Bibliographies and Research Guides

A bibliography can be defined simply as a list of books and other publications, arranged in a logical order. The details provided for each publication generally include the author, title, place and year of publication, publisher and details of the edition.

The scope of one bibliography can vary greatly from another.

A national bibliography, such as the Australian National Bibliography (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1901-1950, 1961-1996), aims to cover all material published in a particular country.

A subject bibliography on the other hand concentrates on material published on a specific subject, for instance a person, a place, an event or a time period. Other types of bibliographies concentrate on the works of one author, or a publisher, or on the contents of a particular collection of published material, for instance, a library catalogue.

TIP: Once you have located a work that is relevant, check through the sources in its bibliography, as some of them are sure to be useful as well.

The Music Branch Library holds a number of research guides or bibliographies on a variety of music related topics. These books provide a very useful overview of all the research on a particular subject or composer at the time of writing. For example:

Baron, John H. Baroque Music: A Research and Information Guide. New York: Garland, 1993

(This is one of a very useful series, Music Research and Information Guides, published by Garland.)

Arling, Harry J. Trombone Chamber Music : An Annotated Bibliography. Nashville, Tenn.: Brass Press, c1983.

Bibliographies can cover either the output of the composer or writings about a composer: Cecil Hopkinson, A Bibliography of the Musical and Literary Works of Hector Berlioz, 1803-1869... is a bibliography of Berlioz's writings, while Michael Wright's A Berlioz Bibliography is a bibliography of writing about Berlioz.

Such research guides can usually be located on the library catalogue by performing a KEYWORD search, combining the area of interest and 'bibliography'.

e.g. 'Berlioz' and 'bibliography'