Physics 36 / Music 36 Duke University Spring 2008 Handout 12

A GUIDE TO AREA LIBRARIES
with MATERIALS ON MUSICAL ACOUSTICS

Duke University Libraries Hours Information: via telephone at 684-3009 or via the Web at
http://www.lib.duke.edu/info/hours/

1. Obvious:

• MATH-PHYSICS LIBRARY, now part of the VESIC LIBRARY, Teer Building
• MUSIC LIBRARY, Biddle Building
• LISTENING LIBRARY, Biddle Building

2. For applied work in electronics, synthesis, room acoustics, noise: VESIC LIBRARY, Teer Building.

3. For anatomy, physiology, neurology of hearing; audiology; etc.: MEDICAL CENTER LIBRARY, Mudd Building. [The staff there will be glad to help you (1) decide what resources are best suited to your needs and (2) learn how to use them.]

4. For psychology of hearing and historical context, and for various individual volumes that inexplicably haven't found their way to the appropriate branch: PERKINS LIBRARY.

5. For music materials [esp. on instruments] not available in our Music Library: UNC MUSIC LIBRARY, Hill Hall, Chapel Hill [Duke undergrads can apply at the UNC-CH main library (Davis Library) for a card to check out circulating materials from any of the system's branches in person. The interlibrary loan service in Perkins can get things from UNC-CH for you IF you know exactly what you want. Note that part of the UNC-CH Music Library was originally catalogued under the Dewey Decimal system and part under the Library of Congress system, so to browse the shelves for a specific topic you may have to check two different areas.]

6. Specific things in places that might not occur to you:

• For information on bells [the fixed kind used in carillons and the change-ringing kind free to rotate in church towers]: the DIVINITY SCHOOL LIBRARY
• The LAW LIBRARY has some interesting legal-acoustic technical literature on noise and its abatement, and on the responsibilities of consulting engineers.
• An interesting attempted dialogue including both technical information on the singer's "instrument" and information on vocal pedagogy is vol. 155 of the Annals of the N. Y. Academy of Sciences (1968), a special issue devoted to "Sound Production in Man". It can be found in the BIOLOGY-FORESTRY LIBRARY and the Medical Center Library. [More up-to-date technical information on the voice can be found in the writings of Johann Sundberg -- see the online catalog.]

Some of the most frequently useful journals and their locations:

• Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA): Vesic
• Journal of the Audio Engineering Society (JAES): Vesic
• Computer Music Journal: Music {also available online beginning with 2001 issues]
• Journal of Neurophysiology: Medical Center
• Music Perception: Music
• most audio periodicals and trade journals are in Vesic
• Acustica, N.C.S.U. PHYSICS LIBRARY in Raleigh [check with me first; I have photocopies of some articles]
• U. S. Patent documents: the N.C.S.U. library has a complete collection, and information is available electronically at Vesic.

Final note: the LILLY LIBRARY art collection has been useful in establishing the history of certain instruments. Even the CHEMISTRY LIBRARY has been utilized--in checking out ingredients in the illuminating gas used for the flames of a 19th century harmonic analyzer, and in considering some proposals regarding varnish ingredients for violins!