Guides: Music literature full-text and bibliographic databases: Music literature full-text and bibliographic databases

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Welcome! Use this guide to find literature about music for your research projects and assignments: full-text journal articles, article abstracts, e-books, digital collections, and more

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Music literature full-text and bibliographic databases

Core databases for finding music literature, including journal articles:

Music Periodicals Database (formerly IIMP - International Index to Music Periodicals)
- Guide to scholarly and popular music journals for a wide range of subjects
- Emphasis on articles from 1996 to the present; indexing for certain journals from 1874
- Includes full-text content for many journals
RILM Abstracts of Music Literature with Full Text
Comprehensive scholarly bibliography of writings on music, international in scope, from 1900 to the present. Covers a wide range of publications: journal articles, conference proceedings, books, dissertations, and essay collections. Includes full-text content from many leading journals, magazines, and newsletters.
RIPM Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals with Full Text (1760-1966)
RIPM indexes music periodicals that ceased publication prior to 1967. The database is fully complementary to RILM and covers 300 music periodicals, 200 of which provide full-text access.
Unique to RIPM: Periodicals that ceased publication prior to 1967 (see also RILM's coverage).
Music Index
- Guide to music periodicals and literature
- Coverage includes articles about music, musicians, instruments, and the music industry (popular and classical)
- Good for finding reviews of books, recordings, and performances; news articles; and obituaries
- Some digital content (1970 to present)
JSTOR: Advanced Search (or Basic Search)

General, interdisciplinary, and specialty databases for finding music literature:

AES: Audio Engineering Society
- Professional society devoted exclusively to audio technology, uniting audio engineers, creative artists, scientists and students worldwide by promoting advances in audio and disseminating new knowledge and research
- AES E-Library provides access to almost every AES paper published at a convention, conference or in the Journal of the Audio Engineering Society from 1953 to the present
Albert Schatz Collection of Opera Libretti (Library of Congress)
- First and early editions of Italian, French, German opera libretti from the 17th and 18th centuries
- Collection contains more than 12,000 fully catalogued and digitized libretti
- Object viewer allows users to zoom and download
Bibliographie des Musikschrifttums Online
Canadian Encylopedia
- Bilingual digital encyclopedia of history, culture, and people in Canada
- Includes former Encyclopedia of Music in Canada entries
- Almost 20,000 articles written by expert contributors
- Interactive features include curated content exhibits, interactive timelines, immediate updates of important events, and a user-generated content map that invites Canadians to share their stories
- Offers a new learning centre for teachers and parents that contains classroom resources, quizzes, and themed study guides
Canadian Music Periodical Index
- Find citations to articles from hundreds of Canadian music journals, newsletters, and magazines
- Discover articles on musical activity in Canada, from the late-19th century to 2010
Concert Programmes
- Search this database to find locations and descriptions of concert program collections held in European libraries, archives and museums
- Website provides links to other groups working in this area of documentation, and to a selection of online related projects
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive
- Archival research resource for studying history of the film and entertainment industries
- Coverage: 1880-2000
Europeana
France: Musiques, Cultures, 1789-1918
Gallica, la bibliothèque numérique de la Bibliothèque nationale de France
- Excellent resource for historical and archival research
- Provides access to public-domain digital documents held at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF)
- Wide variety of formats included: books, newspapers, periodicals, scores, sound recordings, images, and more
Google Scholar
- Configure Google Scholar to access articles available through the Library.
Hathi Trust
Internet Archive
Music Online: Music Periodicals of the 19th Century (Alexander Street Press)
- Collection of full-text periodicals depicting American musical life from 1838 to the early 1900s
- Contains local and international news, reviews, editorials, sheet music, and advertisements
Opening Night! Opera & Oratorio Premieres
Oxford Bibliographies: Music
Peer-reviewed and annotated book-length bibliographies.
Oxford Handbooks Online: Music
RIdIM (Répertoire International d’Iconographie Musicale)
Rock's Back Pages Library

Musicology and librarianship reference tools

Digital Resources for Musicology (DRM)
- Created by the Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities, at Stanford University.
- Links to open access repositories, including digitized music manuscripts, digital score reprints, genre based projects, etc.
MusRef: Music and dance bibliography and reference (BYU)
Musicologie.org : Références en musicologie
Virtual Library of Musicology (ViFaMusik)
Portal for music and musicology, providing links to numerous sites offering scholarly research and online resources. Advanced search options enable simultaneous searching across multiple catalogues.