Monthly Archives: August 2012

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Library Guides

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Do you you know that if you are attending events at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (aka Krannert or KCPA) we’ve got guides to help you learn more about the groups and pieces being performed?

Each month we publish a guide to that month’s dance, music, and theatre performances, linking to scores, audio and video recordings, and books that will prepare you for the experience or teach you more about what you’ve already heard.

From the main KCPA Guides page, you can select a particular month from the list.

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Once you’ve selected a guide, you can choose a tab for the performance you are interested in.

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Each tab will include details of the event, a video clip if one is available, featured items in the MPAL collection, and links to more materials in our collection about the performers and art forms.

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Occasionally we will include helpful links to information outside of the Library as well.

Each monthly guide has a welcome tab that points you to logistical information about using our Library and checking things out, and also has a tab titled “Attending a Performance” that offers resources to help you increase your listening/viewing enjoyment and concert-going tips.

The goal of these Music and Performing Arts Library guides is to help you Uncover and Discover the great resources in our collections that can increase your enjoyment and understanding of the performances at KCPA.

New printing system

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Here are a few things you should know now that the Library’s printing system, LibPrint, has been replaced by PaperCut (we didn’t get to pick the name).

1. Make sure to choose “MPAL B&W” from the print dialog box as it’s not yet set as the default. This will send the job to either of MPAL’s printers.
2. When prompted, log in with your NetID and password–this will send the charge to your Bursar’s account.*
3. When printing PDFs please click “print” and then click “advanced”. After that select the option “Print as an Image.”

*If you don’t have a NetID, you’ll need to chose the UGL printer option in step one. This sends your print job to the Undergraduate Library and you will need to go there to pick it up and pay for it.

If you want to print in color, chose one of the color options such as UGL Color. This sends your print job to the Undergraduate Library and you will need to go there to pick it up and pay for it.

We will be getting double-sided printing at some point this year, but don’t yet have that option.

Please let us know if you have any questions or problems about the new printing system–we can’t fix what we don’t know about!

Narrowing Searches in Library Catalog

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Searching for items in the MPAL catalog can result in a ton of hits – which can sometimes be daunting. For example, a simple search for “Brahms Symphonies” results in nearly 500 items. But what if you are looking for something specific – like a score to the second symphony or a recording conducted by Leonard Bernstein? Narrowing your search on the right hand column can help you quickly find what you are looking for.

One way to narrow your search is by Format, meaning the catalogue will limit your search to the type of item you would like. Some formats include:

Book
Music Recording
Music Score
Electronic (online materials)
Film or Video

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The Location option lets you know which libraries have items relating to your search. You can limit your search to only materials located in the Music and Performing Arts Library collection. Before narrowing your search this way, keep in mind that both the Main Stacks and the Undergraduate Library have some resources relevant to music topics.

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The Author option can limit your searches by:
Author (book)
Composer
Conductor
Performers

This section can sometimes be quite lengthy, so if you are looking for a specific performer or conductor it would be best to include their name in your initial search.

The Topic section helps you find resources about what you searched for. This tool finds other resources (books, recordings, etc) that relate to your search and can be very helpful – especially if you are just starting work on a paper.

The Subject Area section is very broad (music, history, medicine) and not normally helpful. It is best to avoid this limit.

Another useful limit is by Language. Many of the resources at the library are in German or French, so if you can only use English sources, you can search for only those.

Finding a Journal

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Are you looking for a specific article from a dance, music, or theatre journal? Do you just need any article from a specific dance, music, or theatre journal?

Here’s one way to use the Music Easy Search tool on our home page to do that.

First, type the name of the journal in the search box. You can be precise and use quotation marks around it to keep those words together if you want.

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Then, check the top of the results screen to see if Easy Search has suggested a match:

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Once you click on the link, you’ll get a list of choices. Check carefully to see which article tool has the dates you need.

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The other way to approach this search is to use the new Online Journals and Databases tool linked from our site. This is recommended if you are looking for a journal that is not in dance, music, or theatre.

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More information about how to do that is available at this blog post.