The Scores & Recordings Collection, located on the third floor of Olin Library, houses the library collections of musical scores and sound recordings of both spoken word and music. The Collection also includes the World Music Archives. Scores & Recordings staff comprises the Music Librarian and two World Music Archives Assistants.
The majority of books about music (classed ML and MT) are in the Olin Stacks (floors 2 and 3a). However the Scores & Recordings Collection holds a small number of these books as well, while others may be found in the Cutter Collection (Science Library floor 2) and compact storage. Reference books for graduate-level study in music are located in Scores & Recordings (see map) while the Campbell Reference Center keeps general and undergraduate-level reference books. Scores & Recordings also has copies of Wesleyan masters theses and doctoral dissertations in music. Videos, except for World Music Archives material, are kept with other library videos at the Reserve Desk.
Most scores circulate just like books, the only exception being Denkmäler (historical sets) and collected works (classed in M1-3) which are limited to faculty and graduate students. LPs also do not circulate outside Scores & Recordings to undergraduate students, but CDs and cassettes may be taken out by all students, faculty, and staff. Users can listen to LPs, CDs, and reserve tapes via headphones at any of our twenty individual listening stations.
Mirroring the Music Department, the strengths of the library's music collection are world music and 20th-century experimental music. In particular, the collections of music from India, Indonesia, Japan, and Native Americans are among the most significant in the world. We have many scores of folk music and of instrumental music from classical traditions in Japan, China, Iran, and elsewhere. Special Collections & Archives holds one of three John Cage Collections in the world.
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