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. (Repertoire International de Litterature 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.
More 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 windowProject MUSE provides 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 windowArts & 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
- America: History & Life with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides historical and cultural coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Includes information abstracted from journals published worldwide.
Journals
There are a number of journals you may find useful in your study of music and activism. Here are a few journal titles:
Library Databases
- American Memory This link opens in a new windowAmerican Memory is a database containing primary source materials held at the Library of Congress. This is a huge digital repository, containing approximately 7 million digital files.
- Rock's Backpages This link opens in a new windowRock's Backpages is a database of rock journalism, including more than 17,000 articles and reviews, all of which are searchable by artist, genre, writer, or keyword. Also included are more than 100 interviews with rock musicians.
- Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives This link opens in a new windowThis collection of primary resources documents the history, culture, and politics of the 1960s and early 1970's. Included are diaries, letters, autobiographies and other memoirs, written and oral histories, manifestos, government documents, memorabilia, and scholarly commentary.
