Whoa! This Stuff's
Old as the Hills!
Using The Paper Versions of
Music
Index and the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature to locate
articles from pre-Internet database days
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Background: Most of our
electronic databases cover only the last twenty years of publication.
In order to find articles from further back in time, it is essential to
use a print index. Most indexes work like phone books:
they are alphabetical listings of people, places, and other subjects.
Under each alphabetical subject heading is the basic publication information
for related articles.
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The MUSIC INDEX is the
primary tool for locating articles in music magazines, journals, and newsletters.
We own the Music Index from 1949-1983.
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The READER'S GUIDE TO PERIODICAL
LITERATURE covers articles that were published in popular (think
"newsstand") magazines. We have the Reader's Guide from 1890-2000.
***These tools will only provide citations,
or basic publication information. You must then go to our catalog,
DYNIX, to find out if we own the magazine/journal/newspaper issue that
you need. DYNIX search feature #6 lets you search our periodical
holdings.
Below are two short exercises that require
you to use MUSIC INDEX, READER'S GUIDE, and DYNIX.
Tools you'll
need:
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The Music Index (REF ML118.M84) paper
volumes from our Main Floor Reference collection
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The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature
(REF
AI.3 .R48) (in two areas of the library: Reference Shelf 1 and Index table
6)
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Access to DYNIX, our Online Catalog
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You will need to use the #6 search feature
to find Magazines, Journals and Newspapers
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Remember to use the "SS" or Subscription
Summary command to find locations of exact issues
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The ability to cite something in MLA citation
format. Here's a model:
(Popular Press) Poniewozik, James. "TV Makes a Too-Close Call." Time 20 Nov. 2000: 70-7.
(Scholarly Pub) Allen, Emily. "Staging Identity: Frances Burney's Allegory of Genre." Eighteenth-Century Studies 31 (1998): 433-51.
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Concerning the Jazz Pianist/composer Thelonious
Monk:
Monk gigged with some real heavies
during the 50s. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, even Dizzy. Far
out, Man!
Find some articles from music journals
from this period that interview or talk about Monk. Find out if the
library owns any of these articles. Then find out if any articles were
published in the popular press about Monk during this time.
A. Outline what steps you took to
find an article.
B. Does the library own any?
If so, write out the citation in MLA format. Then write down the
call number for the journal.
C. What issues or insights did you
discover while finding this information?
D. How is this search different from
one that uses a computer database?
Concerning The Avant Garde composer Harry
Partch:
In 1952, hobo-turned-composer
Harry Partch unveiled a composition called King Oedipus at
Mills College in California. The piece shows Partch's signature compositional
style of using a 43-note scale. (See Music Since 1900,
REF ML197 S634 1971, page 933)
Does the library own any articles from
musical journals or magazines from 1952 that talk about Harry Partch?
Anything from the popular press from around that time?
A. Outline what steps you took to
find an article.
B. Does the library own any?
If so, write out the citation in MLA format. Then write down the
call number for the journal.
C. What issues or insights did you
discover while finding this information?