Music Online: Classical Scores Library, Volumes I-VI

Alexander Street logo

The Library has acquired access to Music Online: Classical Scores Library, a reliable and authoritative destination for in-copyright digital scores of the classical canon, as well as a resource for the discovery of diverse and lesser-known contemporary works.

The resource provide access to works by 4,600 classic and contemporary composers, from traditionally studied composers such as Mozart and Tchaikovsky, to contemporary artists including Kaija Saariaho, Peter Maxwell-Davies, and John Tavener.

With access to over 65,000 titles, the resource is essential for those looking to access a wide range of digital scores in one interface. Keyword search function is enable across all of the volumes, and users can browse by title, genre, instrument, people, publisher, time period, or composer. Users also benefit from Alexander Street database functionality, such as adding annotations to scores and the option to print.

The six volumes that are available are:

The first volume of Music Online: Classical Scores Library includes more than 400,000 pages from classical music’s most studied composers, including Bach, Schubert, Mozart, Handel, Beethoven, Liszt, Brahms, Chopin, plus thousands more. Additional material in Volume I includes 100 scores from the Barry S. Brook Center’s collection of French Opera in the 17th and 18th centuries, providing access to the music and libretti of the early operas during an important period in the development of the genre.

Music Online: Classical Scores Library, Volume II provides online access to 200,000 pages of scores. In addition to new works from contemporary composers, Volume II includes a range of important composers not represented in the first volume and alternative editions of many of music’s most studied compositions. Featured composers include Claude Debussy, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Ravel, Andrew Schultz, Moya Henderson, Nicholas Vines, Giovanni Sammartini, Michael Haydn, and many others. This volume also includes The Symphony 1720-1840– the largest source of 18th century symphonies comprising 550 symphonic works.

Music Online: Classical Scores Library, Volume III brings together 400,000 pages of in-copyright editions from composers worldwide.  The collection provides editions from major publishers like Chester Music, Novello & Company, Faber Music, Wilhelm Hansen, Donemus, and others. It provides expanded coverage of great choral works and instrumental scores for brass, woodwind, and other instrument groups. Volume III features modern editions of works by Bach, Beethoven, Berlioz, Brahms, Byrd, Gibbons, Handel, Haydn, Mendelssohn, Monteverdi, Mozart, and Purcell, as well as classic works by Elgar, De Falla, Franck, Holst, Joubert, Maxwell-Davies, Musgrave, Saariaho, Sallinen, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, and many more.

Music Online: Classical Scores Library, Volume IV is a collection of 300,000 pages of scores that focuses on works of the 20th and 21st centuries, providing digital access to some of the most-studied works in classical repertoire and exposure to lesser-known composers from around the world including Latin America, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East.

Music Online: Classical Scores Library, Volume V provides digital access to some of the most-studied works in classical repertoire and exposure to lesser-known composers. This collection builds on Classical Scores Library, Volume IV’s collection with an emphasis on contemporary composers and works from the 20th and 21st centuries alongside a selection of scores from medieval, baroque, classical and romantic time periods.  Upon completion, the collection will include 400,000 pages of scores sourced from individual composers and from renowned publishers such as Donemus, Ernst Eulenburg & Co. GmbH, Novello & Company, Chester Music, Faber Music, and Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG, and University of York Music Press.

Volume VI of the Classical Scores Library presents masterpieces from one of the world’s most esteemed classical music publishers. This partnership with Boosey & Hawkes, renowned for their extensive industry influence, grants a rich catalogue featuring revered masterpieces by classical and contemporary maestros, providing music scholars with rich resources for performance and study. This collection celebrates influential classical composers alongside emerging voices, featuring ground-breaking works that have left a lasting impact on global music, valuable for both performance and study.

Classical Scores Online is accessible via Library Search. Help and guidance on making effective use of the platform may be found on the ProQuest Music Online: Classical Scores Library LibGuide. You can also contact your Liaison team for further support: libliaison@newcastle.ac.uk.

New resource trial: Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing (PEP)

Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing logo

The Library is running a short trial to the database Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing (PEP).

PEP contains more than 139,000 articles covering over a million pages, full text of numerous journals and classic monographs, as well as full-text searchable videos, in the field of psychoanalysis. PEP has been designed to provide a powerful rapid search of the entire psychoanalytic literature in English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Romanian, Spanish and Turkish.

PEP provide a range of videos to help you access and make effective use of the database:

  • Quick Intro: This 8 minute introduction to the new PEP-Web platform covers the basics you need to explore the vast PEP-Web archive, including journals, books and videos, as well as how to efficiently find what you’re searching for.
  • Searching and Browsing: This 10 minute video will give you a detailed tutorial on searching and browsing on the new PEP-Web platform. This includes how to explore content, find something you already know, and browse like a physical library.
  • Browsing videos: This short video will show you how you can explore the video collection on PEP-Web.
  • Refining your Results: This 3 minute video will show you how to refine your search results. You can refine by decade, author, citation count, language, article type and more, making exploring content and finding what you want more efficient and effective.
  • Advanced Features: This 2 minute video takes you through some of the more advanced ways you can use PEP-Web, including keyboard shortcuts and advanced search methods. The tips covered in this video are documented here on the PEP Support website, so you can read through and refer to them at your own pace.

You can access PEP via Library Search here.  Some content has a 3-5 year embargo period; this is defined by the individual publication, rather than the database. 

Our trial access is valid until 30th November 2024. As the purpose of a trial is provide short term institutional access to establish whether the resource is of interest for future sustained access, unfortunately we are not able to extend or repeat trials. Please bear in mind that any links to material within the trial will no longer work after the trial ends.

We’re keen to hear any feedback on the resource, either by posting your thoughts on this blog post below, or by getting in touch with your Liaison Librarian at libliaison@newcastle.ac.uk.

New resource trial: AM digital collections (AM Explorer)

AM Explorer Arts and Humanities logo and text

The Library are currently hosting a trial to a range of digital primary source collections from from AM (Adam Matthews).

There’s a huge variety of collections that are available via the AM Explorer platform.

Access the AM Explorer platform here using your Newcastle University credentials, and then either keyword search the whole range of collections using the search bar on the homepage, or head to View Collections to browse the specific collections. Some collection highlights from AM Explorer include:

1980s Culture and Society

Amnesty International Archives

East India Company

India, Raj & Empire

Indigenous Histories and Cultures in North America

Popular Culture in Britain and America, 1950-1975

Poverty, Philanthropy and Social Conditions in Victorian Britain

 Travel Writing, Spectacle and World History

Women in The National Archives

The Search Guide provides support on how to best search the AM Explorer platform and collections.

The vast majority of the products are available to access via the AM Explorer platform, but some are available via direct links only:

The Olympic Movement: Sport, Global Politics and Identity

Mexico in History: Colonialism to Revolution

The Transformation of Shopping: Department Stores, Social Change and Consumerism 1830 – 1994

Women’s Voices and Life Writing, 1600-1968.

Our trial access is valid until 18th November 2024. As the purpose of a trial is provide short term institutional access to establish whether the resource is of interest for future sustained access, unfortunately we are not able to extend or repeat trials. Please bear in mind that any links to material within the trial collections will no longer work after the trial ends, so access is temporary.

We’re keen to hear any feedback on the specific collections, either by posting your thoughts on this blog post below, or by getting in touch with your Liaison Librarian at libliaison@newcastle.ac.uk.

New Resource Trial: MediaPlus

The Library is currently running a short trial to MediaPlus, a digital media resource offered by Alexander Street Press (ProQuest).

Alexander Street logo

MediaPlus consists of more than 100,000 videos, images, and sound recordings. The resource is ideal for students and researchers interested in 20th century British social, political and cultural history from a range of disciplines (particularly History, Media, and Politics).

You can use both the Search and Advanced Search functions to locate relevant sources. This video details how to make best use of the search functions in Alexander Street.

You can also browse by Title, Subject, and Sub-collection from the MediaPlus homepage, where you can then further refine results by date, publisher, or subject.

Content is drawn from a number of sources (Sub-collections):

  • Associated Press Archive (6,010 items)
  • Channel 4 News (6,508)
  • Gaumont British News (2,476)
  • Gaumont Graphic Newsreel (8,087)
  • Getty Moving images (8,163)
  • Getty Still images (11,732)
  • ITN (6,300)
  • ITV news (27,519)
  • Imperial War Museum – images (4,165)
  • Photographic Youth Music Culture Archive – PYMCA (6,421)
  • Reuters News (3,248)
  • Royal Geographical Society (6,448)
  • Royal Mail Film Classics (66)
  • The North Highland College – Johnston Collection (10,037)
  • Wellcome Library (710)

You can access MediaPlus via Library Search here.

The trial access to the resource is available until 15th November 2024. As the purpose of a trial is provide short term institutional access to establish whether the resource is of interest for future sustained access, unfortunately we are not able to extend or repeat trials.

Please note that MediaPlus content cannot be downloaded, and any embedded content or permalinks will not work after the trial ends.

We are keen to hear any feedback on this resource – please contact us by commenting below or by emailing your Liaison Librarian (libliaison@newcastle.ac.uk).

Global Communist and Socialist Movements

We are running a trial to this unique archive from Gale. It is a collection of first-hand narratives chronicling, socialist and far-left groups in terms of how figures saw themselves and the world around them during the major political and social events that occurred in the twentieth century.

The resource features primary sources from various different collections including:

Radical Left Political Movements and Social Issues: American Old Left
Source at the University of California, Davis

Senate House Library, University of London Collections

Rose Pastor Stokes Papers at Yale University

Anna Strunsky Walling Papers at Yale University

Papers of Walter Lippmann at Yale University

Alger Hiss Defense Collection at Harvard Law School Library

Alger Hiss Collection at New York University

Anti-Socialist Organisations in Britain at the British Library

FBI American Legion Contact Program at the Federal Bureau of Investigation

Archives of the Independent Labour Party

Socialist and Labour Thought in Britain Since 1884

FBI File on J. Robert Oppenheimer

Full details on the Gale website

There are approximately 868,000 pages made up of correspondence, periodicals, manuscripts, books, personal papers, organisational records, letters and newsletters, pamphlets dating from 1766-2004 (however most are dated between 1880-1950)

You can access this resource via Library Search. The trial will run until 18th April 2024.

We are keen to hear any feedback on this resource – please contact us by commenting below or by emailing your Liaison Librarian (libliaison@newcastle.ac.uk)

New Resource Trial: The Social History Archive

The Library is currently running a short trial to The Social History Archive.

The Social History Archive logo with illustrations of papers.
The Social History Archive logo. ©Findmypast.

The Social History Archive provides access to primary source material, from unique newspapers to census returns, crime reports and migration records. This platform is operated by FindMyPast and includes newspapers from the British Newspaper Archive.

The platform may be accessed here by selecting “Newcastle University” from the drop down menu. You will then be prompted to login using your Newcastle University credentials.

The platform has a number of search and browse functions. You can “Search all Records” or create an advanced search from the homepage (called the dashboard), however the “Search” drop-down menu provides options to search by record type, including newspapers and publications. If you need any assistance using the platform then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

The trial runs until Tuesday 5th March 2024. We are keen to hear any feedback on this resource – please contact us by commenting below or by emailing your Liaison Librarian (libliaison@newcastle.ac.uk).

New Resource Trial: Gale Primary Sources – Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO)

Gale Primary Sources Nineteenth Century Collections Online logo
Gale Primary Sources Nineteenth Century Collections Online logo

The Library is pleased to confirm that we are currently hosting a trial to Nineteenth Century Collections Online (NCCO), a Gale Primary Sources resource.

NCCO is the result of partnerships between Gale and almost one hundred libraries to preserve and make digitally available content for academic research. NCCO unites multiple, distinct archives into a single resource of over one hundred types of primary source documents; it consists of monographs, newspapers, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, maps, photographs, statistics, and other kinds of documents in both Western and non-Western languages.

The NCCO platform comprises 12 thematic collections, including:

  • Asia and the West: Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange
  • British Politics and Society
  • British Theatre, Music, and Literature: High and Popular Culture
  • Children’s Literature and Childhood
  •  European Literature, the Corvey Collection, 1790–1840 
  • Europe and Africa, Colonialism and Culture
  • Maps and Travel Literature 
  • Photography
  • Religion, Reform, and Society 
  • Science, Technology, and Medicine, Part I 
  • Science, Technology, and Medicine, Part II
  • Women and Transnational Networks 

The following video provides more information on one of the collections, as an example: British Politics and Society.

Newcastle University staff and students may login to the platform here.

The trial is live until Thursday 29th February 2024. If you need any support or assistance in using the platform them please do not hesitate to get in touch.

We are very keen to hear your feedback on this resource, so please do let us know by commenting below or by contacting us at libliaison@newcastle.ac.uk.

New modules added to our SAGE Research Methods collection

Following a successful trial of the resources in 2022-23, we have added two additional modules to our SAGE Research Methods collection. Through the Library you now have access to a host of guidance, worked examples, teaching resources and practice materials from SAGE Research Methods, SAGE Research Methods Video, SAGE Research Methods Datasets and SAGE Research Methods Data Visualisation.

Datasets

SAGE Research Methods Datasets is a collection of hundreds of teaching datasets and instructional guides that give you the chance to learn data analysis through hands-on practice.

This new resource is a bank of topical, practice datasets, indexed by method and data type. For academic staff, the datasets have been optimised for use in your teaching and can be used for in person teaching or within Canvas materials. This will save you the time of sourcing and cleaning data for use by you and your students.

The decisions researchers make when analysing data can be a mystery to students embarking on research for the first time. Through practicing analysis using real data from SAGE Research Methods Datasets, you can see how analytic decisions are made, helping you become confident researchers.

  • Quantitative datasets are taken from surveys and experiments and come with instructions to analyze the data in SPSS or R.
  • Qualitative datasets are taken from academic research projects, providing bite-size examples from interviews, focus groups, documentary sources, and more, plus advice on how to approach analysis.

You will find lots of guidance on how to get the most out of the datasets module on the SAGE Research Methods LibGuide.

Data Visualisation

SAGE Research Methods Data Visualisation will help all researchers, from beginners to more advanced practitioners develop the fundamentals of data and design necessary to create impactful visualisations. Through a series of practical video tutorials, text guides and practice datasets, the resources will help you identify the chart types that best fit your specific data story.

Researchers increasingly grapple with complex or big data and need to present their data in an understandable, easy to interpret, and informative way to disseminate their research successfully. Mastering the skills and techniques of data visualisation is, therefore, key for any researcher. This new resource will help you and your students to communicate data with impact so that audiences can grasp difficult concepts or identify new patterns and relationships easily.

You are able to search and browse by data and chart type to find how to guides and explainer videos, explore a directory of data visualisation software and access datasets to help you practice communicating data.

Oxford Bibliographies Online

After trialling on several occasions we have recently been able to purchase the Oxford Bibliographies Online collection which gives staff and students access to a comprehensive collection of articles published and reviewed by academics covering a wide range of subject areas. Users can personalise their experience by saving citations and articles to their own profile.

Oxford Bibliographies Online

Subject areas covered (click on subject to link to resource via Library Search)

Royal Geographical Society Digital Archive (with IBG)

After a recent trial to the archive from Royal Geographical Society (RGS) we are delighted we’ve have managed to add this permanently to our collections.

The Archive of the RGS covers the history of geography exploration, colonisation and decolonisation, anthropology, international relations, climate science, gender studies, cartography and environmental history throughout the British Empire from 1482 to 2010.

As you’d expect the resources vary from manuscripts, correspondance, reports, proceedings, maps, charts, photographs, atlases to name just a few. Many of these primary source materials have never been digitised before and are available through Wiley for the first time.

These are available as digital images which can be analysed and downloaded.

The archive contains specific collections including the Everest Collection; the David Livingstone Collection; the Sir Ernest Shackleton Collection; the Stanley Collection; the Younghusband Collection; the Speke Collection; and the Gertrude Bell Collection.

There are different ways you can search and browse the collections including choosing your content type first e.g. photographs

Then you can use some of the search functionality to locate what you’re interested in.

Other ways to search

On the homepage you’ll see these links :

The analysis hub lets you search for a keyword or term and see a timeline of when it was most used, which collections look important and related keywords.

The explorer let’s you look for photos and maps across all of the sub collections.

The place of publication browser let’s you use an interactive map of the world to navigate to the area you’re interested and highlights all relevant materials.

In terms of use, permissions and Copyright I’d recommend checking our their webpages for these.

We think this resource will be useful for both teaching and research purposes for those interested in all aspects of geography. We hope you love checking out the digital tools and functionality on the Wiley site.