Information Needs and Library Uses in Music Field

一Comparative Analysis of Scholars and Players一

Abstract

The author conducted the survey using a questionnaire toward people related to music, and analyzed 120 music scholars and 78 music players (performers). Here the author reports information needs and library uses in music field through the comparison between scholars and players (including composers and conductors), and describes problems of library services in music libraries.
Major findings are as follows:
(1) There is a difference in information needs between scholars and players. That is, scholars need several kinds of documents (such as literatures, music scores, sound recordings and so on) for their researches. On the other hand, players mainly need music scores and sound recordings and need literatures supplementary for their performances.
(2) There is a difference in library uses between scholars and players. That is, the dependence and interest of players are relatively low compared to those of scholars. But the difference results from the fact of whether or not they belong to colleges or universities.
(3) Because the access to scores and sound recordings is restricted compared to the access to literatures in music libraries, players, who mainly need scores and sound recordings, do not depend on music libraries very much. And this limitation in access to scores and sound recordings is a problem in music libraries.