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Index to Printed Music (IPM): Collections & Series. Developed and owned by James Adrian Music Company. http://www.ebscohost.com/academic/index-to-printed-music-ipm (Accessed December 2010). [Requires an Internet connection and a Web browser (for Windows, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, or Firefox 2.0 or later; for Mac, Safari 2.0x or Firefox 2.0 or later (build 412+)). Pricing: annual subscription for academic institutions is based on a variety of factors including but not limited to FTE, existing subscriptions to EBSCO Publishing databases, consortium agreements, and/or buying groups.]
In 2008, I reviewed this database on the NISC platform1 and pointed out many shortcomings of the product in its form at that time. Since then, the Index to Printed Music has moved to the EBSCOhost platform and, in addition, the editors have addressed many of the problems I had found that were not platform-specific. This review is an update to that earlier essay, detailing how the resource works now, in comparison to how it worked then. I am happy to report that on the whole the product is now eminently useful and usable.
The task that IPM addresses is finding specific compositions published in collected editions, monuments of music, historical sets, or other sets or series that contain multiple pieces. IPM is the successor to Anna Harriet Heyer's Historical Sets, Collected Editions, and Monuments of Music: A Guide to Their Contents (American Library Association, 1957-1980) and the electronic "sibling" of Collected Editions, Historical Series & Sets & Monuments of Music: A Bibliography, by George R. Hill and Norris L. Stephens (Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press, 1997; hereafter cited as Hill). The latter was intended as an update of Heyer's work, but was of limited use in its print form, which lacked an index. To quote from my earlier review, "A computerized index to Hill was envisioned from the start. Index to Printed Music (IPM) is that long-awaited index. Indeed, it is not an index to be used in conjunction with the book; rather it is the book in searchable database form, considerably augmented by similar data for additional, more recent publications, and more detailed information about the contents of the publications listed in Hill." I refer the reader to that earlier review for more extensive information about the coverage and intent of both...