Music and Audio Collections

Printed Music

The Music Library, located in the lower two levels on Old Cabell Hall, houses a collection of some 70,000 music scores and books covering the entire repertory of Western art, folk, world and popular music. Materials circulate to the University community and to the public. A variety of research guides and finding aids is available on the Library's Collections page, and access is provided to online music collections whose contents are in the public domain.

Special Collections music materials include the Mackay-Smith Collection of European Music, 1650-1910, 19th- and 20th-century sheet music collections numbering some 30,000 items, and the Monticello Music Collection. Special Collections, located in Alderman Library, is open to University faculty, students, and staff, as well as visiting scholars.

Sound Recordings

The Music Library also houses a collection of some 40,000 recordings on LP, audio cassette, CD, and CD-ROM in support of the teaching and research needs of the McIntire Department of Music and the University. These circulate to faculty, staff and students. The Library also provides access to online audio collections in MP3, RealAudio and other formats.

Spoken Word Recordings

Clemons Library houses a collection of over 1500 spoken word audio cassettes which can be checked out for a month to students, faculty, and staff. Many of them are unabridged recordings of novels, but the collection also features poetry readings, Shakespeare's plays, and interviews. They can be found by searching VIRGO this way: shakespeare and sound recording [limit search to Clemons Library].

Audio/Sound Effects

The Digital Media Lab of the Robertson Media Center provides several sets of sound effects on audio CD.