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Collection Policy Statement Index

Contents

I. Scope
II. Research strengths
III. Comparison with other major research collections
IV. General policy
V. Collection levels for Music (Classes M, ML, and MT)

Introduction

This Collection Policy Statement deals with music, as a subject rather than as a format. As such, it affects the concerns of virtually all divisions with custodial responsibilities. When a potential acquisition in music affects more than one division with custodial responsibilities, the appropriate staff of those divisions are to consult with one another to determine the best course of procedure for the Library.

More than one division is said to be affected when:

1. material from a potential acquisition could be assigned to more than one custodial division, and/or
2. the appropriate recommending officer is not a staff member of the division(s) receiving the material.

I. Scope

This statement refers to all materials that pertain to the subject of music. It covers a variety of formats including music scores, monographs, serials, musical holographs, correspondence and other primary source material, microforms, machine-readable materials, moving image recordings and sound recordings.

The core materials covered by this statement comprise the collections in Classes M, ML, and MT. Ancillary to these materials are the musical holdings of the American Folklife Center, especially in its Archive of Folk Culture; the sound and moving image recordings in the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division; collections in the Manuscript Division; dissertations and theses in microform; computer software in the Machine Readable Collections; and illustrated sheet music covers in the Prints and Photographs Division. Additional music-related materials may be found in the African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Rare Book collections.

For these related materials, consult also the Collections Policy Statements for:

Dissertations and Theses
Folklore
Manuscripts
Microforms
Motion Pictures
Optical and Electronic Computer Files
Sound Recordings - Musical

II. Research strengths

The music collections of the Library of Congress constitute a resource for musical scholarship that is unmatched anywhere else in the world. They include cataloged items, uncataloged copyright deposits, and uncataloged special collections, and are estimated to contain approximately ten million items.

The collections are particularly strong in concert music and musical theater of the United States; European concert music; opera scores and libretti; early imprints of works dealing with music literature and theory; and periodical literature from the eighteenth century to the present.

The Library has perhaps the most outstanding collection of popular music of any library. Popular music of the United States is strongly represented for all of its history; for European and Latin American popular music its collection is exceptional from the 1920s on.

The special collections are unparalleled as a resource for musical research. They contain a wide variety of materials including: music manuscripts, printed music, correspondence and other literary manuscripts, concert programs, scrapbooks, and photographs. The vast majority of items date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Particularly noteworthy are the great number of holograph scores, especially of twentieth-century concert and musical theater composers of the United States; and collections of papers and correspondence of twentieth-century composers, performers and scholars.

III. Comparison with collections of other major research centers

As part of its mission to gather collections of broadly representative Scope at the national level, the Library has assembled a collection of comprehensive breadth in the field of music, reflecting the nation's richly varied interest, activity and accomplishment in this field, with particular strengths as noted in the preceding section. Many other institutions in the United States have materials which also make them important centers for research in particular areas within the field of music, for example: New York Public Library: the pre-eminent public library with original scores, strengths in popular music, dance, and theater; Sibley Music Library of the Eastman School of Music: the largest academic music library; Boston Public Library: with particular strengths in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century music; Free Library of Philadelphia, Edwin A. Fleisher Collection of Orchestral Music: the world's largest collection of orchestral music for performance and research; Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin: French composers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries; Winston-Salem, the Moravian Music Foundation: the largest collection of early American music manuscripts; Catholic University of America: microforms of medieval liturgical manuscripts; Union Theological Seminary and Emory University, Pitts Theology Library: hymnody.

IV. General policy

The Library of Congress places primary emphasis on music of the United States and collects comprehensively in this area. Music of the United States is here understood to mean concert music written by composers of this country as well as its popular and vernacular music which includes, but is not limited to, such genres as jazz, rock, reggae, gospel, country, and folk. For more information on the acquisition of folk music and the music of ethnic populations in the United States and elsewhere, consult the Collections Policy Statement for Folklore

Because concert music of the United States has evolved from the Western European musical tradition, the Library also extensively collects authoritative editions of Western concert music. Broadly representative examples of other world music traditions are also collected, particularly those of major ethnic populations in the United States, such as music from the Middle and Far East, African music, and Latin American and Caribbean music.

As sources of acquisition, the Library relies for the major portion of music materials published of the United States on the provisions of the Copyright Act. Other musical materials (i.e. music not copyrighted in the United States, unpublished music, special musical collections, such as primary source materials, etc.) are obtained through purchase, donation, or exchange, transfer or CIP, as appropriate.

The following sections deal with policy for the specific types of materials acquired.

1. Music scores
   The Library collects published and unpublished music scores with primary emphasis on music in the United States and Western concert music as described above. Scores of an instructional nature receive lower priority, especially those at the elementary level. An exception may be made if the teaching material is by a significant composer.
2. Published textual material
   The Library collects all works of serious scholarship on the subject of music, including monographs, serials, and dissertations and theses. The Library also collects librettos and other sung texts. Works dealing with musical instruction and study are also acquired. When such textual material is available in microform or computer file format it may be desirable or necessary to obtain them in those formats. For further information, see Dissertations and Theses, Microforms and Optical and Electronic Computer Files.
3. Primary source material
   The Library collects primary source material by and about nationally and internationally prominent and significant musicians and persons of recognized achievement and contribution to the world of music, with an emphasis on music of the Western tradition. Archives of music organizations are considered for acquisition only when of direct relationship to collections already held by the Library or of unusual significance.
   Because of their great value to musicological research as well as their intrinsic cultural and associational value, manuscripts of significant musical figures, with a particular emphasis on the musical holographs of American composers (e.g., Copland, Gershwin, Sousa), are sought.
   Collections considered for donation or purchase may contain mixed formats of materials or realia, or both. In those cases where the total scholarly value of the collection is enhanced by accepting accompanying realia (e.g., art works, musical instruments, medals, diplomas and awards, and similar materials) such collections may be accepted as a body. The realia may be separated for custody at an appropriate repository outside LC. The acquisition of musical instruments relating to strong collections already existing in the Music Division is considered on a case-by- case basis.
   In the event that original documents for important materials are not available, the Library may acquire reproductions through microfilm, photocopy, digital reproduction, or similar means.
4. Music software
   The Library collects music software designed for music composition. Other software is collected in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the Collections Policy Statement for Optical and Electronic Computer Files.
5. Moving image and sound recordings
   The Library collects sound and moving image recordings documenting significant musical performances, including discussions, interviews, and material on the creation of performance. For additional information consult Motion Pictures, Sound Recordings, and Folklore.

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V. Collecting levels for Music (Classes M, ML, and MT)

The following list is arranged according to the major subclasses of Classes M, ML, and MT of the Library of Congress Classification. The collecting intensity levels are numbered to conform with the Conspectus of the Research Libraries Group. For a complete definition of these levels see the General Introduction to these statements.

1. Music (scores)

   LC Classification	Subject/Intensity	Comments
   M1.A1-M1.A15	Americana, pre-1860/5	.
   M2-M3	Historical sets, complete and collected editions/5	Both U.S. and foreign materials
   M3.3	First editions, selected composers/5	Both U.S. and foreign materials
   M6-M175	Music for solo instruments/4/3*
   M176	Incidental music, motion pictures/4	Music for silent motion pictures and music not intended for specific motion picture sound tracks.
   M177-M990	Instrumental chamber music/5/4
   M1000-M1366	Music for orchestra and other ensembles/4/3
   M1375-M1420	Instrumental music for children/3/2
   M1473	Electronic music/4/3
   M1480	Music with color apparatus/4/3
   M1450	Dance music/5
   M1470	Chance compositions/4/3
   M1490	Music printed in Europe between 1500 and 1700/5
   M1495-M1497	Vocal music, collections/4/3
   M1500-M1527.8	Dramatic music/5/3
   M1528-M1529	Vocal duets, trios, etc./4/3
   M1530-M1527.8	Choruses, etc./4/3
   M1628-M1677.8	Secular vocal music, U.S./5
   M1678-M1853	National music other than U.S./4
   M1900-M1985	Songs of special character/4/3	Includes part and solo songs, secular and sacred songs,songs of societies and organizations, student songs, and those dealing with particular topics.
   M1990-M1998	Secular vocal music for children/3/2
   M1999-M2188	Sacred vocal music (including hymnody)/4/4
   M2190-M2196	Sacred vocal music for children/3/2
   M2198-M2199	Gospel music/5

2. Literature on music

   LC Classification	Subject/Intensity	Comments
   ML1-ML5	Periodicals/5/4
   ML12-ML21	Directories, almanacs/5/4
   ML25-ML27	Societies/5/4
   ML48-ML54.8	Librettos/5
   ML90	Writings of musicians (collections)/4/3
   ML93-ML96	Manuscripts	See Section IV.C above
   ML97	Catalogs of collectors, dealers, etc./4/3
   ML100-ML109	Dictionaries, encyclopedias/5/4
   ML111-ML158	Bibliography/4/3	Unless otherwise shown below
   ML120	Bibliography, national/5/4
   ML128	Bibliography, by topic/4/3	In LC areas of strength, 5/4.
   ML134	Catalogs of composers' works/5
   ML136	Catalogs of public and institutional libraries/5	Major research libraries 5; others 3
   ML156-ML158	Discographies/5
   ML159-ML3797	History and criticism/4	Unless otherwise shown below
   ML197	History and criticism: 20th century/5
   ML200	United States/5
   ML460-ML1092	Instruments and instrumental music/5/4
   ML1100-ML1165	Chamber music/5/4
   ML1700-ML2100	Dramatic music/5/4

3. Musical instruction and study

   LC Classification	Subject/Intensity	Comments
   MT1-MT10	Theory, teaching materials/3/2
   MT18-MT88	Teaching methods/3/2
   MT90-MT165	Analytical guides/5/1	Major U.S. orchestras 5, otherwise 1
   MT170-MT810	Instrumental techniques/3/2
   MT820-MT893	Singing and voice culture/4/3
   MT898-MT949	Singing and voice culture for children/3/2
   MT955	Production of operas/5/4
   MT960	Music in theaters/5/4

NOTE:
* Wherever two intensity levels are listed, the first number refers to collections of U.S. materials, the second to foreign materials.

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