Part II. Acadia Library Online Computer Catalogue (WebCat)

Books in the Acadia University Library are listed in the computer catalogue (WebCat).

Some of the items in the Computer Catalogue are older materials that have been entered in short form. New books, still being catalogued may be in this form. This also is done when an older book or other item is signed out by a user, simply to enter the loan in the Computer. Such items have NOT been Catalogued on the Computer. As a result, the information for these items on the Computer is incomplete and may be inaccurate.

This section of Worksheet no. 1 gives a brief tutorial in some of the aspects of using the library online computer catalogue (WebCat). This tutorial is NOT intended as instruction in the actual use of the computers or the library catalogue itself. Library Reference staff will assist with questions concerning the online catalogue and the Library. This tutorial is intended only to provide drill in the use of this catalogue in the study of music.

You then should see something that looks like the following image.

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For this Worksheet, you can Log in by clicking on the Guest Login button.

You should see something that looks like the following image.

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If you see the image shown above, you are in the Library Catalogue.
If another image is on screen, enter the Library Catalogue by clicking on the Library Catalogue button on the left:

You should see the screen reproduced above.

At this point, you will probably be in the Search the Library Catalogue [=Keyword Searching] screen of the WebCat.

For this section of the Worksheet we will use the Browse the Library Catalogue screen.

Click on the Browse Catalogue tab:

You should see the following screen:

SUBJECT Searches:

[Note: Subject searches may be one or more words; separate words must have spaces between them. Invert personal names (last name first); enter others in direct order. Omit initial articles ("The", "A", "An", etc. ) in titles. Search terms can be shortened by leaving off letters or words at the end.]

[Note: when entering information into the computer, the presence or lack of spaces sometimes is important, so enter the given terms exactly. Entries may be all upper case or lower case letters, or a mixture. The Library Computer makes no distinction.]

[To back out of screens click on the Go Back button.]

Using the Netscape (or other browser) Back button will not work properly within the Library Catalogue.

At the Browse the Library Catalogue screen, enter (in the box):

Then select the SUBJECT button.

Several items will appear, the first being simply "MUSIC LIBRARIES", the others sub-categories and extensions of the topic.

1. Under the initial heading dealing with MUSIC LIBRARIES, how many items are listed [in the brackets]?

2. Give the names of author(s) of any one book in this category.

[Click on MUSIC LIBRARIES. The authors’ names are given in the main heading, after a slash: / .
Note that an editor is not an "author".]

Click until the Browse the Library Catalogue screen appears

Remember: Click the Go Back button; NOT the browser Back button.

SUBJECT Headings include names of individuals, organisations, etc., when the book in question is ABOUT the person named:

and press the SUBJECT button.

3. What is the TITLE of the book by Michael Nyman?

Go Back to the main Browse the Library Catalogue screen.

Note: When you two or more screens deep in a search, you can avoid repeated clicks on the Go Back button by using the NEW SEARCH button:

TITLE Searches:

At the Browse the Library Catalogue screen, enter Baroque Music.

Select the Title button.

4. Using Title search, give the Author(s) of one books with title of, or beginning: Baroque Music.

AUTHOR Searches:

Using a procedure similar to that above, Find the main Author entry for John Cage.

[Remember to enter the last name first.]

5. Under the main heading for John Cage, how many Items are listed [the number in the square brackets]?

Note: When you click on Cage John, you may discover that there are fewer items in the library than the number in the square brackets. The reason: The number in the brackets is actually a word count of the Library data base author entries. The words "Cage John" occur more often in author entries than there are books, scores, recordings, etc. by John Cage.

In addition to the names of individual authors, the AUTHORS headings contain the names of organisations such as companies, societies, performing ensembles, universities, government and public agencies, churches, etc., and of performing ensembles.

Using Authors, look up the Consort of Musicke.

6. What type of entry (i.e., books, serials, films, dictionaries, etc.) is found under this heading?

7. Give the Author/Composer and Title of any one entry under Consort of Musicke....

Complete Records:

Often, in using the Library Computer Catalogue, the Search Results... under a search term provides adequate information (since the Call Number and other information are given). Sometimes the information given by the search results list is incomplete and, as a result, misleading. For example:

Using Subjects, find the Subject entry "Counterpoint".

A list beginning COUNTERPOINT should appear in the Browsing the Catalogue screen.

Using the subject heading COUNTERPOINT EARLY WORKS TO 1800, find the book with the title An Introduction to the Skill of Musick.

8. According to the initial listing for this book, what is the date of publication? [This is not complete information.]

Select the View button.

When this screen is viewed, one discovers that the actual author of the book is John Playford (1623-1686?) and that it was originally published in 1694. The book in the Acadia Library is a facsimile of this original. (The library record states "Reprint" which is correct but not as specific as facsimile.)

9. What is the name of the important composer who "corrected and amended" the 1694 edition of this book?

Cross References 1: Related SUBJECT Headings:

This software allows a sort of cross reference searches under the label Related Headings that one can use to broaden a subject search.

It should begin:

Click on

This should produce the screen with the title:

10. What is one related heading for Fugue, .

Cross References 2: ALTERNATE SUBJECT CATEGORIES:

Go Back to the initial FUGUE.

Another way of finding Cross References is to use the alternate Subject categories provided by the catalogue under some entries.

Click on FUGUE to get the Search Results... screen.

Click on the VIEW button for the entry: Fugue and fugato in rococo and classical chamber music / Warren Kirkendale.

11. List the three alternate Subject: terms for this entry.

Cross References 3: CALL NUMBER LINKS:

Each Search Result... screen provides a Call Number for the item. Normally, the Call Number entries above the Title / Author heading are Linked to the list of Call Numbers, Lookup by Call Number.

Because books on similar subjects, with similar contents, or with music for similar ensembles (etc.) are normally grouped together under the same or similar Call Numbers, searching other items with similar Call Numbers will provide related resources.

Click on the Call Number for Fugue and fugato in rococo and classical chamber music / Warren Kirkendale:

ML195 .K5713 1979.

This should produce the Lookup by Call Number screen.

12. Looking at the entries for the four (or more) items with Call Numbers beginning ML195, what is the subject matter that these books have in common? Be as specific as possible.

HOLDINGS:

You may wish to know which volumes the Library owns of a particular periodical, series, set, etc. Using HOLDINGS, some entries will list volumes of a particular title (a set or series) that the Library owns.

[Click on the NEW SEARCH button.]

There should be one entry with this title. This is a periodical, so the Library should have several volumes and numbers (partial volumes).

Once you have reached the Search Result... screen for this item, in order to view lists of the volumes and numbers actually owned by the Library, simply scroll down the screen until the LOCATION... list appears. This lists all volumes or parts of this serial owned by the Library.

13. Using LOCATION..., give the VOLUME, NUMBER, and DATE of the earliest issue of The Galpin Society Journal owned by the Acadia Library:

KEYWORD SEARCHING (& HOLDINGS):

Searches using the names of many authors, subjects, etc. may result in a very great number of entries.

For example, a search using BACH JOHANN SEBASTIAN 1685-1750 as the search AUTHOR term, yields more than 300 entries.

In such cases, it is better to use a Keyword Search.
Note: this is now the screen that opens automatically when a user enters WebCat

Click the NEW SEARCH button to get the Search the Library Catalogue [Complex Search] screen.

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Because of the way in which the Library data base is organized, some keyword searches can be tricky.

A good sample of how tricky this ca be is searching for the complete works of a composer. (This is significant, as the Complete Works are the most reliable and important resource in studying a composer’s music.)

Because these may have titles of various sorts (The Complete Works of..., The Collected Works of..., The Music of..., etc., etc. and because these are published in several languages, it is very difficult to predict what should go in the various possible choices in the Search the Library Catalogue (Keyword Searching) screen.

In the case of Complete Works, it is necessary to do the following:

1. In the box beside the one labelled author (probably the second row), put the composer’s Name.

For this exercise, use Claude Debussy.

2. Go to the third row, probably labelled title.

Click on the little down arrow on the right side of the box, and change the option to author.

(So both second and third rows will have author as option.)

3. Put works in the right-hand side box of the third row.

For Debussy, this should look like this:

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Then click on the Search Catalogue button at the bottom.

This will yield various items, usually including the composer’s Complete Works.
These can be identfied by the Call Number, which for complete works usually begins with M3 . ... etc.
In addition, these will usually be called Works of... or Collected Works... or Complete Works..., etc. in various languages: Werke..., Sämtliche Werke..., Ausgabe..., Oeuvres complètes..., etc.

Variations are possible. Complete Editions of one type of a composer’s works, such as the complete vocal music, will have a Call Number beginning M3.1 . ... etc.

Some Complete Works are part of larger historical series. In these cases, the Call Number will probably begin with M2 . ... etc.

For example, the Call Number of the Collected works of Henry Butler is M2 .R238 v.66 because this edition is vol. 66 of the larger series, Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era.

(Going back to the exercise with Debussy's works) one can get the same result by entering all on one row:

author: debussy claude and works

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Using the Complete Works of Debussy (Oeuvres complètes de Claude Debussy), one can use Holdings to determine which volumes the Library owns.

Scroll down to the LOCATION list. (This serves a similar purpose to the Holdings list discussed above.

14. For Debussy, does the library own Series 1 Vol. 8?

15. Give the overall Call Number for this whole set (Oeuvres complètes de Claude Debussy).
[Be very careful about the spacing and placement of the dot. The dot is not a period; the dot is a decimal point, so after a space.]

[Note that the part beginning " .D33..." is referring to the name "Debussy".]

It is not always this straight forward!

With some Collected Editions of Works, such as those of J.S. Bach, there are two (or more) entries because the complete works also include a series of documents and/or a separate set of critical commentaries (editorial matter).

Sets also will have several entries if the sets are published in more than one series (such as the works of Mozart which are published in a great number of series, parts, and sub-series).

It is also possible that the Library will have more than one set of a composer’s works.]

Sometimes, as in the case of Händel, the volumes each have their own entry in the Library data base. For these, each volume will come up separately.

Try another Keyword search.

Often we may know a portion of the information needed to name or identify an object.

For example, we may know that a composer named Strauss (but, which one?) composed a piece that had something about "Merry Pranks" in the title.

At the Search the Library Catalogue [=Keyword Searching] screen, Enter:

16. What is the proper complete title in German for this work?

17. Which Strauss is the composer of this work? [Give his first name.]

Note: The second-year version of this worksheet includes a brief tutorial on Boolean searches (used to narrow a search). We do not have the time or room on the first-year version to do this. If you wish to do more complex searches, it is best to ask at the Reference counter in the Library.

CALL NUMBER Searches:

The last option considered on this worksheet for searching is Call No.

This is useful for locating books on particular topics, and especially for locating scores of music for specific ensembles and for collected works, since each type will share a common Call Number first line.

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Remembering that ML410 is the Classification for composers’ biographies and autobiographies, one can find these by:

Entering ML410, a space, and a point (decmal point) followed by the first letter of the composers’s last name.

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18. Name Two (2) composers with last name beginning with L, of which the Acadia Library has one or more biographies.

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Because there is so much explanation on this Worksheet, it is easy to miss some questions. Check to ensure that you have answered all questions. When you are sure that the answers on your Worksheet are correct, submit the answers by clicking on the Submit button below.