The Music Library
The Music Library provides research support for all aspects of music scholarship. Collections include over 140,000 books and scores, 30,000 sound and video recordings, and an increasing amount of digital content. Our website provides a portal to streaming media databases, digitized score collections, online reference tools, and notable collections and acquisitions. Browse publications by Music Department faculty, students, staff, and alumni; and keep up to date with our music blog stream. The librarians are happy to provide course-related instruction, research strategy help, general reference assistance, and tours.
The Archive of Recorded Sound
The Archive of Recorded Sound's collection contains over 400,000 items that span sound recording history--from its beginnings to the present day. Nearly all formats ever developed to record sound are represented: reproducing piano rolls; wax cylinders; shellac, acetate, aluminum, and vinyl discs; magnetic wire and tape recordings; and compact discs. Archival collections are particularly strong in the areas of jazz and opera. Browse collection highlights; view the phonograph gallery; and keep up to date with our sound recordings blog stream. Archive staff can assist in identifying recordings, arranging playback, and providing small-group instruction and equipment demonstrations.
The Department of Special Collections
The Green Library Department of Special Collections is the repository for Stanford’s rare music materials, including the Memorial Library of Music, which contains over 1,500 printed and manuscript scores of operas, symphonic works, chamber music, and choral works by major composers from the 17th to 20th centuries, including Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Brahms, Mascagni, Debussy, and Stravinsky. An increasing number of items are represented in the SearchWorks catalog; a small number are available online. Please contact Ray Heigemeir, Public Services Librarian for Music, for initial assistance in identifying materials, requesting reproductions, and arranging class visits.
