Dance Research Tips Subject Guide
Books, Scores, Audio & Video
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- Open Access
Use the library catalog to find books, periodicals, scores, sound recordings, videos and DVDs in the WMU Libraries. The catalog does not include articles from journals and magazines.
You may use WorldCat to identify materials in other libraries.
In 2009 we added a new interface to our catalog. It still identifies books (including online books), journal titles, government documents, music, videos, maps, and other items in the University Libraries. It can still be searched by title, author, subject, but now you can choose the format and location in your first search. There are easy ways of narrowing your search in the left column, it offers "did you mean" spelling, favorite lists, and lets you tag items with your own labels.
WMU's Classic online catalog (also known as WestCat), is used to identify books (including electronic books), government documents, journals, audio and video, slides, music scores, and other items in the University Libraries' collections. The catalog can be searched by title, author, subject heading, keyword, call number, and more.
Browsing for Books about Dance
The dance collection is relatively small and easy to browse. Books are shelved in the General Stacks at the call numbers below.
- GV 1588 Philosophy, study and teaching, etc.
- GV 1600 Criticism and history
- GV 1621 Dance by region or country
- GV 1743 Folk and social dance, including jazz
- GV 1753, GV 1784 Jazz
- GV 1781- 2 Production, choreography, etc.
- GV 1783 Modern dance
- GV 1785 Biography
- GV 1786 Ballet
- GV 1788 Ballet - Technique and teaching
- GV 1794 Tap
- GV 1799 Dance for children and other special groups
- RC 1220 Dance medicine and therapy
Additional books on dance education and therapy may be located in Waldo Library and the Education Library.
Comprehensive catalog of books and other materials in libraries around the world. Contains millions of records in hundreds of languages. Non-book materials include (among other publication formats) the titles of journals and magazines, manuscripts, maps, electronic resources, websites, computer programs, music scores, films, slides, sound recordings, conference proceedings, and videotapes. Items located through WorldCat must be requested through Interlibrary Loan unless they are also listed in the WMU Libraries catalog.
Librarian's Comment: For books about a person, first try a Basic Search using the last name first, followed by the first letters of the first name. In the "Search by" box, select "Subject Heading." For books on a topic, it is usually best to combine two or three terms related to the topic (names, words from a title, subject terms) in an Advanced Search. Remember that even if you do not find a book that is devoted entirely to your topic, there is often useful information in general histories of dance and books about various types or styles of dance.