Subject Search for Music: Quantitative Analysis of Access Point Selection

Background Non-book materials have unique characteristics in subject analysis that influence their information retrieval process. It is obvious that online search studies intended for books are not appropriate for music materials. There are not enough empirical studies based on what objects focus on music materials. This study aims to explore useful tools for subject search of music scores in online environment. To comprehend problems regarding the issue, the author surveyed 21,177 online catalog search logs in an academic library of music. Smiraglia (1989, p. 64-73) describes the characteristics of music and divided them into 4 groups according to the subject analysis of textual materials: 1) intellectual form; 2) topicality; 3) the intended audience; 4) physical form. In the study such attributes to music are considered as subject aspects for searching. The elements include topic, genre, form of composition, technique or style, medium of performance, physical format or version, language of text, historical style period or time. The author examined these elements for analysis in the survey.