Master Index; A Basic Music Library (ML113 .B34 1997 - Music Library Association); A Polyglot Dictionary of Musical Terms (ML108 .T44 - Leuchtmann, et al.); Music Analyses: An Annotated Guide to the Literature (ML128 .A7 D5 1991 - Harold J. Diamond); online reading assignment: net.Tutor: Evaluating Web Sites; survey (continued) of the kinds of printed information and materials to be found on the Reference shelves

Session 7 - Project 3 due; quiz; databases and print resources (continued): Arts and Humanities Citations Index; Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts (ML12 .A1 M8); Directory of Music Faculties in Colleges and Universities (ML13 .C6); Thematic Catalogues in Music: an Annotated Bibliography (ML113 .B84 T4 1997); Resources of American Music History : a Directory of Source Materials from Colonial Times to World War II (ML120 .U5 R47); New Grove Dictionary of Opera (ML102 .O6 N5 1992); American Orchestral Music: a Performance Catalog (ML128 .O5 K67 1992); Orchestral Music: a Handbook (ML128 .O5 D3 1996); Oxford Companion to Music (ML100 .O94 2002); Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (ML105 .B16 1994); An Index to Musical Festschriften and Similar Publications (ML128 .M8 G4 1969); bonus assignment for next session: write a citation and annotation of a reference book (to be drawn by lot): each of the two parts of the assignment will be worth 5 points

Session 8 - Advanced searching of online databases and print resources (continued); Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart; Harold Barlow's Dictionary of Opera and Song Themes, including Cantatas, Oratorios, Lieder, and Art Songs (ML128 .V7 B3 1976) and Dictionary of Musical Themes (ML128 .I82 B3 1975); The Book of World-Famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk [Who wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb"?] (ML113 .F8 1995 - James J. Fuld); Themefinder; discussion of three kinds of Denkmäler ("monuments") anthologies; discussion of Projects 4 and 5; online reading assignment: Editions, historical and critical; assign Project 4

Session 9 - Private conferences and individual work on Project 4 and project 5 — no class meeting

Session 10 - Discussion of reading assignment: Editions, historical and critical; making comparisons — principles and uses of musical criticism

Session 11 - Project 4 due; The Catalogue of Printed Music in the British Library to 1980 (ML136 .L8 B65); New York Public Library Dictionary Catalog of the Music Collection c. 1900 to 1949 (ML136 .N5 N5 1982)

During the 1980s, a 62-volume catalog of the printed music in the British Library was published in book form, as the Catalogue of Printed Music in the British Library to 1980. Its entries have been incorporated into the British Library's online Integrated Catalog, but the printed volumes can still be a useful research aid, since they allow the user to see a list of the works of each composer, at a glance, in linear format, with all editions of the same work gathered together and listed in date order. This can be useful when you are looking for a work that appeared in many different editions, such as a Beethoven symphony. The catalog also includes some useful subject headings, e.g. Hymns, Psalms, Chants, under which collections of material are gathered by type. Quoted from The British Library: Finding Printed Music

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