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Searching the Card Catalog
There are a variety of ways to look up an item in the card catalog: by
author, title, performer, or subject. Other approaches, such as series listings, are
also used.
 Uniform titles -- Titles of works enclosed in square brackets which appear under the
composer's names on catalog cards are called [uniform titles] and are found on cards for most musical compositions. Uniform titles are needed
because the title pages of identical musical compositions vary greatly from one edition to another. The correct uniform title brings together all
forms of the titles of this work to one location in the card catalog. The uniform title also brings together: (1) portions of larger works; (2)
arrangements and modified editions of pieces; (3) items that belong with the work (libretto, cadenza).
For additional help see A Brief Guide to using Uniform Titles.
Filing Rules -- In the Music Library's catalogs, cards for author, subject, performer, and title
are filed in one continuous alphabet. Cards for works by a composer are filed first, followed by books about that composer and, finally, books with
that composer's surname as the first word of the title. Subject cards are easily distinguished because their first line is either in red or consists
entirely of capital letters.
** Remember that there are additional
access points of artists, performing groups, conductors, etc. for sound recordings in both
the print and online catalogs.
Collected Works -- Composers' collected works are always filed at the beginning of a
particular composer's catalog entries and, whether they are complete or in progress, are given the uniform title [WORKS]. If the title of a
composition is not in the card catalog under its specific uniform title, it still might be possible to locate the work, in either the complete works or
in some other collection. Ask the Public Services Librarian for assistance.
Some peculiarities found in the
catalog:
- Abbreviations (Mrs., Dr., St., etc.) and signs (&) are filed
as though they were written out. Numbers were filed in the same manner
before 1986; from that date on, if they begin a title, they are filed in
numerical order at the beginning of the catalog (before A). Names
beginning with Mc or M' are filed as if they were spelled Mac.
- Certain foreign vowels are filed as if they were a
combination of two English characters: a u with an umlaut (ü) files as if it
were spelled ue, etc.
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