Starting your search

• When looking for materials in the UAF libraries, don't hesitate to ask a librarian at the Reference Desk, 474-7482. It's our job to help you find materials.
• Use Goldmine [1], the library catalog, to find scores and recordings owned by the Rasmuson Library.

General search tips

To find recordings or scores, in Goldmine:

1. Do an author search for a composer, performer, ensemble, or conductor, for example dvorak, pavarotti, kronos quartet, or barenboim.
   
2. Do a subject search by type or form of composition, such as arias, quintets, or cantatas.
   
3. Do a subject search using a composer's name to find biographical or critical materials.
   

Power search for specific searches

If you want to search for a specific score or recording by a specific composer, performer, or conductor, you will need to use Power Search (aka Advanced Search)
so you can input more terms and limit by format. See below for search
tips, and a short explanation of why it can sometimes be difficult to
search for scores in the library and what type of search to try.

To search for specific scores

• Type in part of the title of the work or the form in the words or phrase field.
• Do not perform a title search unless you are 100% certain of the title.
  For example, if you type the word sonata in the title
  field, you may miss an anthology that contains sonatas. This happens
  because the title of the anthology is “Original Compositions” and the
  word sonata does not appear in the title of the anthology.
• Instead of a title search, perform a words or phrase search.
• Refine your words or phrase search by adding the composer under author and the word score as a word or phrase search to limit the format.
  
• Limit the Library you are searching to UAF Campus Libraries using the drop-down menu.
• You can also try searching for a score for specific instruments. Try
  using a subject search for organ music, or saxophone and piano music.

More tips for finding scores

• Musical works may have multiple names, such as a Form name (piano quintet in A major or quintet in A major for piano and strings), a Popular name, sometimes in several languages (Trout Quintet, Die Forelle, The Trout), or a Uniform title
  (for library cataloging), which may consolidate all variations in
  English (Quintets, piano, violin, viola, violoncello, double bass, D.
  667, A major).
• Instruments may be described differently, for example, piano or
  keyboard; cello or violoncello; trumpets or brass; choral or vocal.
• Individual pieces within a collection may not be listed separately in the library catalog.
• The key to finding a score is to think up all the different keyword possibilities, and use a words or phrase search to try them out. Include any relevant search terms, for example if you know the composer, and limit to UAF Campus Libraries only.
• You can also look up pieces in the online Grove Dictionary of Music and
  Musicians [2], searching by composer and looking through the list of their
  works to find scores in collections. The library has other reference
  materials that might help; ask at the Reference Desk.
• You can browse the shelves upstairs. Once you know the breakdown of the
  M section in the LC classification scheme, you may be able to find what
  you want more easily by simply looking at the shelves. Don't forget
  about the Oversize section also; many scores are in that section
  because they don't fit on the regular shelves.
• Another way to search for scores is to use the catalog Browse search function. To Browse, click Browse under Other Searches.
  
  Do an author search for the composer, for example
  “author = Beethoven” to pull up a list you can scroll through.
  
  This list will also include recordings; it is the comprehensive list of
  compositions by this composer whether printed or recorded, that the
  library owns. Note that browsing by subject will give you information
  about this composer, both biographical and critical, whereas searching
  by author gives you the actual compositions, whether in score or
  recorded form.
  

Search for specific audio recordings, on audio CD, cassette tape, or vinyl record

• Start with a basic search with few limits if you know the title of the recording; if that results in too many hits, narrow it using additional terms in Power Search.
• To limit your search to recordings and not scores, type sound recording in the word or phrase search field. You can also limit by item type, using the drop down box, and choose audio CD or phonorecord but you may miss an outstanding recording that is only available in one format rather than the one you prefer. The sound recording
  search will bring up any recorded materials regardless of format. The
  library does have portable turntables and cassette players for
  checkout, in case you want to listen to a record or tape.

Search for videos

• Use a words or phrase search to search
  for any major actors or singers, the director, or producer, the
  ensemble or company, etc. You can also search for operas, or jazz,
  rock, or other genres. You can also use author or subject searches for
  video recordings, but in most cases a simple word search will bring up
  results quickly.
• Use a words or phrase search with the word videorecording to limit to this format.
  
• Limit the Library you are searching to UAF Campus Libraries.

What to do if it's checked out, missing, long overdue, lost, or just not here!

• If something you want is not where it should be on the
  shelf, or is checked out, check with Circulation to put a hold or
  recall on the item, or to get search assistance.
• If the library doesn't own the item you want, try the
  Fairbanks North Star Borough public library [3] on Cowles and Airport Way.
  They have a substantial CD collection, with more popular and current
  genres of music than we have, as well as plenty of jazz, classical, and
  blues.
• You may request items through Interlibrary Loan. Most libraries
  now lend audio CD's, so it's getting quicker to obtain materials by
  ILL. To place requests go to: http://uaf.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/logon.html [4]
• We do take purchase suggestions, use the Library Resource Recommendation Form [5] to recommend a resource.