A not-very-well kept secret--we've got the Sibelius music software on two machines in the Music Library. They are on the end near the card catalogs--look for the notices on them that say "this machine has Sibelius." You can use the large scale printer to print larger manuscripts.
Want to have access to your files online and be able to see them from any computer? Want to share your data with others (working on a group project)?
GoogleDocs might be the solution for you. GoogleDocs allows you to create documents, spreadsheets, or presentations. You can also upload files from Microsoft Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. You can then organize your documents, and if you wish, share them with other individuals.
Going on a road trip this summer? Planning to spend long hours at your computer working? Want to be able to listen to classical music radio wherever you are?
List of classical radio stations and links for streaming radio stations:
http://www.classical.net/music/links/radio.php
You can go beyond classical music and also listen for free to the following online music resources (the Library pays for them) from your computer:
African American Song
Classical Music Library
Smithsonian Global Sound
Perhaps you haven't started writing those term papers yet, or perhaps you are knee-deep in your thesis or dissertation. In either case, if you need a quick reminder about how to cite things in your paper, see the online version of the Chicago Manual of Style.
More help is available under the "How do I manage my research" section of the new Research Guides page of the MPAL website.
Online laptop registration tool now available
CITES has a new online tool to help protect laptops on campus. The Computer Registration Tool will allow anyone with a NetID to register their computer with CITES Security. Registering will help CITES Security recover the computer if it is ever lost or stolen. Registration is quick and easy.
Want to know what new music, dance, or theatre materials we have in the Music and Performing Arts Library? Use the "New Titles @ the University Library" tool. You can narrow by library and/or subject and by date received. There is also an RSS feature that will let you subscribe to receive updates when new items are received.
{From the folks at Alexander Street Press}
The new release of Classical Music Library includes new features and updates in addition to a new interface. Users can now browse all classical works by album and find associated recordings using the new Album Browse feature.
There is also updated playlist functionality, which makes it easier to create rich playlists. Individual items in a playlist can now be annotated, and links to any item, whether available in our collection or elsewhere on the Web, can easily be added. Enhance your playlist of audio tracks with reference passages, scores, external Web links, and text from a variety of sources. And sharing playlists has never been easier. Gone are the days of requesting Course Folder privileges for music professors. Now users can decide whether or not to share a personal playlist with other users at their institution, or with anyone who subscribes to Classical Music Library.
Based on user feedback, we've also improved our Advanced Search. It is now possible to limit search results to recordings where the complete work is available. And as always, we are continually working to license more content for Classical Music Library.
All other functionality and content has been migrated from the old interface, including all user accounts, playlists, and course folders. Please note that your course folders will now appear as playlists shared within your institution, and you have the option of sharing them with all Classical Music Library subscribers.
Oberlin College Libraries and Sing Out! brings us this invaluable resource. "An index to traditional folk songs of the world with an emphasis on English-language songs. Each entry includes the song title, first line of chorus, first line of verse, and full bibliographic information on the source. The index contains over 42,700 entries, and, to date, indexes over 2,225 anthologies."
Once you find the anthology that has the song you want, search our online library catalog for the song to see if we have it.
OK, while many of you seem shy about commenting on the blog, you have told me that you'd be interested in a Twitter stream from the Music and Performing Arts Library--so here it is: twitter.com/mpalillinois Click on "Follow" under the MPAL Illinois logo so you don't miss any of our Tweets.
We've activated the "Discover" buttons in the Oxford Music Online tool. So, when you look at a bibliography you can click on the blue "Discover" button to see if there is online access to the article. If not, it will provide you with a link to our catalog, which you can then search to see if we have print access.
Here's what it looks like (from the Steve Reich entry):
and when you click on the Discover button for K.R. Schwarz: ‘Steve Reich: Music as a Gradual Process’, PNM, xix (1980–81), 373–92; xx (1981–2), 225–86 you get:
If you are only reading our blog through an RSS feed reader like Google reader you might be missing the links from our Twitter feed that appear on the righthand side of our blog page. We don't always post the same information on the blog and on Twitter, so check both to make sure you're not missing anything cool!
