WHY WORK WITH A LIBRARIAN?
The ability to sift through large quantities of information has become a valuable skill for all students, but it is particularly important for those involved in the performing arts. This will enable students to expand their ability to ask informed questions, sharpen critical thinking skills, and provide opportunities for self-directed learning.
Search skills can help your students identify key concepts, such as:
- A composer’s catalog numbering system (opus, Köchel, BWV numbers) and other identifiers for compositions
- Different manifestations of a composition (preferred/authorized titles: Marriage of Figaro=Le nozze di Figaro)
- Different spellings of composer names (Tchaikovsky, Chaikovskii, Tschaikowsky)
- Differentiating between different types of music editions (critical vs. performing editions, and arrangements vs. original orchestrations)
Librarians will work with your class create assignment-specific instruction presentations, and we also offer individual appointments for faculty and staff.
CHOOSE OR SUGGEST A TOPIC
- An introduction or demonstration of a resource (The library catalog, Grove Music Online, Alexander Street Press databases, RILM Abstracts of Music Literature, etc.) followed by hands-on student practice with faculty member and class
- Review of plagiarism, in text citation use and works cited page, how to read a database record to create a citation
- Topic creation – how to search for ideas and how to broaden and/or narrow a topic
- Finding journal articles (Including search techniques like identifying keywords, effective use of Boolean searching, truncation, and controlled vocabulary as it relates to music) and distinguishing between popular vs scholarly work.)
- Finding opposing views on a controversial topic
- Finding images and assigning proper attribution
- Evaluating Information for authority and bias
- Evaluating websites
- Other – tailored to your course’s need
SET UP A TIME TO DISCUSS OPTIONS
Fill out the Instruction Session Request Form and a librarian will get back to you.
(Please make your request at least one week ahead of requested instruction session.)
