Practical Cataloguing Webinar 7: Printed music cataloguing : a short introduction

Date: Thursday 27th November 2025, 1-2 pm

Presenters: Caroline Shaw & Meg Fisher

This webinar is presented in conjunction with the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres (UK & Ireland Branch)

What do we mean by scores, parts and arrangements? Why are preferred titles so important in music? What is a piano reduction? The International Association of Music Libraries’ UK branch has a new course – ‘Music Cataloguing for Beginners’ – which takes cataloguers and non-cataloguers alike through the basics of music cataloguing, including basic scores, instrumental sets, vocal music and audiovisual materials. In this session, we will guide you through week one of this course. By the end of the session, you should be able to identify different score formats, describe some of the differences between book and music cataloguing, and create a MARC record for a solo piano piece. No prior experience in music cataloguing required, but an understanding of book cataloguing – including MARC fields – would be useful.

Caroline Shaw is currently Manager of the Music Processing and Cataloguing Team in the British Library, with responsibility for metadata for published, archival and digital materials, as well as quality management, workflow documentation, training, and team promotion. Her work has involved a wide variety of cataloguing standards and systems, and she has advised internally and externally on best practices for music metadata, including contributions to the British Library Policy Statements in official RDA. Since 2021 she has chaired the Documentation Committee of IAML's UK and Ireland Branch.

Meg Fisher is currently a Printed Music Cataloguer at the British Library and is responsible for cataloguing published music. Together with Caroline, she is a member of IAML’s (UK & Ireland) working group to create a music cataloguing course for beginners. She also regularly teaches a course called ‘Music for the Terrified’ for new music librarians. Prior to joining the British Library in 2021, she was a library assistant at public libraries in Poole and Bournemouth for six years, specialising in music and local history studies.

Webinar 7 is free for CILIP members. Non-Members: £5 + VAT

Free for IAML members - contact events.mdg@cilip.org.uk for the discount code.

Free for Employer Partner staff - contact your rep or email employerpartners@cilip.org.uk for the discount code.

For further webinars in the series, see: Metadata and Discovery Group Autumn Webinar Series