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Music 271: Music Performance Science

Catalyst: Books, Scores, Audiovisual

Want to find materials in specific formats?  There are several ways to tell Catalyst what kind of material you want.

Use the buttons on the top: Make sure you are in the "Advanced Search" module of Catalyst. You can get there by clicking the "Advanced Search" button on the library's homepage. The "Audio/Visual" button along the top tells Catalyst you wants recordings. The "Books" button will search for both books and scores. 

 

Use the Material Type menu: Make sure you are in the "Advanced Search" module of Catalyst. You can get there by clicking the "Advanced Search" button on the library's homepage. On the right is a section headed "Material Type." Click the dropdown menu to select the format you want. You can limit your search to scores, film/visual recordings, or sound recordings. This side menu will default to electronic recordings and videos; if you are looking for physical formats like CDs, use the top buttons instead.

 

A few more tips:

  • Once you are in your results list, use the menu on the left to filter out whether you want physical materials or online materials.
  • While Catalyst can be a good place to start your research, not all our online library resources will show up in your results, so be sure to check out the individual databases, too!
  • Materials at Carleton may be requested directly from Catalyst and are delivered twice a day Monday through Friday! 

Keywords & Subject Links

Keywords are the critical words used to describe your topic in the literature.  For example:  piano injury.  Notice -- the less important words like:  an, in, the, of  are left out of the statement.  Every word you ask for has to be present in the item you're retreiving, so just use the words you really need.

Subject links are provided by the Library of Congress cataloging librarians to describe your topic consistently.  Some examples of subject headings that may be helpful for this project are:

Music -- Performance -- Psychological aspects
Musicians -- Health and hygiene
Musicians -- Wounds and injuries

Helpful hint:  If you find a book that is just what you're looking for, see what subject headings have been used and search for more results.

So, your best searching technique in library catalogs would be to:

  1. Search using keywords to find at least one item of interest
  2. Use the subject links at the bottom of the screen to find other items the Library of Congress librarians deemed to be about your topic even if the exact words weren't used in the title

When you use a huge catalog like World Cat, it's good to search using subject terms you identified in Catalyst rather than by keyword.

WorldCat

If you don't find what you want or need in Catalyst, you can try searching WorldCat, which searches library catalogs around the world.  Many things are available, free of charge, via Resource Sharing

  • Last Updated: Feb 9, 2024 12:23 PM
  • URL: https://libraryguides.stolaf.edu/music271
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Subjects: Music