When using a keyword search, every entry in the library's catalog will be checked for the terms you entered into the search bar to see which materials match the search terms. A keyword search will look for the search terms among all aspects of the entries, including the titles of the materials in the catalog, the subject headings for each entry, and the table of contents for each entry. This is the easiest method of searching the catalog and is usually best to use for general searching and/or at the beginning of the research process.

Here is an example of a keyword search:

By using a subject search, you can use a prescribed set of terms for library materials known as a controlled vocabulary in the form of subject headings in order to increase the precision of your search. By doing so, you can reduce the number of results that are potentially irrelevant to your search and find more materials that fit your research needs.

Below is a list of searches using subject headings that may prove useful when searching for viola materials in the library catalog. Using quotation marks will return results containing the exact phrasing of the subject heading.

For scores and/or recordings:
Viola with chamber orchestra
Viola with string orchestra
Viola and piano music
Concertos (viola)
Percussion and viola music
"Solo viola"
String quartet (4 violas)
Violin and viola

For scholarship on the viola:
Viola instruction and study
Viola
Viola - Methods
Viola bibliography
Viola music bibliography
Viola - studies and exercises
Violists
Viola - history
Violists - biography
Viola music - history and criticism

Here is an example of a subject search:

For more information on how to locate materials in the library and how to narrow your search for specific types of materials, such as scores and recordings, please see our guide Finding Music Materials under the tab How-To Guides on the page for Music Research Resources.

If you want to find more items that share the same subject headings as an item in the catalog, then you can click on the subject headings listed in the topics area of the catalog entry. These act as a hyperlink that will bring you to a results page for other items in the catalog that share that same subject heading. Using these hyperlinks can be an important method for finding related materials in the catalog.

Here are where the topics area in a catalog record for an item is located:

You can use an author search in order to find materials by a specific author. However, a specific composer or performer of certain materials is not always listed as the author of those materials in the catalog. The name used for searching the catalog can be in any configuration during the search (e.g. first and last name or last name, first). However, an author search can yield different results based on different spellings for a name.

Here is an example of an author search:

The following chart of call numbers for trumpet materials may serve as a useful tool in your searching and browsing.