Introduction: Library Databases for Music and Interdisciplinary Research
This page contains information about the major databases for music literature, as well as other interdisciplinary and subject-specific databases that may be useful for your research. For more database options, please see the instructions provided in this guide for using the libraries' A-Z Databases tool.
Music Databases
- RILM Abstracts of Music Literature This link opens in a new windowR.I.L.M. (Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale) Abstracts provides citations and abstracts of articles in music periodicals, conference proceedings, books, bibliographies, catalogs, dissertations, Festschriften, and iconographies. Thousands of journals in hundreds of languages are indexed.
- Music Index This link opens in a new window
Provides citations to articles on topics such as history of music, forms and types of music (including popular music), history of musical instruments, including computer produced music. Also included are book reviews, record reviews, first performances, and obituaries.
- Music Periodicals Database This link opens in a new window
Provides indexing and abstracts for international music periodicals from multiple countries, plus some full text. Most of the included records are from the most recent ten years of publication. Covers music education, performance, ethnomusicology, musical theatre, theory, popular music forms, composition, etc.
- RIPM: Retrospective Index to Music Periodicals This link opens in a new windowR.I.P.M. contains annotated citations to music articles, book reviews, and biographical information published in 19th century periodicals from 15 countries.
Dance and Dramatic Arts Databases
- International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text This link opens in a new window
A fully indexed, cross-referenced and annotated database of journal articles, books, book chapters and dissertation abstracts on all aspects of theatre and performance in 126 countries.
- Communication Source This link opens in a new windowCommunication Source merges E.B.S.C.O.'s Communication & Mass Media Complete database with content from Communication Abstracts, providing comprehensive indexing and full-text coverage of literature covering communication, linguistics, rhetoric and discourse, speech-language pathology, media studies and related fields.
- Film & Television Literature Index with Full Text This link opens in a new window
The Film & Television Literature Index Full Text is a comprehensive database spanning various aspects of television and film research, including theory, preservation, screenwriting, production, cinematography, and technical aspects.
- MLA International Bibliography with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Consists of bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore, and includes coverage from 1963 to the present. Provides access to scholarly research in journals and series, and covers relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, bibliographies, and other formats.
General Databases
- JSTOR This link opens in a new windowImages of the full text of many scholarly titles in a range of subject areas, including literature, biological sciences, economics, finance, and statistics. Search the archive or pull up a specific article. Artstor is now available on the Jstor platform.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text access scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. The database is a collaboration between Johns Hopkins University and other university presses and not-for-profit publishers. Also included are the University Press Content Consortium collections in Asian and Pacific Studies, and Poetry, Fiction and Creative Non-Fiction.
- Arts & Humanities Citation Index This link opens in a new window
Arts & Humanities Citation Index is a multidisciplinary database covering the journal literature of the arts and humanities. It indexes many of the world's leading arts and humanities journals, as well as covering individually selected, relevant items from major science and social science journals. Coverage: 1985-present