New Music Librarian at NIU!

Hello Huskies! My name is Abbey Thompson and I'm thrilled and honored to be your new Music Librarian. My first day of work was June 1st, and after a peaceful summer to get acclimated to DeKalb and NIU, I'm ready to get this party started!

A bit about my background...

I have a Master of Arts in Musicology and a Master of Science Library Science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2006 and 2008, respectively). I also have a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance (Vocal) from the University of California, Santa Barbara (2000).
Prior to taking the position here at NIU, I served as the Collection Services Manager for the Music Library at Princeton University. I have also worked at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities as a cataloger of rare childrens books, and for Southeastern Libraries Cooperating (Rochester, MN) as a Project Manager and music cataloger for the Chatfield Brass Band Music Lending Library. While in graduate school at UNC Chapel Hill I worked in the Metadata Research Center, Rare Books & Special Collections, and for the Southern Folklife Collection.

My scholarly interests include early music (particularly vocal music) and the early music revival of the 20th century, as well as performance practice, music reception, pop music studies, and video game music. On the library side of things, I am interested in taxonomies/folksonomies, music user services, and music reference. In my spare time, I enjoy singing, cooking/baking, and I'm an avid player of video games and board games.


My role here at NIU is to help you with your music research needs. As well as being your librarian, I'm a member of the tenure-track faculty, performing research and publishing in my own right. You can count on me to be a professional ally! Feel free to stop by and chat with me in the music library - right now I even have some homemade chocolate chip cookies to tempt you in.

Get Help finding sources for your research paper at the Music Library tonight from 7 until 9

Are you feeling the pinch of Spring Semester deadlines? Do you need help finding sources for your research papers? The Music Library reference desk will be open from 7 until 9 this evening. Please stop by and ask a question! We can help with your information needs. To learn more about reference service, click here (http://libguides.niu.edu/musicreference), or just stop by tonight!

Midterm is approaching! The Library is here to help!

As we approach the middle of the Fall semester, students may find that they need help with their research projects. The Music Library offers a reference service program that can help! Whether you have difficulty thinking about or finding information sources, or you are a seasoned researcher and would like to discuss refining search strategies, our reference service is here to help you! Please feel free to ask questions, either in person, or by phone or email. See our LibGuides page on Music Reference Service for more information.

New Resources for Music Research

If you are working on a research project, and are stuck, need some help, or just want to brush up on your research skills, the Music Library has two relatively new books in the reference collection for you! Laurie Sampsel's Music Research just arrived today, and we have had the seventh edition of Kate L. Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations for a few months now. See complete citations below:

• Sampsel, Laurie J. Music Research: A Handbook. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009. Call no. MUR ML113 .S28 2009.

This book is a very well annotated bibliography, divided into two parts: "Research Process and Research Tools," and "Writing, Style Manuals, and Citation." It has something for everyone, from advanced researchers to those new to academic music libraries. To get started, Sampsel's chapters on library catalogs (ch. 4), and periodical indexes (ch. 5), are excellent.

• Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations: Chicago Style for Students and Researchers, 7th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Call no. MUR LB2369 .T8 2007.

This is a major overhaul of Turabian's style manual. Much has been added since the publication of the sixth edition in 1996. For starters, this new edition contains an entire section of material on the research process. Authors Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams contributed this section, using material from their text on the research process, The Craft of Research, 2d ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003). Also, the organization of the chapters on the way sources should be cited seems much more intuitive. The "notes-bibliography" and "parenthetical citations-reference list" styles are now addressed in separate chapters. And very importantly, there are many more examples of how electronic information should be cited!

I encourage anyone who is working on a music research project of any kind to consult Sampsel's book, and I also highly recommend Turabian's style manual, if you are not required to use another style (such as MLA or APA).