Music: Other Libraries

An online guide to music collections in archives, libraries and museums in the UK and Ireland

Search for library resources across London and the South East

Searches across 115 UK and Irish academic, national & specialist library catalogues. Useful for finding potential libraries to visit. Replaces Copac and SUNCAT.

Contains over 16,000 music scores, over 16,00 CDs & DVDs covering a range of music styles, and a extensive collection of music books. Anyone can join (all you need to join is proof of UK address and ID) and there are generous borrowing allowances for books and scores.

The British Library music collections (manuscripts, books and printed music). The British Library holds the national reference collections of music manuscripts and printed music. The collection of manuscript music amounts to some 12,000 volumes, containing over 100,000 single items. The Library holds around 1.5 million separate items of printed music.
Reference only.

A vast range of recorded sound, including classical music, popular music, jazz and world music.

The National Jazz Archive (NJA) is the UK’s research and information centre for the history of jazz, blues, and related music. It is freely available to all who wish to explore its collections for inspiration, learning, and enjoyment. The National Jazz Archive holds the UK’s finest collection of written, printed and visual material on jazz, blues and related music, from the 1920s to the present day.

Senate House has a large collection of print scores and books on music, as well as useful e-resources. You can register online here: https://senatehouselibrary.libguides.com/remote-registration

Sound and Music is the UK’s landmark organisation for new music and sound. The Sound and Music website provides a unique concentration of resources, with opportunities for artists, composers and practitioners to upload their work via our on-line community, as well as comprehensive listings of events, video, multi-media, and details of all Sound and Music activities. Includes catalogue of collections of scores & audio.

The largest public music library in the south. Over 30,000 music scores and performance parts, from plainsong to Stockhausen. A large collection of 1,000 vocal sets, 20,000 pieces of sheet music. 1,400 orchestral sets and 17,000 books about music for reference and loan, including every edition of Grove's Dictionary. 450 journal titles in store and 100 current subscriptions. A collection of Mozart recordings for reference only. There is also a collection of CDs and cassettes for loan downstairs in the general lending library.