Lewis Music Library FAQ  

Research Guide: Music

Lewis Music Library FAQ

Writing a Music Paper

Quick Guides:

• Classical Music
• Electronic Music
• Jazz
• Music of the United States
• Musical Theater
• Pop and Rock Music
• Songs
• World Music

What kind of music do you have?

• We collect a wide range of music including classical, jazz, electronic, world music, pop, folk, and film music.
  
  
• We have books, scores (printed music), journals, CDs, LPs, DVDs, laser discs, and videos.

How large is the collection?

• There are 38,000 music scores, 25,000 recordings (over 21,000 are CDs), 16,000 books, and 100 journal subscriptions.

How do I find things in the library?

• Use Barton, the MIT Libraries online catalog
  
  
• See the Barton tutorial for music searches
  
  
• Ask the library staff for assistance.

How do I find out what's new?

• MIT Libraries news blog
  
  
• Recent additions to the collection: Lewis Music Library
  
  • Just books
  • Just CDs
  • Just DVDs
  • Just Scores
    
    
• Help for RSS

What materials can I check out of the library?

• Circulation privileges are available to the MIT community.

• Books and scores, 30 days; CDs and DVDs, 3 days; iPods and iPad, 1 day.
  
  
• Loan periods for music materials
  
  
• General Circulation FAQ

What about online resources?

• We subscribe to many online resources including streaming audio and indexes as well as full-text journals, books, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. Most are available to the MIT community only.
  
  
• Online music resources are listed in Research Guide: Music

With so many online resources, why visit the library?

• Due to copyright restrictions, most of our scores, books, and recordings are not freely available online. You need to obtain them from the library.
  
  
• The library is a comfortable place to study, listen to music, or just relax.
  
  
• Our staff is knowledgeable and available to assist you.

Do you have any computers with music software?

• Computers with music notation software including Sibelius and Finale are available to the MIT community.
  
  
• We also have two digital pianos.
  
  
• Equipment is available to the MIT community for digitizing LPs, cassette tapes, and videocassettes.

What kinds of study space do you have?

• Listening stations and a group viewing/listening room

• Private study rooms and open reading areas
  
  
• One room with an LCD screen and laptop connectors
  
  
• Scanner/photocopier

• Perhaps the most comfortable lounge chairs on campus!

Where are you located?

• Building 14E-109 (on the ground floor of the Hayden Library Building).

When are you open?

• Fall and spring semester hours:
  
  Monday-Thursday 9 am - 9 pm
  Friday 9 am - 6 pm
  Saturday 1 pm - 6 pm
  Sunday 2 pm - 9 pm
  
  
• Hours are also listed on the library hours web page.

What if I have other questions?

• Call us: 617-253-5689

• Send a question to AskUs!


• Visit the Lewis Music Library home page

• Come in and talk to us!

Ask Us! if you have questions

Research Consultations- appointments with subject experts for in-depth help

Tell Us! how we can serve you better. We want to hear from you.

• Suggest a purchase (MIT only)
• Interlibrary borrowing (MIT only)