Music Library

The Music Library consists of Wesleyan's non-archival music collections, including scores, sound recordings, reference works, books and journals. Recordings include music, spoken word, and other non-musical material.

  • Collections

    Mirroring the unique history and strengths of Wesleyan's world-class Music Department, our music collections are focused on 20th- and 21st-century experimental music, and on musical traditions from around the world. More about Collections

    We have:

    • recordings of folk, popular, and classical musics from around the world, including jazz
    • musical scores, collected works, songbooks, and other notation collections
    • music reference works, including discographies and record guides, indexes, thematic catalogs, repertoire guides, music encyclopedias and dictionaries, and music research guides
    • listening and viewing stations for playing LPs, CDs, cassettes, and videos
    • audio recording kits
    • books and journals about music and related topics (in the Olin Library stacks)

    Original field recordings and related materials are part of the World Music Archives.

  • Locating Our Materials

    Our materials are held both in the Music Library (on Olin Library's 3rd floor) and in Olin Library's book stacks. OneSearch will indicate where to find any individual item. More about Locating Our Materials

    Scores, Recordings, and Advanced-Level Music Reference Works

    These are located in the Music Library. CDs and box sets are kept behind the desk and are not available for browsing, but can be found through OneSearch and requested at the service window. Other recordings, as well as scores, are on the open shelves.

    Books About Music

    Most are located in the main stacks, on Floor 2 and Floor 3a. They are under the ML and MT call numbers.

    Basic Music Reference Works

    There is a small collection of these in the Reference area on Floor 1.

    Videos

    Music videos, except for World Music Archives material, are kept with the other library videos in Science Library.

    Equipment

    Items such as audio recording kits and CD/DVD drives for your computer are available to be checked out for a limited time period. There are listening and viewing stations in the Music library for LPs, CDs, cassettes, and videos.

  • Checking Out Materials

    Most scores circulate just like books, and can be checked out either at the Music Library service window or at any circulation desk.

    Many of our recordings can be checked out by any Wesleyan card-holder. Some can be checked out only by faculty and graduate students, while others may only be used in the library.
  • Our Staff

    Our most valuable resource is expertise. Our staff are all active, lifelong musicians with advanced degrees in music research and interests spanning the globe.

    Want to schedule a research consultation? Request a Personal Research Session.

    Aaron Bittel, Director of World Music Archives and Music Librarian
    Jody Cormack Viswanathan, Archives Assistant
    Jennifer Thom Hadley, Music Library Assistant