Search the Cheng Library online catalog for books and media. If you need journal articles, go to our Databases page.
Have you gone upstairs looking for music books or scores, only to find that our collection jumps from L to P?
Because of the specialized nature of our Art (N) and Music (M) collections, these resources have been separated from the rest of our books, and are available along the front of the building, on the second floor.
Music Classification
The Library of Congress system classifies music using the M call number range.
Within these sections, music is usually organized by genre/instrumentation, THEN by composer.
The Library of Congress provides an outline of its classification, but it is not as granular as may be needed to search for specific topics. Instead, your best bet is to begin by searching our Books & Media tab for items in our collection.
It takes a little getting used to, but ask if you're not sure where to find something.
When looking for books or media (videos or recordings), the Online Catalog is the place to start. Use the Books & Media tab on the library homepage to find books and other materials owned by the library. Enter simple terms or concepts, rather than long phrases and questions; for example, “improvisation” or “twelve-tone” instead of "How is the clarinet used in jazz music?".
For more specific searches, combine multiple concepts (i.e., author and title) to narrow your results.
Depending on the number of results you get, you may wish to use the Narrow Search options to the right, to limit to specific formats, locations, or subject areas.
Keep in mind that the Library also offers a growing collection of eBooks and streaming video titles that may also be of use to your research.
See below for more detail on searching the Online Catalog.
Dissertations: See the instructions in the Finding Dissertations section.
To find books and media - including musical scores - that our library owns, select Books & Media from the main search on our homepage, or search for everything with the Search All option.
Start with one or two keywords, adding quotation marks ("") around concepts with more than one word: for example, "middle school" or "autism spectrum disorder"... quotes are not needed for single words, such as education or science.
Narrow your results using the limits on the right side of the results page.
When you've found a book (or ebook!) that looks interesting, click the title to learn more about it, or (if it's Available), write down the location and call number and head to the shelves to get it!
If you see 'Available Online', the book or media is available online!
One of the great resources available on the William Paterson University campus is the Living Jazz Archive, which houses a collection of scores, recordings and other jazz-related artefacts. Many of these items can be found in the Online Catalog, by limiting your search results to "Living Jazz Archive" from either the main search page or the results screen.
Make arrangements with Dr. David Demsey (973-720-2320) to visit the Living Jazz Archive in College Hall.
When conducting comprehensive research in music, your goal is to find as many resources on your topic as possible. To do so, it can often be helpful to look in the online catalogs of other institions. Especially those with well-known music programs.
Below are a list of libraries whose catalogs you may want to explore: