Social sciences

Definitions

• no single authoritative definition
• those mental or cultural sciences which deal with the activities of the individual as a member of a group (R. A. Seligman. Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences)
• any discipline or branch of science that deals with human behaviour in its social and cultural aspects (Encyclopedia Britannica)
• branch of science
• human behaviour focus is important
• identify phenomenons
• Those fields that study human behavior at the level of the individual, the group, and the society, and are concerned with people and their cultures, and with the structure and activities of human collectives, and with the interaction of human beings and their physical environment. (The Reader’s Adviser v. 3, 14th ed.)
• Those fields of learning and research that are primarily concerned with human relationships, or more broadly, social phenomena. (Encyclopedia Americana)

Related/alternative terms

• Behavioural sciences
• sometimes used as a synonym
• term came into widespread use in the 1950s
• applies principally to the fields of psychology and sociology but also to areas within economics and political science
• the aim of behavioural science is to establish generalizations about human behaviour that can be supported by empirical evidence (capable of being verified or disproved by observation or experiment)
• Human sciences
• all disciplines not falling under the natural sciences, engineering or medicine
• Social studies
• courses or instruction in the social sciences at the elementary and secondary school levels

Disciplines

• No absolute consensus on what disciplines make up the social sciences
• Gen Ed 300 http://libguides.wsulibs.wsu.edu/content.php?pid=108535&sid=816692
• Social Sciences Virtual Library http://vlib.org/
• Intute – Social Sciences http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/
• Statistics Canada http://www.statcan.gc.ca/subjects-sujets/standard-norme/cip-cpe/2011/index-indexe-eng.htm

Core disciplines

• anthropology
• languages and linguistics are consistently mentioned
• sociology
• psychology
• economics
• political science
• history
• geography
• reminder that some disciplines float between humanities and social sciences and sciences

Social science professions

• May apply findings and conclusions generated by social scientists
• business
• education
• journalism
• law
• public health
• social work

Social sciences: evolution

What caused the social sciences to be known as they were? Where did they come from? They have morphed since then.

• Industrial revolution: French revolution
• changed the way people survived in 1700s, 1800s

British revolution Factories Water wheels Sheep Spinning industry All work 16 hours a day Create wealth for industrialists Housing, pollution problems

French revolution Social autocracy People who weren't/were taking over the country

• Population increase
• condition of labour
• Change in nature of “property”
• Urbanization
• Technology
• Factory system
• Development of political masses
• Separate disciplines emerged in Western Europe in 1870s and 1880s
• Professional organizations appear in U.S. 1880s to early 1900s
• Post WWII period of most rapid growth
• Great Depression
• Russian Revolution
• Baby Boom
• Popular field of study at post secondary level
• “Social Sciences in Canada” http://web.archive.org/web/20070919225852/http://isuma.net/v03n02/renaud/renaud_e.shtml
• http://web.archive.org/web/20070216222913/http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rma/dpr/02-03/SSHRC-CRSHC/SSHRC-CRSHC03D01_e.asp

Social sciences: characteristics, trends

Canada

• Since 1980’s majority of degrees of faculty from Canadian institutions (previously U.S., England, France)
• Growth in Canadian history, Canadian political science
• Noted for expertise in
• Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
• Research methodology for understanding how election campaign shape way people vote
• French immersion and second language learning

General trends, characteristics, problems

• Increasing number of women at PhD level
• Public feels personally knowledgeable in areas of social sciences
• Harder to get funding for research
• public money decreasing
• Twigging or fragmentation
• no one place to go to
• Interdisciplinary
• Mission-oriented research
• Use of new info technologies
• Massive way of faculty retirements on horizon

Research can be spent on opinion polls. Over 70 disciplinary in humanities. Mission-oriented research look at a particular problem with people with expertise and present information.

Social science research

• Greater use of numbers post WWII
• Research may not be used
• Ethical problems

Other major problems

Literature scatter

Lack of global consistency

Different patterns of development according to culture, resources and politics of regions

Social science literature and its users

• Interdisciplinary
• Often little interest in research conducted in other countries, especially as typical social scientist lacks reading fluency in foreign languages
• Reliance on both journals and monographs
• Publication explosion results in problem of information overload
• Citations single most important source of information for social science researchers
• Consultation with colleagues (invisible college) important but less so than in natural sciences
• Tend to be heavy users of government information especially census and statistical data
• With improvement in online technology and resources recent dramatic increase in their use

Public libraries

• Practitioners may seek info at public libraries (business, social workers, etc.)
• General public will have need or interest for info falling in many areas of the social sciences (teachers)
• Students at all levels for homework, general interest

Accessing information in language and literature

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

Working definitions of language and literature
Language and literature are treated together in this guide because they are interdependent and because one of the primary ways of organizing literature is by the language of the literary work under consideration. 

The common definitions of language and literature suggest that language has to do with spoken and written words and the systems for their use, while literature comprises the writings that capture ideas. Although literature, it can be said, is dependent on language for its very essence, it is probably wise to look at the definitions of the two fields separately, at least at the very outset. Because language is a requirement of literature, it is considered first. 

Language, according to one commonly used reference tool, is “systematic communication by verbal symbols” (The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia (New York: Avon, 1983), pp. 456-66); another dictionary states that language is the “form or style of verbal expression” (The Merriam-Webster Dictionary (New York: Pocket Books, 1974), p. 397); while a third suggests that it is “communication by voice in the distinctively human manner.” (The American College Dictionary (New York: Random House, 1961), p. 685). All of these definitions, spanning nearly thirty years, seem to suggest that language must be spoken, when in fact some languages (notably sign languages and artificial languages) are not vocal yet constitute a means of communication within a community nonetheless. Some might argue that sign language is a substitute for spoken language, while other researchers suggest that it is indeed a language in its own right and not a surrogate at all. The same may be said for computer programming languages that sometimes substitute for foreign-language requirements for admission to academic programs. 

Languages are subdivided into families and stocks, based upon the relationships among and derivations of each. Often, but not always, the distribution of languages is of geographic origin: Sino-Tiberian languages, for example, are most often used in a particular Asian region. 

Closely involved with the study of language are the fields of linguistics (the scientific study of language) and anthropology (the study of social and cultural constructs and how humans live within them). Language is sometimes claimed as a subdiscipline of both. 

To clarify the definitions of language, the reader should consult Edward S. Apir’s Language: An Introduction to the Study of Speech (Harcourt, 1921; repr., 1955), a classic cited in later textbooks. Literature is easier to define. Helen Haines, in the now-classic Living with Books (2d ed., Columbia University Press, 1950), offers: “Literature, in familiar library classification and definition, embraces the whole domain of imaginative and creative writing as well as the history, philosophy, and art of literary expression and various distinctive forms in which literary art finds manifestation.” 4 Although Haines later differentiates literature from science, we can assume from her definition that the “distinctive forms” might include writings in the sciences and social sciences, thus constituting the literature of science, social sciences literature, and indeed, the literature of library and information science. These “literatures of…” refer to writings in a special discipline or field of study. Sometimes definitions of literature suggest a value judgment: that the literature has “lasting value” or is of “permanent interest.” 

The importance of the literature of various academic disciplines is made apparent in the curricular offerings of graduate schools of library science, information science, and information studies. Courses such as “Social Studies Literature,” “Resources in the Humanities,” and “Sources and Services: Science and Technology” are just a few examples. 5 The role of the literatures, as vehicles for scholarly communication, is stressed in courses entitled “Scientific and Technical Communication” and the like. Few courses in contemporary programs put the whole emphasis on titles; most now include coverage of structures of the literature, the roles of various types of publications, and the unique forms of communications that one finds in the fields under study. 

Some are inclined to define literature by the genres, or forms, that are usually included including fiction, poetry, drama, essays and criticism. Asheim included oratory, excluded essays, and suggested that “imaginative writings” in those forms should define the area of literature. The same parameters are observed in this guide. 

The issue of value in literature is an important one. While this issue is of interest in all fields of the humanities, the fact that criticism of one work may ultimately become a part of the body of literature itself is nowhere more evident than in the areas of literary scholarship. The critical literature, then, is subject to subsequent criticism as well. 

Major divisions of the field
Both of the basic approaches to the division of literature, by language and by form, are usually taken into account in the customary division of the field. The Reader’s Advisor: A Layman’s Guide to the Literature (R. R. Bowker, 1988, v. 2) divides literature by language group and form, covering drama and then other literature. 

Division of literature on the basis of the language in which it is written may require some refinements and modifications. For example, the volume of literature written in English is so large that further subdivision is desirable. In this case the term “English literature” is restricted to the output of the United Kingdom that appears in English, or even to the literature of England alone. Separate provision is customarily made for American literature, Australian literature, and so forth. At the other extreme, some of the world’s smallest literatures may be grouped together under a single parent language. 

As suggested above, the basic forms of literature are poetry and prose. Prose is normally divided into novels, short stories, and essays. Poetry is normally treated as a single unit, but it can be subdivided by type (lyric poems, epic poems, etc.). The drama, as a literary record of what is to be performed on the stage, has an independent life of its own and may also be considered a major literary form. Modern drama is ordinarily prose, but it may also be verse, or it may consist of both prose and verse. 

Another approach to the organization of literature is by historical periods of literary movements. These are often combined with the forms outlined above. J. B. Priestly’s classic Literature and Western Man (Harper, 1960) divides the field by form (poetry, drama, and fiction) and by chronological period. Another detailed approach to the divisions of language and literature is offered by The Modern Humanities Research Association in ABELL: The Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (MHRA, 1920—1997, v1-72). Many of the divisions and subdivisions can be applied to other than English materials; see the Web pages at http://web.archive.org/web/19990202233305/http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MHRA/ABELL/ (accessed December 19, 2012). 

In addition to the extensive coverage of literature and of individual language literatures in general encyclopaedias (Encyclopedia Americana and Encyclopedia Britannica both have excellent articles), Haines’s Living with Books should be consulted for the classic librarian’s view of the fields of literature, drama, poetry, and fiction. A more recent discussion, also directed to the librarian, is James K. Brachen’s “Literature,” in The Humanities and the Library, edited by Nena Couch and Nancy Allen (American Library Association, 1993, pp. 86-131). The sources in the historical section of Chapter 12 of this guide provide additional background reading on literature. 

A recommended source for more current Internet resources is Pam Day’s “Internet Reference Resources in Language and Literature” The Reference Librarian 57 (1997): 153-59. 

Use and users of information in language and literature
Of all the disciplines covered in this guide, literature is the one in which scholars have been subjected to greatest scrutiny in terms of their information needs and information-seeking behaviors. Surveys, observational studies, and unobtrusive citation analyses provide an interesting and varied picture of the literature scholar’s work habits and literature use. Because of the number of studies in this area, only those reported after 1980 are listed here; for earlier work, see earlier editions of this guide. 

R. Heinzkill looked at English literary work in “Characteristics of References in Selected Scholarly English Literary Journals,” Library Quarterly 50 (July 1980): 352-65. M. Stern’s “Characteristics of the Literature of Literary Scholarship,” College and Research Libraries 44 (July 1983): 199-209, is another frequently cited article. In 1985-1986, three significant studies were published: John Cullars’s “Characteristics of the Monographic Literature of British and American Literary Studies,” College and Research Libraries 46 (November 1985): 511-22; John Budd’s “Characteristics of Written Scholarship in American Literature: A Citation Study,” Library and Information Science Research 8 (April 1986): 189-211; and John Budd’s “A Citation Study of American Literature: Implications for Collections Management” Collection Management 8 (Summer 1986): 49-62. 

John Cullars has investigated the characteristics of other special literatures in “Citation Characteristics of French and German Literary Monographs,” Library Quarterly 59 (October 1989): 305-25; “Characteristics of the Monographic Scholarship of Foreign Literary Studies by Native Speakers of English,” College and Research Libraries 49 (March 1988): 157-70; and more recently, “Citation Characteristics of Italian and Spanish Literary Monographs,” Library Quarterly 60 (October 1990): 337-56. 

Richard Hopkins’s doctoral dissertation, “The Information Seeking Behaviour of Literary Scholars in Canadian Universities” (University of Toronto, 1988), confirmed and refined findings of some earlier works, and suggests that constraints of time and cost affect information seeking among scholars. The findings are summarized in Hopkins’s “The Information Seeking Behaviour of Literary Scholars,” Canadian Library Journal (April 1989): 113-15. 

Broader studies of humanists’ information seeking and use have included faculty members and literary scholars. Two still useful reports are Stephen E. Wiberley, Jr., and William G. Jones, “Patterns of Information Seeking in the Humanities,” College and Research Libraries 51 (May 1990): 231-40. 

As we predicted in this guide’s fourth edition, the recent years have yielded many studies of the use of electronic materials: scholars’ attitudes toward electronic sources and texts; and studies of new work methods made possible by networks, document delivery services, and other information technologies. See, for example, “Bibliographies Database Searching by Graduate Students in Language and Literature: Search Strategies, System Interfaces, and Relevance Judgments,” by Debora Shaw (Library and Information Science Research 17 (Fall 1995): 327-45). 

Computers in language and literature
The area of computing in language and literature continued to grow in the 1990s. In the fields of language and literature, computational linguistics, language teaching, writing and editing, text analysis, and automated translation are some of the areas for which we have an extensive literature. But perhaps the most prevalent growth has been in the area of Internet and Web resources. Bibliographies such as the Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature are now available on the Web as well as on CD-ROM. Records in the bibliography from 1920 through 1946 are available at http://web.archive.org/web/19991009124947/http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MHRA/ABELL/OnLine.html (accessed December 14, 1999). MLA International Bibliography, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA) and other important resources are available in a variety of machine-readable formats. 

Another important Web resource is Voice of the Shuttle at http://vos.ucsb.edu/index.asp (accessed December 19, 2012). This site includes numerous resources in all areas of the humanities and is particularly strong in the areas of literature and linguistics. A page on “technology of writing” is included. See http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=3 (accessed December 19, 2012) for the English-language pages on the VOS site. 

An extensive list of sources and an excellent review of literary texts is still Helen R. Tibbo’s “Information Systems, Services, and Technology for the Humanities,” Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) 26 (1991): 287-346. This provides a good starting point and can be updated by many articles, including Perry Willett, “Building Support for a Humanities Electronic Text Center: The Experience at Indiana University,” Library Hi-Tech 16 (1998): 51-56; and Marianne Gaunt, “CETH, Electronic Text Centers, and the Humanities Community,” Library Hi-Tech 16 (1998): 31-42. An earlier article that will provide background on the topic is Anita Lowry “Electronic Texts in English and American Literature,” Library Trends (Spring 1992): 704-23. Here the reader can find information about Shakespeare and other English-language text files and also about basic considerations such as descriptive markup language and encoding. Avra Michelson and Jeff Rothenberg discuss all aspects of electronic text in “Scholarly Communication and Information Technology: Exploring the Impact of Changes in the Research Process on Archives,” American Archivist 55 (Spring 1992): 236-315. The article describes projects such as the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) and American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language (ARTFL). 

Electronic text projects, such as Michael Hart’s Project Gutenberg and the Online Book Initiative, have made the full text of many great literary works available. Dartmouth’s Dante Project provides the full text of The Divine Comedy, along with six centuries of commentary on the work, in searchable form. Other sources of information on the availability of electronic text include The Georgetown University Catalogue of Projects in Electronic Text, The Humanities Computing Yearbook (latest edition), Oxford University Press, and Chadwyck-Healey. The impact of electronic text is covered in Literary Texts in an Electronic Age: Scholarly Implications and Library Services, edited by B. Sutton (Urbana-Champaign: ASLIS, University of Illinois, 1994). 

Database searching is also important in the fields of literature and languages. MLA Bibliography (file 71 on Dialog, also available on CD-ROM) covers 1963 to the present and provides access to books and journals on language, literature, and linguistics. LLBA (Linguistics and Language Behaviour Abstracts), produced by Sociological Abstracts, Inc., covers the period 1973 to the present. Included are articles from over 1,000 journals. It is file 36 on Dialog. Other popular databases that literary scholars use include Arts and Humanities Search (produced by the Institute for Scientific Information and available in a variety of formats, including the new Web of Science), and Dissertation Abstracts Online. 

The Internet resources related to literature and linguistics are vast and include listservs and electronic journals on many literature genres, writers, and special topics. Search the Web for the particular genres or authors, and access to a wealth of resources will result. A good starting point for links to resources and reviews of them is the Argus Clearinghouse at http://web.archive.org/web/20020408104907/http://www.clearinghouse.net/arthum.html (accessed December 19, 2012). 

Finally, scholarly publishing is the subject of John Unsworth’s “Electronic Scholarship or Scholarly Publishing and the Public,” Journal of Scholarly Publishing 28 (October 1996): 3-12. 

Major organizations, information centers, and special collections
The oldest, largest, and best known of the organizations that promote the study and teaching of languages in this country is the Modern Language Association of America (26 Broadway, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10004-1789). Founded in 1883, it has more than 30,000 members, primarily university of college teachers, and it conducts an immerse range of programs and activities. Publications include PMLA (quarterly). Job Information Lists—English and Foreign Language versions are available on the Web. An important contribution of the Association is its style manual, available in high school and scholar’s versions, and also on the Web. The MLA International Bibliography, covered in detail in chapter 12, is among the world’s most important bibliographic resources covering drama, English, folklore, foreign languages, humanities, language, linguistics, and literature. The website for MLA is at http://www.mla.org/ (accessed December 19, 2012). 

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (1001 N Fairfax Street, Suite 200, Alexandria, VA 22314) was founded by MLA in 1967, but now exists as a separate entity. Its publications include Foreign Language Annals (6/yr.) and Series on Foreign Language Education (annual). 

The National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Association (659 57th Ave., Omaha, NE 68132) is a federation of national, regional, and state associations in the United States that publishes The Modern Language Journal, a quarterly.
The American Association of Language Specialists (1000 Connecticut Ave., NW, Ste. 9, Washington, DC 20036) is a group of interpreters, editors, and translators who provide language services worldwide. The members’ directory is available on the Web. The Web address is http://www.taals.net (accessed December 19, 2012). 

U.S. English (1747 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Ste. 1100, Washington, DC 20006) is an organization active in promoting English as the official governmental language of this country. It maintains a Web site at http://www.us-english.org/ (accessed December 20, 2012) that keeps members and the press up-to-date on legislative matters related to their goals. 

There are a wide variety of organizations concerned with specific languages, and some maintain a Web presence. An example of the latter is Esperanto Language Society of Chicago (http://www.esperanto-chicago.org/ [accessed December 20, 2012]). Other organizations concerned with specific languages include the International Association for the Study of the Italian Language and Literature and the League for Yiddish, Inc. (200 West 72d St., New York, NY 10023). 

The American Comparative Literature Association (University of Alabama, Box 870262, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0262) promotes the study and teaching of comparative literature in American universities, cosponsors Yearbook of Comparative and General Literature, and maintains a list of links to Web sites concerned with comparative literature. Its Web address is http://www.acla.org/ (accessed December 20, 2012). 

The Council of Literary Magazines and Presses (666 Broadway, 11th Fl., New York, NY 10012) assists “little magazines” in a variety of ways. The Council maintains a Web presence with links to many small presses at http://www.litline.org/ (accessed December 20, 2012). 

Regional interests are served by such groups as the Society for the Study of Southern Literature and the Western Literature Association (Department of English, Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322-3200). 

Various library, literary, and children’s literary associations serve a host of special clienteles with interests in all aspects of books, literature, and publishing. General association directories will lead the reader to the many organizations that are too specialized to be listed here. 

Special collections in language and literature are numerous—they include those in information centers, libraries, associations, and scholarly societies--and there are far too many of them to list here. Good sources to use as supplements to this section are Subject Collections, compiled by Lee Ash and William G. Miller (7th ed., R. R. Bowker, 1993) and the Websites identified above. Besides this guide to subject collections by Ash and Miller, publications of the American Library Association, Special Libraries Association, and the Center for Research Libraries will guide the reader to other collections of note. 

Some special collections remain noteworthy. They include the Folger Shakespeare Library (201 E. Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC 20003-1094) which has an active research and publication program in British civilization of the Tudor and Stuart periods and theatrical history as they relate to Shakespeare. See http://www.folger.edu/ (accessed December 20, 2012). 

The Center for Hellenic Studies (3100 Whitehaven St., Washington, DC 20008) is an international center associated with Harvard University. It conducts research in such areas as classical Greek literature, philosophy, and history. 

Other giant collections are held by the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov [accessed December 20, 2012]), the British Library (http://portico.bl.uk/ [accessed December 20, 2012]), the Bibliotheque Nationale (http://www.bnf.fr/ [accessed December 20, 2012]), the New York Public Library (http://www.nypl.org/ [accessed December 20, 2012]), and Harvard University (http://www.harvard.edu [accessed December 20, 2012]). Information about the institutions and their holdings is readily accessible now via the Internet; many services can be provided electronically.

Literature and language selected reference sources

Required reading:
Wyatt, Neal. "Mapping the Reference Maze". Library Journal, 8/15/2003, Vol. 128 Issue 13, p49, 4p.
Recommends several U.S. and British literature references for library collections. Description of a typical core collection; recommended biographies; Web sites; List of suggested dictionaries and encyclopaedias.

Subject guides/pathfinders
Academic Writing http://web.archive.org/web/20061012135952/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/find/guides/guideDisplay.cfm?guideID=40

Books & Literature Links http://wpl.winnipeg.ca/library/onlineresources/internet/literature.asp

Children’s Literature http://web.archive.org/web/20070706021435/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/find/guides/guideDisplay.cfm?guideID=63

Children’s Literature (print-only) http://web.archive.org/web/20040629030906/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/find/guides/guideDisplay.cfm?guideID=64

English http://web.archive.org/web/20060519203203/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/find/guides/guideDisplay.cfm?guideID=60

A Guide to Sources of Reviews and Criticism in Literature and Language http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/resources/reference_books/literature_and_language.html

Literature and Language (print-only) http://web.archive.org/web/20040625154035/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/find/guides/guideDisplay.cfm?guideID=101

Literature: English Canadian (print-only) http://web.archive.org/web/20040708081004/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/find/guides/guideDisplay.cfm?guideID=92

Literature: Twentieth-Century (print-only) http://web.archive.org/web/20041015084412/http://cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/find/guides/guideDisplay.cfm?guideID=112

Online sources
Languages
Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation http://www.grammarbook.com
Use this site to find the answer to your questions concerning proper English grammar and punctuation. Based on Jane Straus’ book of the same name.

Guide to Grammar and Writing http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/
A comprehensive guide for grammar and writing sponsored by Capital Community-Technical College, Hartford, CT.

The Text Doctor http://www.textdoctor.com/webliography/
The English and Language Resources page provides a collection of writing-related reference sources.

yourDictionary.com http://www.yourdictionary.com/
Web portal specializing in information about any language in the world. Based on the former scholarly site “A Web of Dictionaries.” Main service is access to dictionaries in many languages but also offers FAQs about language.

Literature
Canadian Literature Archive http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/canlit/
Emphasizes bibliographic aids and links to sources on Canadian writing. From University of Manitoba and St. John’s College.

Gale’s Literary Index http://www.galenet.com/servlet/LitIndex/
A master index to the major literature series published by the Gale Group. It combines and cross references more than 130,000 author names, including pseudonyms and variant names, and more than 140,000 titles into one source.

Literary Resources on the Net http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Lit/
A searchable site maintained by Jack Lynch of Rutgers’ University.

LitLinks http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/litlinks/Pages/Main.aspx
A publisher’s Website covering fiction, drama, essays, poetry, and critical theory. Sites are organized alphabetically by author.

The Modern Word http://www.themodernword.com/
Focuses on 20th and 21st century English and American authors.

Online Literary Criticism Collection http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/
An Internet Public Library site. Contains over 5,000 critical and biographical websites about authors and their works that can be browsed by author, by title, or by nationality and literary period. Links to IPL pathfinders, Online Literary Criticism Guide http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/guide.html and Literacy Criticism Pathfinder http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48496

Poetry Portal http://web.archive.org/web/20130121005635/http://www.poetry-portal.com/
A gateway to poetry sites.

Storytellers: Native American Authors Online http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/
Provides a list of Web pages for many contemporary Native American authors.

Representative resources for language and literature

Benét’s Reader’s encyclopedia
[PN 41 B4]

• Thousands of entries in Benét’s Reader’s encyclopedia cover anything and nearly everything having to do with literature. Includes biographies of authors, summaries of books and plays, depictions of characters and mythological figures, explications of literary terms and movements 
• Long history – numerous editions published
• Respected
• Reputable
• Similar to Brewer’s 
• Could be termed as a dictionary or handbook
• Good for high school, public and academic libraries
• http://www.amazon.com/Benets-Readers-Encyclopedia-5e-Edition/dp/0060890169/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355358794&sr=8-1&keywords=benet%27s+reader%27s+encyclopedia

A Handbook to literature

[PN 41 H355 2000]

• Provides quick definitions of literary terms from all genres. It also features a timeline of events in British and American literary history, as well as a listing of Nobel prize winners in literature, and Pulitzer prize winners for fiction, poetry, and drama.
• More specific
• College/university textbook
• Arranged alphabetically
• 2000+ entries
• Wide range of terms including radio, television terms
• Latest edition published in 2003
• http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/academic/product/0,,0130979988,00%2ben-uss_01dbc.html

The Bedford glossary of critical and literary terms

[PN 44.5 M86 1997]

• Cross-referenced and indexed, this glossary of critical and literary terms defines English terms as well as terms from other languages such as jouissance. To illustrate each entry common written references as well as occasional film and visual references are given. When available a brief history of the origin of the term is also offered.
• Appeals to students
• http://www.amazon.com/Bedford-Glossary-Critical-Literary-Murfin/dp/0230223303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355359298

Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory

[PN 41 .C83 1998]

• Covers all aspects of literary theory, from definitions of technical terms to characterizations of literary movement
• Geared toward students, teachers, readers, and writers
• Explains critical jargon (intertextuality, aporia), schools of literary theory (structuralism, feminist criticism), literary forms (sonnet, ottava rima), and genres (elegy, pastoral) and examines artifacts, historic locales, archetypes, origins of well-known phrases, etc.
• Suitable for all libraries
• A-Z listing of terms
• Each is different in content and spin
• http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Dictionary-Literary-Terms-Theory/dp/0140513639/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355359516&sr=1-1

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms

[PN 41 B35 2001]

• Designed to tackle the less obvious terms that students and general readers will encounter
• Over 1,000 entries, covering all of the most taxing literary terms that readers may come across. Clear expectations are given for words such as multi-accentuality, postmodernism, and hypertext
• Provides extensive coverage of traditional drama, rhetoric, literary history, and textual criticism
• Gives pronunciation for over 200 terms
• Updated to include terms that have become prominent in literature in the last few years, from cyberpunk to antanaclasis
• http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Dictionary-Literary-Paperback-Reference/dp/0199208271/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355359896

New Princeton encyclopedia of poetry and poetics

[PN 1021 .E5 1993]

• The standard source for information on the history and criticism of poetry and poetic technique and theory
• International in scope, covering 106 national poetries
• Individual poets and poems are not included
• Concentrates on poetry
• Around for a number of years from prestigious university
• First published in 1965
• http://press.princeton.edu/titles/1749.html

Encyclopedia of the novel

[PN 41 E487 1998]

• Focuses on the development of the novel throughout the world
• More than 600 entries in 2 volumes
• Entries on novelists and their works, on types of novels, the technical and formal aspects of novels and discussion of the genre
• “First all encompassing of novel”
• International aspect
• General index
• Mentions/lists all novels mentioned
• 1st encyclopedia to focus on the development of the novel throughout the world
• http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Novel-Volumes-Paul-Schellinger/dp/1579580157/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355360318&sr=1-2

Cambridge guide to theatre

[PN 2035 C27 1995]

• International coverage of playwrights, important actors and directors, theaters, companies, movements, events, etc., past and present
• Version(s) of Oxford Companion(s) illustrated theatre guide
• http://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-Guide-Theatre-Martin-Banham/dp/0521434378/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355360428&sr=1-1

The Oxford companion to Canadian literature

[PR 9106 S7 1997]

• Representative title from Oxford Companion series
• Entries cover Canadian fiction, prose, poetry, and drama, prominent writers, literary magazines, and publishers
• American/English literature editions as well
• Bibliographies at end of articles
• Should be in academic, public and high school libraries
• Scholarly work
• Living and dead authors included
• http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Companion-Canadian-Literature-Companions/dp/0195411676/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355360704&sr=8-1

Masterplots

[PN 44 M33 1976]

• 2010 plot stories and essay reviews from the world’s fine literature, edited by Frank N. Magill
• Subtitled: “World’s fine literature”
• 12 vols. cover world literature of all genres from pre-Homer to 20th century
• The Masterplots series of publication provides essay-reviews of selected outstanding literary works in a variety of genres and subject areas. Entries for each work include a description of the type of work, author, date of publication, and list of characters. Essay-reviews consist of a summary of the plot and critical analysis of content and characters. All are arranged by title of work
• Upscale/elevated version of Cole’s Notes
• Lists title of works in contents
• To see an example of a Masterplots work, http://www.amazon.com/Masterplots-Stories-Critical-Evaluations-Literature/dp/0893560847/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355360945&sr=1-1

Contemporary authors

[Z 1224 C62]

• A comprehensive source of biographical information on over 100,000 modern novelists, playwrights, poets, scriptwriters, non-fiction writers and journalists
• Published by Gale/Thomas
• Includes dead and alive authors of the 20th and 21st centuries
• Comes in a number of series (also revision series—updated entries)
• 3-5 volumes published every year
• As of late 2012, 320+ volumes and revision volumes published

Indexes

Indexes are important to the subject of language and literature.

 

American Humanities Index

Provides author and subject indexing for about 300 creative, critical and scholarly serials in the arts and humanities including philosophy, art and music. Collection of references specific to North America. May find actual short stories, noted if is. Provides abstracts and citations. Linked full text out of Academic Search Premier in Ebscohost.

 

Arts and Humanities Citation Index

A multidisciplinary index to literature of the arts and humanities analyzing periodical articles by authors (Source Index), cited authors (Citation Index) and keyword (Permuterm Index – no real subject headings) http://thomsonreuters.com/arts-humanities-citation-index/

• indexed specific keywords in title
• citation index cites references
• where did someone else cite the same article?
• will it lead to someone else’s work?
• will it be useful?

CBCA

Proquest brought out Canadian Business and Current Affairs. The following two sites contemplate one another.

• CBCA Current Events
• Current events is interpreted to include politics, business, the arts, sports and any other kind of news happening in Canada or abroad
• CBCA Reference
• Full-text content for over 170 journals and indexing to over 650 journals for current events, business, science, the arts, social issues and more
• MLA International Bibliography [Z 7006 M64]
• The premier database for literary criticism and analysis, produced by the Modern Language Association. It indexes books, periodical articles, essays, Festschriften and dissertations published throughout the world on topics relating to literature, linguistics, folklore, drama, etc. Celebrations of writing of someone’s career, in honour of, provides classified indexes, broad scope of modern ‘languages’ (e.g. computers), lists published medium http://www.mla.org/bibliography/

Indexes to literature in collections

• H. W. Wilson Indexes http://www.ebscohost.com/wilson
• Essay and Literature Index
• Short Story Index [Z 5917 S5C62]
• looking for a specific story indexed in cumulative volumes
• provides full text links to indexes, collections and anthologies
• Play Index [Z 5781 W48]
• single or collection
• description
• annotation
• suitable for children
• print back to 1900
• online back to 1983
• Less learned but valuable
• All separate indexes available online or in print
• Short Story File http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/lapl-indexes/short-story-file-index
• An index to short stories in collections and anthologies in the Los Angeles Public Library. Only stories which are not listed individually in the Library’s online catalog are included.
• Inter-play http://library.pdx.edu/interplay/
• An ongoing index to plays published in anthologies, collections, and periodicals from the late nineteenth century to the present. Separately published lays are excluded.
• Especially valuable for locating recent plays not yet included in standard print sources.
• scope is limited to the holdings of the Portland State University Library, which is responsible for this database.
• Free
• Linked to many sites
• Drama theatre
• Playwrights Guild of Canada Virtual Library & Bookstore http://www.playwrightsguild.ca/plays
• Searchable database of Canadian plays
• Register or login as a visitor
• Matches titles by letter
• Titles are hyperlinked to basic information about play
• If not available for purchase, only ISBN, publisher and agent information provided
• Columbia Granger’s Index to Poetry in Anthologies [PN 1022 G7 2002]
• Premier indexes
• Includes title, first line, last line, author, and subject
• Tendencies remembered
• Indexes for approximately 400 poetry anthologies
• New edition adds to previous editions. Last lines are more recent.
• Indexes up to 150 anthologies per edition
• http://edelweiss.abovethetreeline.com/
• http://www.columbiagrangers.org/
• Available online by subscription
• PoemHunter http://www.poemhunter.com/
• A database of over 790,000 poems, modern and classic, that allows searching by poet name, poem title, and poem text. More than 80,000 poets are included and the site allows poets to submit poems as well.

Language and literature

Language

a. Communication of thoughts and feelings through a system of arbitrary signals, such as voice sounds, gestures, or written symbols.
b. Such a system including its rules for combining its components, such as words.
c. Such a system used by a nation, people, or other distinct community; often contrasted with dialect.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Ed., 2000

• Deals with spoken and written words and the systems for their use
• Linguistics: the scientific study of language

The study of language as a branch of knowledge includes:

• Morphology: study of the historical development of speech patterns
• Syntax: study of use and forms of the language and of the parts of speech and their various forms
• Etymology: study of the origin of the words
• Semantics: historical and psychological study of the meaning of and change of meaning of words

Dictionaries are the major aids in the study of language and linguistics and include:

• General word dictionaries
• Dictionaries based on the historical development of words
• Oxford English
• Etymological dictionaries
• Dictionaries of usage
• Fowlers
• Dictionaries of slang, dialect and colloquialisms
• Partridge
• Dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms
• Roget’s
• Specialized dictionaries
• Abbreviations
• Acronyms
• Foreign words and phrases
• Pronunciations

Literature

1. The body of written works of a language, period, or culture.
2. Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value: “Literature must be an analysis of experience and a synthesis of the findings into a unity” (Rebecca West)
3. The art or occupation of a literary writer.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Ed., 2000

• Comprises writing that captures ideas
• That class of writing which is notable for imaginative and artistic qualities, form or expression

Major forms of literature

• Prose
• Novels
• Short stories
• Essays
• Poetry
• Drama

Genres

Dividing literary works into genres is a way of classifying them into particular categories. At the highest level literature is classified as either fiction (about things, events and characters which are not true) or nonfiction (about things, events and people which are based on fact).

 

We classify fiction according to technique (layout) and style. For example, we have:

• Picture books (contains words and pictures)
• Game books (require the reader to problem-solve and actively engage in an activity while reading)
• Novellas (short novels)
• Short stories (much shorter than a novella)
• Graphic novels

We also have books that are classified by content and theme. For example:

• Adventure stories
• Science fiction
• Fantasy
• Crime and mystery
• Horror
• Romance
• Historical fiction
• Fictionalised
• True crime

Organizational approaches

• Two basic approaches: by language or by form
• By language in which written may need further subdivision, e.g. English literature, American literature, Canadian literature, etc.
• By form: poetry, prose
• Also historical periods or movements e.g. The Romantic Movement

“Literature” of literature

• Works of literature and works about literature
• Works of literature primary source, e.g. Novels, plays, short stories, poems. Common characteristic: creative
• Works of literature secondary source. Factual as opposed to creative. Used for what they say about other works

Bibliographies

• Primary/descriptive: physical description of the work
• Secondary: works about the writings of a specific writer or groups of writers or of forms (genres), periods or subjects
• Most useful source for majority of literary reference questions
• Research guides a specialized type of secondary bibliography

Reference sources

• Reference sources in literature more numerous than in any other subject field
• In general either
• To identify literary works or
• To identify works about literature
• Undergrads need plot summaries, critical analyses, dictionaries of literary terms
• Grad students as above but at a more advanced level
• Faculty: bibs., dictionaries, or sources to verify complex citations

Typical reference tools

• Primary & secondary bibliographies
• Dictionaries
• Encyclopaedias
• Handbooks
• Biographical sources
• Directories
• Indexes/abstracts
• Concordances

The Arts in Education: draft statement

Manitoba. Manitoba Education and Youth. The arts in education : draft statement, October 2003. Winnipeg: Manitoba Education and Youth, 2003. http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/arts/draft_statement.pdf

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.