Got 20 Seconds? Catalogue Searches Sorted!

Catalogue Searches Sorted! Here's our new catalogue link:- https://rcs.koha-ptfs.co.uk/



We have two simple tips for you today.  Don't forget - putting your search terms in inverted commas can be very helpful. Eg a song title.

And using Advanced Search really helps, too. (It's like using a knife and fork instead of a shovel!)

Ca' Canny With Your Catalogue Searches!

 https://rcs.koha-ptfs.co.uk/

SIMPLE SEARCH
You can search a library catalogue using the simple search box. You can also search our Catalogue Plus the same way,to get lots of electronic results along with the books, music and audiovisual material that we hold.
 
ADVANCED SEARCH
But you can get more precise results if you use the Advanced Search. It means you can pin down the author or composer's name, for example, or words that you know are in the title of a book or piece of music.  The Advanced Search function is available whether you're searching just the catalogue, or Catalogue Plus.
 
CATALOGUE PLUS + ADVANCED SEARCH
It's a good idea to be clear what you're looking for, especially with Catalogue Plus, which searches ALL the electronic resources available to RCS staff and students.

We searched for "Highland Piping" on Catalogue Plus. Loads of relevant hits appeared. We have a nifty little visual graphic which categorises all the results, and you can clearly see what is available.  (But look what else we found. If you're not canny with your searching, then you might - just might - find something completely different... )

Historically Informed Music Performance

If you can't find the right books in the library catalogue, how do you improve your chances?

Try these special Whittaker Library searches:-

• Music Interpretation
• Music Performance Practice

Sometimes you're just using terms that are so specific, so narrow, that you're actually reducing your chances of finding books on that subject.  Eg, unless a book has the words, 'historically informed' in its title or somewhere in the book description, then the search engine won't be able to retrieve them. So by changing the terms you're looking for, or making them just a bit more general, you improve your chances.

Don't forget the categories down the side of the page, enabling you to choose a format (book, drama book, music book, audio-visual, etc) or a range of subject headings that have been attached to the items retrieved.  Clicking on one of these subject-headings works the same as Amazon's "If you like this, then you may also like ..." suggestions.

We've got the knowledge - just come and ask!

The Challenge!

Hello, everyone!  This blogpost is carefully crafted for our new first year music students here at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.  This is a link to the powerpoint that I used in our recent catalogue demo.

If you're one of this talented crowd, your assignment is this:-

Please use the catalogue to find three specific items (see below), then email details of these items to the CCS Coordinator, using your new Conservatoire email account.  Please state your name and course.

For each item, we need particular information:-

• Author or Composer,

• Title,

• Publisher,

• Date (if known) and

• Library shelfmark.

 

And this is what you'll be looking for:-

1. A book about your instrument (or composition/conducting)
2. A CD of music for your instrument (or a composer/conductor that you admire)
3. A piece of printed music for your instrument.

Sunny day, blue sky - not yet the 'Last rose of summer'

Super-searching to save time

Just when we were thinking Scotland's summer was over, here it is.  What's that strange brightness in the sky?  Sun!  And - is the sky really that blue?

Here's a catalogue searching tip to bring you down to earth:

Use the advanced search function to search for an exact phrase.  Like, well, Last rose of summer, Thomas Moore's famous song from Moore's Irish Melodies.  (Now immortalised as a Last Night of the Proms favourite, of course.)

The exact phrase function is just like Google's quotation marks search.  You could do that in our catalogue, too - "Last rose of summer".

Et voila, lots of songs and recordings, just like that.  You can also limit by collection to restrict the results to one or the other.  Include the limit in your advanced search, or do it once you've got some results.

Here's another one - "Last night of the Proms".  Vintage results!

Scottish Theatre Archive - searching the collections

Searching the Scottish Theatre Archive

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http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/sta/search/

Special Collections at Glasgow University Library host the Scottish Theatre Archive.  And that means you can search their fabulous database.

For example, 'Whittaker' wanted to find out more about Hal D. Stewart, a playwright in our collection.  Easy!  I found all the biographical info I needed with this search link

You'll immediately see just how useful this is.  Here's the basic search:- http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/sta/search/

Lost for words?

Where can you find the words to thousands of songs and poems?

A useful free database, The Lied, Art Song and Choral Texts Archive contains the words of thousands of songs. 

Take the Romantic Scottish poet, Allan Cunningham, for example.  (Well, today's his birthday, so it's a good day to focus on him!) 

Allan Cunningham (1784-1842) was a bit of a prankster, to be honest. He invented some Borders songs for Cromek's collection called Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song.  (He admitted this to close friends.)  And he was thought to have done the same for his own larger collection, Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern.  (This is a collection of poetry, not music.)  Plenty of composers have drawn upon his lyrics, all the same.  As you'll see in The Lied, Art Song and Choral Texts Archive.  Here's his page.

• Wikipedia entry on Allan Cunningham (born on this day, 7th December 1784)

Looking for Scottish verse? Allan Cunningham might not be quite what you're looking for, but you can find plenty of source-material at the Scottish Poetry Library.  Here's their catalogue.  Learn a poem, or set one to music. 

• If you're using a poem as lyrics, do remember to check if the poet is still in copyright.  Poets have feelings (and rights!), but they'll be flattered to be asked ...  

NB this post is one of Whittaker Live's 'On this day' series about Scotland's song history.

Catalogue searching for singers!

"I need this song ...."

The Whittaker Library catalogue lists the contents of all our song collections and recorded song collections, unless there are over 100 songs in the album.*  If you're looking for a song, and you know even some of the words of the title, go ahead and search the catalogue.  Start by searching on words that you're sure about - and don't bother with "the" or "a"! 

Limit on collection (whether recording, vocal score, or whatever) to see if we have the format you need.

If you're not sure about the words of the title, that makes things more tricky.  And if the song is an aria in an opera or oratorio, then - yes, that's more challenging.  I don't index every aria and recitative in an opera.

You can search printed indices or bibliographies if you know the first word(s) of a song or aria.  If you don't know the first word(s), it may actually be more fruitful to Google it.

Today I had a challenge.  The first word was either "In" or "Oh" or "Un".  Guess what?  I Googled it.  Then searched our catalogue for the correct title.  Found it - literally in the nick of time.

*  I memorably indexed all 600-odd songs in the Scots Musical Museum.  It wasn't until I came to look for the book that I realised there was a problem: I'd reached the point where the catalogue entry was too long, and it didn't display in the catalogue at all.  And that's why I draw the line at 100 songs per catalogue entry!

Bookyap - book recommendations

WEBSITE REVIEW

Bookyap offers to find books that you'll like.  Specify your subject, or say what you like.

'Whittaker' tried it out for you:-

• 1st search: I don't know how she does it.  A humorous book about a working mother, by Allison Pearson.  And what did Bookyap find?  I don't know how she does it.  (Not very clever!)
• 2nd search: Scottish Enlightenment.  This time, Bookyap found 13 books, and they were exactly what I wanted.
• 3rd search: Mozart opera.  27 matches, again an interesting selection.
• 4th search: Chekhov plays.  13 matches. 
• 5th search: no.1 ladies detective agency.  Results: the whole series.

To summarise - all three subject searches have been interesting.  Better than a library catalogue, though?  Hard to say!  As for the "Say what you like" search, maybe I'd have been more successful if my fiction preferences were more mainstream.  See what you think!