Accessing information in the performing arts

Working definition of the performing arts
The term performing arts has not become standardized in its usage. It is used to differentiate the arts or skills which, by their nature, require public performance, as opposed to the arts. McLeish states: “In the performing arts … the performer, the intermediary, is a crucial part of the process.” Generally, there are three elements, necessary for consideration as a performing art: the piece or work being performed; the performer or performers; and an audience hearing, viewing, or experiencing the performance. Sometimes the three elements originate in the same individual, as is the case where a songwriter composes the work and performs it for himself or herself in the privacy of the practice room or studio. Most often, however, the entities are different individuals or groups, and we treat the performing arts in that sense for this guide.

Major divisions of the field
As used in this guide, performing arts include music, dance, opera, the theater, film, radio, television, and video. An interesting, though slightly different approach, is taken in the second edition of The Humanities and the Library, edited by Nena Couch and Nancy Allen (American Library Association, 1993). In that update of Asheim’s earlier work, the editors present music and performing arts as separate chapters. Both are useful for the librarian and student; the music chapter is by Elizabeth Rebman pp. 132-69) and Couch and Allen provide the performing arts section (pp. 173-211. Here, however, we maintain the arrangement of previous editions and include music within the performing arts chapter. 

Music is commonly defined as the art of organizing sound. Its principal elements are melody (single sounds in succession), harmony (sounds in combination), and rhythm (sounds in a temporal relationship). The two major divisions are vocal music and instrumental music. Vocal music includes songs, operas, oratorios, and so forth, while instrumental music includes solos, chamber music, and orchestral music. Musical instruments may be classified as stringed (violin, harp, guitar), woodwind (flute, bassoon, oboe, English horn), brass (trumpet, cornet, bugle, trombone), percussion (drums, bells, gongs, chimes), keyboard (piano, organ, electronic keyboard) and others (accordions, harmonicas, bagpipes, concertina). The modern system of musical notation came to be used in about 1700. 

The librarian responsible for a music collection will need to keep in mind three major elements: 1) the music itself, which follows to some degree the divisions outlined above; 2) the literature about music, which is divided more along the conventional lines for all disciplines, but with some special characteristics; and 3) the vast array of recordings on records, discs, tapes, cassettes, and video, which are a part of any modern music library and which pose problems in terms of organizations, preservation, retrieval, and use. 

The dance may be defined as movement of the body to a certain rhythm. There are three major divisions of the field: folk dancing, ballroom dancing, and theater dancing. Folk dancing, which originated in open-air activities, is characterized by great vigour and exuberance of movement. Ballroom dancing had its origin in the European courts of the renaissance and is an indoor participant activity. Theater dancing is a spectator activity that may be traced to religious dances in the ancient world and to performances known as masques in the courts of renaissance Europe. Its most characterized form is the ballet. The dance is usually (though not always) accompanied by music. The subject of dance notation is of ongoing interest, and new material on dance notation can be accessed on the Internet. (A starting point is the Dancewriting site at http://www.dancewriting.org/ [accessed November 26, 2012]; an alternative is The Dance Notation Bureau’s site at http://www.dancenotation.org/ [accessed November 26, 2012].) 

Theater is the art of presenting a performance to a live audience. In modern usage the term is restricted to live performances of plays. A distinction is sometimes drawn between theater and drama; theater is restricted in meaning to those matters having to do with public performance, while drama includes the literary basis for the performance (that is, the text of plays). The texts are often classed with literature in libraries, leading to the seemingly illogical separation of the texts of plays from works about performances of those plays. Topics that are closely related to theatrical performance, and that help differentiate it from drama, are acting, costume, makeup, directing, and theater architectural. 

Film may be divided into two types: feature length (an hour or longer) and shorts. Many feature length films are fictional, often based on books of some popularity. Others, known as documentaries, are prepared for informational purposes. The fictional and documentary form may be combined to make colorful travelogues or the so-called docu-dramas, in which real situations are presented in fictional, or partly fictional, form. Two other forms of film are animated cartoons and puppet features. Recent technology has allowed for the melding of live action and animated cartoons, so that cartoon characters mix with live casts. Shorts are often filmed by independent producers and sold to distributors of feature length films or video to complete an “entertainment package” for viewing in theaters or homes. 

Films are widely used in schools, universities, churches, and other institutions for informational, educational, and training purposes. Films of this type are likely to constitute the bulk of many library collections. 

Video is a relative newcomer to the performing arts field, particularly as a form available to most of the public. Feature length films, educational films, “how-to” instructions in a variety of fields, and music performance are all widely distributed on tape for home consumption. The inclusion of the tapes in public library collections, while attracting some new users to libraries, may pose problems from the standpoint of preservation, censorship, and fees for services. 

Radio, which depends entirely on sound for its effects, and television, relying on sound and pictures, can be presented either “live” or in prerecorded form. For libraries, it is the residual audio and videotapes that may be included in collections. These materials share with the other performing arts some of the problems of organization and preservation. 

Coverage of music, dance, theater, and film is reasonably good in many general encyclopedia’s. The pivotal article on music in encyclopedia Britannica online, “music” (located at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/398918/music[accessed November 26, 2012]) can be followed up by reviewing such topics as musical forms and genres; similarly, the dance article (“dance” at http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/150714/dance [accessed November 26, 2012]) can be followed by articles such as the one on “theatrical dance” or any of the many subdivisions, such as “dance notation”. Articles in the same encyclopedia on theatre and motion pictures are also excellent, especially if an historical perspective is wanted. 

The reader can obtain a psychiatrist’s view of music, and the role of audience and listener, in Anthony Storr’s Music and the Mind (Ballantine, 1992). Bibliographical references abound in Linda H. Hamilton’s book on the psychology of performing artists, The Person Behind the Mask: A Guide to Performing Arts Psychology (Ablex, 1997).

For divisions of the field of music and related performing arts, the reader should not overlook the monumental New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie (6th ed., Groves, 1980). Articles are accompanied by highly authorative bibliographies that will lead the reader to additional publications on all aspects of music and related fields. 

Helpful resources for students, librarians, and general readers
There are many helpful resources for students, librarians, and general readers who wish to understand more about materials on the performing arts, how they are selected for libraries, and how they are organized for both preservation and retrieval. Although some of the readings date to the early 1990s, the basic information is still useful if the reader overlooks references to specific bibliographic sources that have been updated or revised. Of course, if an historical perspective is needed, the older sources will serve the reader well. 

Many resources that were previously available only in print form are now accessible in electronic formats. A review of hundreds of World Wide Web sites related to the performing arts reveals the widest array of offerings encountered by this author in any subjects area. The resources range from well-organized and maintained sites to poorly designed and outdated resources that do little but muddy the research waters. An outstanding example of a helpful resource is the comprehensive Indiana University Worldwide Internet Music Resources at http://www.music.indiana.edu/music_resources/ (accessed November 26, 2012). 

Performing arts are addressed in Carolyn A. Sheehy, ed., Managing Performing Arts Collections in Academic and Public Libraries (Greenwood, 1994) and in a title in the Reference Sources in the Humanities Series, Linda Keir Simons’s The Performing Arts: A Guide to the Reference Literature (Libraries Unlimited, 1994). A journal that covers all aspects of the performing arts is Performing Arts Journal, online since 1996 at http://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed November 26, 2012). PAJ began as a print journal in 1976. 

The writing of reviews of the performing arts is taken up in W. U. McCoy’s Performing and Visual Arts Writing and Reviewing (University Press of America, 1992). 

The music chapter in Lester Asheim’s classic The Humanities and the Library (pp. 151-98) remains a good introduction to the basic organization and use of a music collection. It is supplemented and somewhat updated by “Music Libraries and Collections,” by Guy A. Marco, in Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (Dekker, 1976, v. 18, pp. 328-493). A classic in the field is Music Libraries, by Jack Dove (Deutsch, 1967), which was a revision of the 1937 work of the same title by L. R. McColvin and H. Reeves. 

More recent entries in the literature of music librarianship include E. T. Bryant and Guy Marco’s Music Librarianship: A Practical Guide (2d ed., Scarecrow Press, 1985), and American Music Librarianship: A Biographical and Historical Survey, by Carol J. Bradley (Greenwood, 1990). The former title was written for general librarians and students and gives more than an introduction to such topics as administration, reference, cataloging and classification, and recordings. A long bibliography is also a useful feature. Michael Och’s Music Librarianship in America (Harvard University Press, 1991) is a set of papers presented at a symposium in honour of the first music library chair in the United States, the Richard F. French Chair in Librarianship in Harvard. The papers were also published as the Harvard Library Bulletin 2 (Spring 1991). 

Guides to the literature of music are numerous, but among the best is Music Reference and Research Materials: An Annotated Bibliography, by Vincent Duckles, Ida Reed, and Michael A. Keller (5th ed., Schirmer, 1997). The guide, referred to by librarians simply as “Duckles,” consistently received high ratings because of the quality of annotations. Duckles (1913-1985) contributed much more to music librarianship and music scholarship; a bibliography of his publications appeared in Notes, the journal of the Music Library Association, as a memorial tribute from his colleagues in the field. (See “Vincent Duckles: A Bibliography of His Publications,” compiled by Patricia Elliot and Mark S. Roosa, Notes 44 [December 1987]: 252-58.

Other guides that will be helpful to the librarian or student include Elizabeth A. Davis, ed., Basic Music Library: Essential Scores and Sound Recordings (American Library Association, 1997). 

Many special topics in music librarianship and research have been addressed in special reports (Technical Reports Series) issued by the Music Library Association. These have focused largely on cataloguing and processing issues in terms of contents, but some reports have addressed space use in music libraries: Report no. 20 (1992), by James Cassaro, and “Careers in Music Librarianship,” Report no. 18 (1990) by Carol Tatian. 

Besides the special issues published by the Association, the journal literature and recent books have covered the topic of technical services and the organization of the materials. Richard P. Smiraglia, who has written and spoken extensively on the topic, has published Describing Music Materials: A Manual for Descriptive Cataloging of Printed and Recorded Music, Music Videos, and Archival Music Collections: For Use with AACR2 and APPM (Soldier Creek Press, 1997). Specific issues related to organizing twentieth-century music and scores are discussed in “Nailing Jell-o to a Tree: Improving Access to 20th Century Music,” by Michael D. Colby (Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 26 [1998]: 31-39). And Elwood McKee addresses the organization of private collections in “Developing and Selecting Cataloging Systems for Private Collections,” ARSC Journal 27 (Spring 1996): 53-58. An additional work in the cataloging area is Sherry Velluci’s Bibliographic Relationships in Music Catalogs (Scarecrow Press, 1997). 

Articles addressing other technical aspects of handling and organizing music materials include Michelle Koth and Laura Gayle Green, “Workflow Considerations in Retrospective Conversion Projects for Scores,” Cataloging and Classification Quarterly 14 (1992): 75-102; “ARIS Music Thesaurus: Another View of LCSH,” Library Resources and Technical Services 36 (October 1992): 487-503; and “Cataloging Musical Moving Image Material: A Guide to the Bibliographic Control of Videorecordings and Films of Musical Performances and Other Music-related Moving Image Material.” MLA Technical Report No. 25 (1996), was published by the Music Library Association Working Group on Bibliographic Control of Music Video Material. 

“Preservation Policies and Priorities for Recorded Sound Collections,” by Brenda Nelson-Strauss (Notes 48 [December 1991]: 425-36), is one of many works addressing the physical preservation issue. Knowing the Score: Preserving Collections of Music, compiled by Mark Roosa and Jane Gottlieb (MLA, 1994) is another. A specific preservation program is described in Sion M. Honea, “Preservation at the Sibley Music Library of the Eastman School of Music,” Notes 53 (December 1996): 381-402. 

On the technical front, D. Jessop’s “DVD Basics for Libraries and Information Centers,” Computers in Libraries 18 (April 1998): 62-66, will be of interest to the librarian. 

Finally, rounding out the large selection of materials focused on technical aspects of music librarianship are articles on instruction for library users. Recent articles include “Bibliographic and User Instruction within Music Libraries: An Overview of Teaching Methodologies,” by Judith L. Marley, in Music Reference Services Quarterly 6 (1998): 33-34; Mark Germer’s “Whither Bibliographic Instruction for Musicians?” Notes 52 (March 1996): 754-60; and Amanda Maple et al., “Information Literacy for Undergraduate Music Students: A Conceptual Framework,” Notes 52 (March 1996): 744-53. 

A recent work on collection development in music libraries is Collection Assessment in Music Libraries, edited by Jane Gottileb (MLA, 1994). This is number 22 of the MLA Technical Report Series, a series that offers many other useful and practical reports. 

There are many sources that will help to identify reference materials and other items that might be included in collections. Besides the guides and bibliographies discussed in Chapter 10, a good bibliography of the basics is found in Anne Gray’s The Popular Guide to Classical Music (Birch Lane Press, 1993, pp. 337-40). A bibliography focusing on recorded sound is found in The Iconography of Recorded Sound 1886-1986, by Michael G. Corenthal (Yesterday’s Memories, 1986). For scores and sound recordings, the Davis work, published by ALA and cited above, is also an important resource. 

The journal literature is rich with shorter articles describing the current offerings or recommended titles on specific topics. A sampling of articles on diverse topics includes R. A. Leaver’s “Hymnals, Hymnal Companions, and Collection Development,” Notes 47 (December 1990): 331-54; H. J. Diamond’s “The Literature of Musical Analysis: An Approach for Collection Development,” Choice 27 (March 1990): 1097-99; C. A. Pressler’s “Rock and Roll: Dimensions of a Cultural Revolution,” Choice 29 (April 1992): 1192-1201; and P. Garon’s “A Survey of Literature on the Blues,” AB Bookman’s Weekly 89 (February 17, 1992): 619-21. Two more recent entries are R. M. Cleary’s “Rap Music and Its Political Connections: An Annotated Bibliography,” Reference Services Review 21 (1993): 77-90, and Leta Hicks’s “A Review of Rap Sound Recordings in Academic and Public Libraries,” Popular Music and Society 21 (Summer 1997): 91-114.  All of the articles listed here provide bibliographic citations for materials on the focal topics. The journal Collection Management, volume 12 (1990) carried two viewpoints of library collection building: W. E. Studwell presented the music librarian’s perspective (pp. 95-99). 

The journals Notes (published by the Music Library Association) and Fontis Arts Musicae (International Association of Music Libraries) should not be overlooked. The former carries substantive articles and regularly reviews new publications as well as reference materials and recorded music. The latter, which is multilingual and international in scope, covers activities of the association, proceedings of its conferences, and other topics of broad interest to performing arts librarians. A third source to consult for collection building is BBC Music Magazine, which carries a regular reviewing feature entitled “Building a Library.” 

An important special source of leads for materials in the performing arts is the Internet. Articles describing some good sources are J. Stinson’s “Medieval Music on the Web: Music Resources for the 21st Century,” Australian Academic and Research Libraries 28 (March 1997): 65-74; Kellie Shoemaker’s “Net Notes: Music on the World Wide Web,” Voice of Youth Advocates 21 (February 1999): 425ff.; and “Music Library Online,” by K. Sloss and C. Duffy (Brio 35 [Spring/Summer 1998]: 9-12). 

Although the field of music contributes the bulk of material in performing arts librarianship, there are important readings for librarians in the other subfields. For example, the reader may find the following titles helpful on matters related to collection development, Henry Wessells, “Publishing Roundup: Recent Books on Music, Film, and Television,” AB Bookman’s Weekly 102 (December 7, 1998): 108ff. “Webwatch (Resources on Theater),” by Joan R. Stahl (Library Journal 123 [December 1998]: 27ff.), will help locate online resources. “Video Reviews,” Notes 54 (June 1998): 973-77, discusses the video medium, as does R. E. Provine, “Issues in Video Collections and New Technologies,” College and University Media Review 3 (Spring 1997): 47-57. In “Let’s Go to the Videotape,” Diane Ney (American Theatre 16 [April 1999]: 47-48) discusses the importance of videotape to performing arts scholarship. The Society for the Preservation of Film Music has published H. Stephen Wright and Stephen M. Fry, eds., Film Music Collections in the United States: A Guide (1996). 

“Archival Guidelines for the Music Publishing Industry,” by Kent D. Underwood et al. (Notes 52 [June 1996]: 1112-18), outlines a framework for the music industry’s contribution to research needs of the field. 

Also helpful across the performing arts fields is the Greenwood Press series Bio-Bibliographies in the Performing Arts. Its titles have excellent bibliographies, discographies, and filmographies on important individuals in the performing arts. 

Library Journal, Library Quarterly, and other general journals in the librarianship include the performing arts, publishing articles on collection development, technical processes, reference services, nonbook materials, and other topics of general interest. These titles should not be overlooked as sources of information for the librarian, student, or general reader. 

Use and users of performing arts information
Of the performing arts, music has been the most studied in terms of use and users of information. Malcolm Jones’s Music Librarianship (Saur, 1979) introduces, very generally, types of music libraries and their uses in “Music Libraries and Those They Serve” (pp. 13-23). The chapter on music by Elizabeth Rebman in The Humanities and the Library (2d ed., American Library Association, 1993), offers a brief user perspective in the section entitled “The Work of Composers, Performers, and Music Scholars” (pp. 136-37). 

More specific studies of the use of the literature of music can be found largely in the older journal literature. The reader will want to see, for example, R. Griscom, “Periodical Use in a University Music Library: A Citation Study of Theses and Dissertations Submitted to the Indiana University School of Music from 1975—1980,” Serials Librarian 7 (Spring 1983): 35-52; R. Green, “Use of Music and Its Literature Over Time,” Notes 35 (September 1978): 42-56; and David Baker, “Characteristics of the Literature Used by English Musicologists,” Journal of Librarianship 10 (July 1978): 182-200. Miranda Lee Pao investigated the behaviour of authors and publications in computational musicology in “Bibliometrics and Computational Musicology,” Collections Management 3 (Spring 1979): 97-109. A more recent study is S. M. Clegg’s “User Surveys and Statistics for Music Librarians,” Fontis Artis Musicae 32 (January 1985): 69-75. One of the very few recent citation studies in the performing arts is Lois Kuyper-Rushing’s “Identifying Uniform Core Journals for Music Libraries: A Citation Study,” College and Research Libraries 60 (March 1999): 153-63. 

Mary Kay Duggan stressed the music scholar’s need for information in diverse formats in “Electronic Information and Applications in Musicology and Music Theory,” Library Trends 40 (Spring 1992): 756-80. The number of electronic resources now available to musicologists and other scholars of the performing arts would suggest that they are adopting the new information technologies. The next few years will undoubtedly yield new studies of users in the electronic environment. 

Computers in the performing arts
Computers are being used in a variety of ways in the performing arts. As with other aspects of performing arts information, music is the field for which we have the most literature on computer use. In the field, we see computers used in musicological research and analysis, by the creative composer for writing music, and by music educators for the teaching of music. In libraries, information centers, and music archives, computers are used to search and retrieve material via online vendors, the Internet, or CD-ROM databases. And in the 1990s we saw musicians, scholars, music librarians, and music historians using the Internet as a resource for commerce, discussion groups, and electronic mail. Music librarians use computers for the same purposes as other librarians and information specialists. 

An older, though comprehensive, article on electronic information in music is Mary Kay Duggan’s “Electronic Information and Applications in Musicology and Music Theory,” Library Trends 40 (Spring 1992): 756-80. The article covers all aspects of computers in music and music librarianship, and an extensive bibliography accompanies the article. It is a good place to begin reading about electronic resources in music. 

The primary online database for music and related areas is RILM Abstracts. The counterpart to this database in print form is RILM Abstracts of Music Literature (Repertoire Internationale de Litterature Musicale). The database covers all areas of music and some other aspects of performing arts that relate to music; the coverage begins at 1969. A thesaurus is available also. RILM Abstracts is available online through FirstSearch, and the files are available on CD-ROM for the decade between 1981 and 1992. 

An invaluable source for periodical literature is Chadwyck-Healey’s International Index to Music Periodicals Full Text. On the Web at http://iimpft.chadwyck.com/ (accessed December 5, 2012), this database covers over 300 periodicals useful to the music librarian or scholar. 

Other databases of interest to the performing arts scholar are Magazine Index, Books in Print, Dissertation Abstracts Online, and ISI’s Arts and Humanities Search. All have print counterparts. H. W. Wilson’s Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature covers the general periodical literature. 

Database searches in the performing arts fields of dance, theater, television and radio, and film are usually carried out in what we might term “general” or “multidisciplinary” databases. Magill’s Survey of Cinema is the exception. 

The Internet and CD-ROM offer great potential for performing arts materials, and a number of CD-ROM products include sound and textual material together in true multimedia PC products. A good source of information about music, dance, and theater Internet sites is the Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room page at http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/perform (accessed December 5, 2012). 

Electronic music applications are well covered in the journal Computer Music Journal at http://www.mitpressjournals.org/loi/comj (accessed December 5, 2012). The site also offers copious links to organizations, publications, projects, manufacturers, and others important for research into computing in music. 

Even the earliest music forms are accessible through online databases. See, for instance, the CANTUS: A Database for Latin Ecclesiastical Chant site at http://publish.uwo.ca/~cantus/ (accessed December 5, 2012). Another unique site in music is Music in the Public Domain, which can be accessed at http://www.pdinfo.com/ (accessed December 5, 2012). As well as providing lists of music that is in the public domain, there are useful pages on copyright and other issues surrounding the use of music for performance. 

The Computer Music Association (P.O. Box 1634, San Francisco, CA 94101-1634) publishes proceedings of its conferences on the subject of computing in music. Journals to consult on the topic include Music Theory Online, Computing in Musicology, and Computers and the Humanities. Other that are available online are listed on the MIT pages referenced above. 

The Internet is such a rich source of performing arts material that we can only direct the reader to those sources that will lead elsewhere. The more limited Internet resources are especially numerous in the performing arts, and they range from sites on specific artists or particular genres to lists of companies offering hard-to-find sheet music. These resources can be found through the hundreds of music Web sites managed by the associations in the performing arts world or those maintained by garage bands and fans of particular performers. To access these, begin a search in any of the meta-indexes on performing arts and follow the links to the category of information needed. 

Major organizations, information centers, and special collections
The number of national and international organizations in the performing arts is so great that attention can only be given here to those that are most significant to the librarian. Guides to the specific fields in the performing arts will offer additional information in much greater detail, as will the many directories in print. 

The International Association of Music Libraries has branches in most developed countries. It currently sponsors the International Inventory of Music Sources/Reperetoire International des Sources Musicales (RISM), Repertoire International de Litterature Musicale (RILM), and Repertoire International d’iconographie Musicale (RIDIM). Since 1945, it has published Fontis Artis Musicae, the journal cited frequently in this chapter. The U.S. address for the IAML is c/o Lenore Coral, President, Cornell University Music Library, Lincoln Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853-4101. The International Music Council (UNESCO House, 1 rue Miollis, Parris F75732, France), one of the first nongovernmental agencies established by UNESCO, studies the development of music and produces many publications. The International Musicological Society (Case Postale 56, CH-4001, Basel, Switzerland) was founded in 1927 to promote research and has published the journal Acta Musicologica since 1928. 

The Music Library Association (P.O. Box 487, Canton, MA 02021) supports a wide range of activities, including the publication of Music Cataloging Bulletin and, since 1943, Notes. Music Library Association activites may be followed on the Web at http://www.musiclibraryassoc.org (accessed December 6, 2012).  

The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (P.O. Box 75082, Washington, DC 20013) was founded in 1966 and includes in its membership people in the recording and broadcasting industries as well as librarians in the performing arts. It publishes ARSC Journal and ARSC Bulletin. The Music Educators National Conference (1902 Association Dr., Reston, VA 20091) was founded in 1902 and has over 65,000 members. It publishes Music Educators’ Journal and the quarterly Journal of Research in Music Education. The American Musicological Society (201 S. 34th St., Philadelphia, PA 19140) publishes Journal of the American Musicological Society and periodic lists of theses and dissertations in the field. An index to the dissertations is available on the Web at http://www.chmtl.indiana.edu/research/e-projects.shtml (accessed August 19, 2013). The American Symphony Orchestra League (777 14th St. NW, Ste. 500, Washington, DC 20005) was founded in 1942 and has a library pertaining to all aspects of the symphony orchestra. The American Guild of Organists (475 Riverside Dr., #1260, New York, NY 10115) is one of the many specialized groups. Like many others, it publishes a monthly journal, Music/AGORCCO, as well as a journal, The American Organist. 

Music industry statistics are published annually by the American Music Conference (5790 Armada Dr., Carlsbad, CA 92008). The Conference has a Web site at http://www.nammfoundation.org/ (accessed December 6, 2012) that provides links to pages on topics such as musical equipment, hardware and software for music applications, publications, and the like. 

By contrast, the number of organizations devoted to dance is small; those that do exist seem to be largely concentrated in the areas of ballet and the teaching of dance. The Ballet Theatre Foundation (890 Broadway, New York, NY 10003) appeals to a broad audience for support and publishes Ballet Theatre Newsletter. The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (Imperial House, 22-26 Paul St., London, UK EC2A 4QE) has a branch in the United States (4338 Battery Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814). The Society publishes a bimonthly, Imperial Dance Letter. The Dance Educators of America and Dance Masters of America both consist of dance teachers and have regional groups that supplement the activities of the national groups. The Dance Educators can be reached at P.O. Box 607, Pelham, NY 10803, and the Dance Masters at 12 Lucille Dr., Shelton, CT 06484. 

The International Foundation for Theatre Research (Department of French, University of Lancaster, Lancaster, UK) disseminates scholarly information through Theatre Research International. The American Society for Theatre Research http://www.astr.org/ (accessed December 10, 2012) issues a newsletter and the semiannual publication Theatre Survey. The International Theatre Institute, established in 1948, has a branch in the United States (47 Great Jones St., New York, NY 10012) and publishes Theatre Notes and International Theatre Information. 

The Theatre Library Association (TLA) includes not only librarians but also actors, booksellers, writers, and researchers in its membership. Located in New York (Shubert Archive, 149 W. 45th St., New York, NY 10036), the Association publishes Broadside, a newsletter focusing on performing arts collections, and an annual, Performing Arts Resources. TLA also has undertaken other publishing projects, especially notable ones in the preservation and historical areas. 

The University Film and Video Association (Chapman University, School of Film and Television, 333 N. Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866), publisher of a journal and digest, was formerly the University Film Association. Film Society Bulletin and Film Critic are published by the American Federation of Film Societies (3 Washington Square Village, New York, NY 10012). The American Film Institute (John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC 20566) supports a wide range of archival, research, and production activities. Publications have included American Film and Guide to College Courses in Film and Television. The Federation of Motion Picture Councils publishes Motion Picture Rating Preview Reports. The American Film and Video Association (920 Barnsdale Rd., #152, LaGrange, IL 60525) evaluates books and films and publishes AFVA Evaluations, Sightlines, and AFVA Bulletin. 

Because music publishing often occurs outside the usual trade channels, two associations offer information about publishers of music. The National Music Publishers’ Association, founded in 1917, was originally established as the Music Publishers Protective Association. Its focus is the publishing of popular music. The address is 40 Wall St, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10005-1344. The Music Publishers’ Association of the United States, also located in New York, is concerned with serious and educational music publishing. Its communication vehicle is MPA Press. The Association maintains a Web page that has many helpful links, including copyright information resources, important for performing artists, composers, and others in the creative fields, at http://www.mpa.org (accessed December 10, 2012).  

The American Composers’ Alliance (802 W. 190th St. Suite 1B, New York, NY 10040) was founded in 1937. It publishes its Catalogues of new music and works for the protection of the rights of its members. 

The Committee on Research in Dance (New York University, Dept. of Dance Education, 35 W. 4th St., New York, NY 10003) serves as a clearinghouse for research information in the field. 

The Wisconsin Center for Theater Research (University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706) concentrates on the performing arts in America. The Institute of Outdoor Drama (East Carolina University, College of Fine Arts and Communication, 201 Erwin Building, Mail Stop 528, Greenville, NC 27858-4353) provides an advisory and consultation services as well as bibliographic information on the specialty and a newsletter.

The most outstanding music collection in the United States is at the Library of Congress, which benefits from copyright deposit. The Music Division, established in 1897, has issued numerous catalogs, several of which are listed elsewhere in this book. Another notable collection is found in the Music Division of the Research Library of the Performing Arts in Lincoln Center (part of the New York Public Library). Music from the twelfth to eighteenth centuries is a speciality of the Isham Memorial Library of Harvard University, while primary sources in early opera scores and librettos are a strength of the University of California Music Library in Berkeley. The Center for Research Libraries has several microform collections of research materials. In Europe, the Austrian National Library (Vienna), the Royal Library of Belgium (Brussels), the Biblioteque Nationale (Paris), the Deutsche Staatsbibliolthek (Berlin), the British Museum (London), the Bibliotecha Nazionale Centrale (Florence), and the Vatican Library (Rome) all have outstanding collections.

The Dance Collection in the Research Library of the Performing Arts (New York Public Library) includes photographs, scores, programs, prints, posters, and playbills, as well as instruction manuals and other literature on the dance. The Archives of Dance, Music and Theatre (University of Florida Libraries) contains about 20,000 similar memorabilia related to the performing arts in the twentieth century.

The Theater Arts Library (University of California at Los Angeles) has screenplays and pictures in addition to the general collection of English- and foreign-language books on film. The Harvard Theatre Collection (Houghton Library) has rare letters, account books, diaries, drawings, promptbooks and playbills from the United States, Great Britain, and continental Europe. Similar materials relating to British and American theater from 1875 to 1935 (especially the Chicago Little Theatre Movement, 1912-1917) are found in the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Michigan. The Theatre Collection in the Research Library of the Performing Arts (New York Public Library) is one of the most notable anywhere. Bibliographic access is provided through its published catalog. The Library of Philadelphia has over 1.2 million items relating to the theater, early circuses, and minstrel and vaudeville shows.

The Library of Congress has several notable film collections, including those received on copyright deposit. The Dell Publishing Company has a collection of over 3.5 million pictures dealing with movie and television personalities.

This is only a small sampling of the performing arts collection in the United States and Europe that contain specialized information in a rich diversity of formats. Ash’s directory and specialized guides to the different areas of performing arts will lead the reader to ample numbers of other libraries, information centers, and archives.

The World Wide Web offers a wealth of information on the performing arts. This should not be overlooked by the researcher beginning a search on associations, special collections, or art societies. The sources listed below provide links to other resources and are worth the reader’s perusal. (All were accessed on December 10, 2012.) For musicology societies and organizations, and music related links, see http://web.archive.org/web/20021128030227/http://www.bishops.ntc.nf.ca/music/links.htm For community theater links, see the American Association of Community Theater site at http://www.aact.org/ For Motion Picture Association resources, check http://www.mpaa.org/ The Association has information about copyright, rating, and other issues important to the industry.

From: Blazek, Ron and Aversa, Elizabeth. Humanities: A Selective Guide to Information Sources, 5th ed. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 2000. pp. 249-58.