Scarecrow Press / Musc Library Association
Pages: 242
Trim: 7 x 8½
978-0-8108-5124-5 • Paperback • October 2004 • $69.00 • (£53.00)
R. Michael Fling is a music collection development librarian at the Indiana University School of Music. He is the author of Musical Memorials for Musicians: A Guide to Selected Compositions (Scarecrow, 2001).
Chapter 1 Preface
Chapter 2 1. Introduction
Chapter 3 2. Printed Music Publishing
Chapter 4 3. Recorded Music Publishing
Chapter 5 4. Music Publishers' Numbers
Chapter 6 5. Vendors
Chapter 7 6. Preorder Searching
Chapter 8 7. Preorder Verification
Chapter 9 8. The Ordering Process
Chapter 10 9. Secondhand and Out-of-Print Music
Chapter 11 10. Miscellanea
Chapter 12 Glossary
Chapter 13 Selected Bibliography
Chapter 14 Index
Chapter 15 About the Author
The sole focus of this book is on the practical aspects of music acquisitions - how to acquire the material, and not what to acquire....Anyone involved with music acquisitions will find much of value here, especially the ample, annotated lists of vendors and sources, and the detailed descriptions of pre-order searching, verification and ordering processes. Readers with more familiarity with book acquisitions will benefit from the opening chapters that spell out the peculiarities of printed and recorded music publishing and acquisitions....Recommended highly for anyone involved with music acquisitions, particularly those infrequently dealing with music materials. This volume would also be of interest to cataloguers and general music librarians, as well as anyone seeking a more detailed picture of music acquisitions.
— Technicalities
...a useful companion for anyone involved in acquiring music materials for libraries....Fling's book would be an excellent addition to the staff resources in any library that purchases music and will probably be consulted regularly.
— Library Journal
...a great success that can be read by library school students, nonspecialist librarians, acquisitions professionals, and even music collectors with great satisfaction. It is a welcome fourth volume in the Music Library Association Basic Manual Series.
— Music Reference Services Quarterly, 2005 (vol 9, no 3)
For libraries, printed and record music materials are notoriously difficult to acquire. Distributors are often out of the mainstream, and librarians must contend with foreign producers and languages, specialty publishers, and sometimes no clue as to where to find a certain title, particularly, if the item is out of print. Fling…gives acquisition methods from pre-order searching through the ordering process, and lists printed and recorded music publishers' contact information. He includes a chapter on secondhand and out-of-print materials, and a very useful chapter on acquiring original source materials (especially on microfilm). He includes a glossary of English and foreign terms librarians encounter in the searching and ordering process.
— Reference and Research Book News