LibGuides: Music, Politics, and the Public Sphere (Class): Resources

Catalogs and Indexes

University of Illinois Library Catalog
Use the Library Catalog to identify books, journals (but not journal articles), microform collections, and digital collections owned by the University of Illinois. The Library Catalog is the primary tool for exploring the collections of the University of Illinois Library, the second largest academic library collection in the United States. In the Library Catalog you can search for books by subject, and you can identify the location within the Library of a particular book. If the book is an ebook, then you can link directly to the ebook.

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Books and journals are organized in the library by subject. Each item is assigned one or more subject headings and a unique call number. Subject headings are standardized terms from the Library of Congress. The call number is based on the Dewey Decimal Classification or Library of Congress Classification. Boolean operators must be capitalized if used: AND, OR, NOT. Interface automatically truncates some search terms unless Boolean operators are used within the same query line. You can also browse catalog records by call number, creating a "virtual shelf browsing" experience.

Oxford Music Online
Oxford Music Online (OMO) is the access-point for Oxford music reference subscriptions and products, including Grove Music Online, The Oxford Companion to Music, The Oxford Dictionary of Music, and Encyclopedia of Popular Music. With OMO patrons can cross-search Grove and Oxford reference content in one location. Articles from specialist dictionaries such as The New Grove Dictionary of Opera and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed., are available via OMO.

Databases

Classical Music in Video
Searchable database for the study of classical music in streaming video format. At completion it will contain 1,000 hours of classical music performances and master classes captured on video--approximately 1,500 performances in all. The collection will contain performances of all forms of classical music, including major orchestral performances by leading orchestras, plus chamber music, oratorio, and solo performances, along with master classes and interviews with master teachers from around the world. Coverage of musical time periods spans Medieval to the 21st century, and performances cover historical recordings from the 1950s up to the most current recordings today.
Classical Music Library
Classical music library is a classical music service that enables listening and learning at library and home computers. In addition to full recordings of the works on the site, it includes program notes, composer biographies, and images cross-referenced to the recordings. Genre incorporate vocal and choral, instrumental, stage and screen, orchestral, chamber, and opera and operetta, with a particular focus on contemporary music and women composers. Recordings can be downloaded for a fee. Covers music from the medieval time period to the 21st century.
Garland Encyclopedia of World Music
The Garland encyclopedia of world music online is a comprehensive online resource devoted to music research of all the world's peoples. Each volume contains an overview of a geographic region, a survey of its musical heritage, and a description of specific musical genres, practices, and performances. Articles include detailed photographs that show musicians, musical instruments, and the cultural context of dances, rituals, and ceremonies. Other images include drawings, maps, and musical examples for further study. Contains the entire set of 10 print volumes (over 9,200 pages) as well as complete indexing for genre, subject, instrument, place, person, ensemble, and cultural group, as well as links to the associated audio examples for each volume.
Music Index
Alternate version: Music Index in the classic EBSCO user interface (best for exporting more than 50 results or combining saved searches). Contains cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for every aspect of the classical and popular world of music including musicological and organological topics, as well as book reviews, record reviews, first performances, and obituaries from more than 850 music periodicals from over 40 countries.
Alternate Access Link

Streaming Audio

Naxos Music Library
6/30/25: Naxos is currently unavailable. We are working with the vendor to restore access. Naxos Music Library is the most comprehensive collection of classical music available online. It includes the complete Naxos, Marco Polo and Da Capo catalogues of over 170,000 tracks, including Classical music, Historical recordings, Jazz, World, Folk and Chinese music. Whilst listening, users can read notes on the works being played as well as biographical information on composers or artists in Naxos's extensive database.

Naxos Classical Composers
Bios for classical composers and others whose recordings are on the Naxos label.

Streaming Video

Kanopy
Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video service for educational institutions that provides students and faculty access to more than 26,000 films. Kanopy provides students access to one of the largest collections of films in the world – including award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases – on every topic imaginable.