Sheet music, a genre of printed music with many difficulties of definition and categorization, has posed a serious problem of bibliographical control to many libraries throughout this century. Cataloging Sheet Music: Guidelines for Use with AACR2 and the MARC Format has been written primarily for the use of catalogers in archives, libraries, and museums to assist them in the preparation of standard cataloging records in print or electronic format. The work ties the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, a recognized cataloging standard, to the genre. There are explanations of music cataloging practice intended to aid non-music catalogers in the use of this tool. Other discussions are designed to expand the music cataloger's understanding of publishing practices somewhat peculiar to sheet music.

While much of the content emphasizes the description of the music, there are also sections devoted to subject access to illustrations, first line/chorus/refrain text, illustrators, engravers, and publishers. There are extensive reproductions of title pages from the eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries that are accompanied by examples of the cataloging. Each example includes three levels of description—minimal, core, and enhanced.