Finding Music in Scholarly Sets and Series: The Index to Printed Music (IPM)

The Index to Printed Music (IPM) provides access to sets and series of music published beginning in the 19 century. Prepared by scholars and researchers, these titles vary considerably in length (single to multiple volumes), types (topical, pedagogical, historical, etc.), format (treatises, dissertations, editions, etc.), and geographic origin (chiefly Europe and North America). Bibliographical access to their contents is not readily available through library cataloging or reference works. IPM provides title, format, genre, instrumentation, and other metadata access to these publications in three inter-connected databases: Bibliography, Index, and Names, available by subscription through NISC International, Inc. The Index Database now contains over 255,000 entries, the Bibliography Database over 10,000 entries, and the Names Database over 15,000 authority records. Having built this groundwork, future steps involve linking to full-text score images where available through non-commercial projects, and partnerships with publishers and commercial vendors.