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Rita Benton Music Library

The Music Library currently holds over:

• 63,000 music scores (including chamber music sets)
• 45,000 books (including bound journals)
• 3200 microforms (chiefly manuscripts and early printed books)
• 24,000 media items in all formats
• 300 journals
• Rare Book Room with particular strengths in 18th- and 19th-century music theory treatises and instrumental methods, and an outstanding collection of keyboard and chamber music by Ignaz Pleyel
• Music manuscripts of composer Phillip Greeley Clapp, Director of the School Music from 1918 to 1944 (currently housed in the Department of Special Collections in the Main Library)
• Goldman Band Collection (also kept in the Main Library under the supervision of the School of Music's Director of Bands)

The Music Library accommodates 100 patrons at carrels and tables, with additional space at 24 stations in the listening room that are outfitted with turntables, CD decks, or cassette decks. Separate small rooms house microformat readers and video equipment respectively. The photocopier accomodates sheets of the size 11 x 17 inches and provides enlargement and reduction capabilities. All print materials are on open shelves; patrons must request audio records, videos, and microformats. The large reference collection is supplemented by several online resources including Music Index, IIMP, FirstSearch, and InfoHawk, the University's online catalog.

Materials circulate according to their type and the status of the borrower. In general, print volumes and videos circulate to faculty and students of the University of Iowa, and to those institutions with which this university has reciprocal agreements; non-academic residents may qualify for borrowers' permits.

[Rita Benton Music Library website]

Last updated 14-oct-03