Finding Recordings in the Library Catalogue
Script
All of the resources shown in this video are available to Western students, staff and faculty and can be accessed through the Western Libraries website or library catalogue. Licensed, online resources can be accessed from off-campus. You will need to log in with your Western ID and password.
Western Libraries has a very rich collection of musical recordings. Some of these are available on CD, LP or video. You can find these by searching in the library catalogue. https://www.lib.uwo.ca/search Use the Advanced Search and set the Resource Type limit to "Sound recordings."
Suppose we were after a recording of Bach's "Sleepers wake." We would search in the library catalogue for Bach cantatas 140. Why? Because BWV 140 is the thematic catalogue number for this cantata by Bach. We need to change this drop-down from "Author/Creator" to "Any field." Let's see what we find. It's come back with 60 search results. A lot of these, you'll notice, are available online. That's because the library catalogue includes both physical copies of recordings and some online recordings.
Here's an example of a recording that's available on CD in the Music Library. It's important that you do not limit your search results exclusively to items in the Music Library because many of our recordings are located in storage, in the Archives or in the D.B. Weldon Library.
To get more information on a particular recording, click on its title. Here we have the item's call number, and if you'd like to know how to get it, copy the call number, note that it's available, and bring that call number to the location (in this case the Music Library). Recordings are typically available for 14 day loan.
Now as you saw, many of these items are available online as well. Let's take a look at this one. If we click on the link under "View Online" it takes us to an external website where we can listen to the recording. [Music]
See our videos on "Search Terms for Finding Music" Search Terms for Finding Music https://youtu.be/6TNbXpRo56Y and "Grove Music Online" Grove Music Online video https://youtu.be/do2zcZCCAiw for more tips, or go to this page https://guides.lib.uwo.ca/audioandvideoresources for more advice on finding CDs, LPs and videos.
Most citation styles aren't very clear on how to cite music sources. See Indiana University Bloomington's "A Guide for Music Citation - Chicago/Turabian Style" for advice. https://guides.libraries.indiana.edu/c.php?g=516265&p=3529690
These tips can help you, but finding music can be extremely tricky. If you've spent 10 minutes searching and still haven't found what you're after, ask us for help! We can be reached by email musref at uwo.ca, by phone 519-661-3913 or in person in the Music Library. You can contact me, Dan Sich, the Teaching and Learning Librarian covering Music, at dsich2 at uwo.ca or Brian McMillan, Head of the Music Library, at bmcmill2 at uwo.ca.
Western Libraries Music Library: https://www.lib.uwo.ca/music
