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The library is located on the Hofgeschoss (courtyard floor), southern wing of the building, left from the orchestra hall.

For general enquiries please write to bibliothek(at)hfm-nuernberg.de or call +49 911 / 215 22 -181.

All members of the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg are also welcome to subscribe to our channel on UniNow.

Opening hours

Lesson time

Monday - Thursday

 

9:30 - 16:00

12:00 - 13:30 circulation desk pauses
Friday

9:30 - 12:00
Lesson-free time
Tuesday - Thursday 9:30 - 12:30

The lesson-free time is the semester break and the Easter holidays. Please also note: The library is completely closed in August and between Christmas Eve and Epiphany.

Collection

The library's holdings currently comprise around 52,000 music items (including performance material for choirs and orchestras), 9,300 books (monographs and reference works), 12,000 audiovisual media (vinyl records, CD, DVD) and 28 current journal titles. In addition to the physical collection, the library offers access to a large and dynamic number of digital academic resources.

Media search

  • The book and sheet music collections are organised according to the classification scheme for public music libraries. To make it easier for you to find your way around the library, you can view these here (in German):

  • Primo is our search engine for researching and ordering items, accessing your account and digital user services.

    Primo searches the library's collection and selected online resources. You will find books, sheet music, journals, CDs or DVDs from the library's collection that match your query. You can also use Primo to find articles, e-books or encyclopaedia entries from selected resources on the Internet. These include part of the library's digital offering as well as the most comprehensive directories academic Open Access articles and e-books. Your search query also browses the streaming service NAXOS and links you directly to the music you want listen to. To use the full range of functions, you must log in with your Windows/eduroam password.

  • The following videos provide an introduction to Primo

    Video 1: How do I navigate?
    Video 2: How do I perform a simple search?
    Most of the functions are explained using the example of searching for sheet music and academic literature.
    Video 3: What other search options do I have?
    This video shows slightly different search methods to those shown in Video 2.
    Video 4: Advanced skills for searching for sheet music
    Video 5: Summary of all Primo login and account features

  • The library acts as an archive for theoretical theses submitted to the University from 2001 to 2017. An index is available here for the years from 2008 onwards.

Digital resources

  • The gateway of the Fachinformationsdienst Musikwissenschaft. Search engine for music-related resources and gateway for networking in German musicology.

    The comprehensive English-language encyclopaedia of music. Find articles on people and specialist music topics, as well as places and their music history. Oxford Music Online combines the content of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and is continually updated with entries on contemporary music, jazz, pop and rock.

    • JSTOR
      Full texts + download: Outside the university with login via Primo, research via Primo possible.

    Extensive archive of digitised articles from back issues of journals. Here you will find the largest collection of full text from Musicology and Music Education journals. There is also a complementary range of titles from the arts, humanities and social sciences.

    Comprehensive archive of full-text back issues of electronic journals in the arts, music, humanities and social sciences.

    Here you can find articles from back issues of Cambridge University Press journals with free full-text access.

    The comprehensive and free-to-use bibliographic information site on academic music literature worldwide. The bibliographic information is enhanced with abstracts of the contents.

    Use this source guide to find autographs, copies and early prints of classical and early music, and the places where they are held. You can also look up musical works, their composers and arrangers, or work/catalogue numbers. It is highly recommended to use the Advanced search options where you can, for example, type in first notes of a music you looking for (music incipits). The site is available in German, English, French, Italian and Spanish.

    This database from Alexander Street Press is divided into four sections:

    1. Classical Scores Library: Selected printed music and music manuscripts from the 15th to 20th centuries.
    2. Classical Music Reference Library: Factual and personal articles on the history of Western music from the Middle Ages to the present from Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
    3. African American Reference Library: Materials on the history of African American music from its beginnings to the 1970s.
    4. The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online: The Encyclopedia of Ethnomusicology. Detailed factual and personal articles, illustrations, drawings, music examples, music samples, tables and diagrams on traditional ethnomusicology worldwide.

    The collection shows so-called "music ephemera" from the concert life of the 18th to 20th centuries. This includes programme booklets, programme notes, tickets, contemporary reviews and similar documents. The local focus of this collection is on Berlin and Brandenburg.

    The Musiconn-Performance project aims to bring together the various digital collections of documents of musical performance events ("music ephemera" such as programmes, concert announcements, reviews, etc.). It offers a search engine for the documents of various origins.

    Since 2003, the online portal "Music Education and Gender Research", developed at the University of Music and Theatre in Hamburg. Its core is a comprehensive encyclopaedia on women in music and gender aspects of music history

    Full-text access to the articles in the Journal of Education published by Sage.

    Full text access to the articles of the Journal of Adult and Continuing Education published by Sage.

    The central portal for finding free academic e-books on the internet.

    The central portal for finding articles from electronic journals whose full texts are available free of charge on the Internet. You will also find a wide range of subject areas including music, arts, education and social sciences.

    Sheet music wiki. You can find and download sheet music that is in the public domain in Germany. Please note that IMSLP is hosted in Canada. It also offers sheet music that is not free to use in Germany or the EU (concerns mainly compositions from the 20th century). A copyright notice appears before each download. Please be aware that copyright infringement is a criminal offence in Germany.

  • The Nuremberg University of Music would like to contribute to ensuring that the artistic excellence of compositions by women from all eras is appropriately honoured and made visible. Works by female composers are to be established as a standard part of the teaching repertoire and included in concert and examination programmes.

    The following resources and directories can help you find suitable works for solo instruments and instrumental combinations, and provide information about women composers or the women's movement.

    General

    The Gerritsen Women's History Collection provides access to historical documents, such as newspaper articles, from the history of the women's movement since the early 19th century.

    The encyclopaedia of the "Music and Gender on the Internet" platform offers articles, multimedia presentations, collections of material and annotated links on female musicians throughout the centuries.

    Created and expandable database by Robert Deemer with works by composers from all over the world, filterable by gender and ethnicity of composers, but also by instrumentation, vocal part and other musical criteria.

    Swedish database with works by over 3000 female composers from all over the world.

    Swedish archive of contemporary music from the last 100 years, filterable by female composers.

    Ask Clara! Database still under construction, lists works by female composers from all over the world.

    Orchestral works

    Database of David Daniels' orchestral works. Can also be filtered by gender, nationality and ethnicity using the advanced search.

    The Sophie Drinker Institute for Women's and Gender Studies in Musicology has compiled a list of orchestral works by female composers, including information on instrumentation and where to obtain the sheet music. For orchestra, string orchestra and solo instrument or voice with orchestra.

    List of orchestral works by women composers, no contemporary music. There is a separate list of works by female composers of African descent and a list of "500 Operas by Women".

    Choral works

    Repertoire list for choral works by women composers from the Archiv Frau und Musik in Frankfurt.

    Virtual library of choral music. The database contains information on over 200,000 works, including around 8000 by over 2600 women composers. Registration with a user account is required for research.

    Based on the MediaWiki software, the Choralwiki also contains a list of female composers of choral works. The freely available works are mostly in PDF format.

    Wind instruments and wind ensembles

    Over 1,200 works for wind instruments and wind ensembles by over 400 female composers. Works by composers of colour and composers from the LGBTQIA+ community are also listed.

    Further solo instruments

    The Archiv Frau und Musik Frankfurt lists research tools for some solo instruments. Follow this link for a list of research tools for Guitar, Harp, Clarinet, Piano, Oboe, Strings and Trumpet.

    Vocal studies

    The Kassia database collects art songs composed by women, sorted by language and nationality of the composer and by musical criteria such as vocal range and level of difficulty.

    Electroacoustic music

    Directory of electroacoustic music by Folkmar Hein. Also searchable for music by women.

    Composers of Colour

    Music by black composers, including some women composers.

    List of works from genres such as gospel, folk, blues ... but also jazz and musical theatre.

  • International biographical database with entries and source references on people worldwide and from antiquity to the present day.

    Biographical database on deceased personalities from the German-speaking and cultural area who had a significant influence on political, economic, social, academic, technical or artistic developments through their achievements. In most cases you will find not only key biographical data on a person, but also specialist articles on their biography.

    • Naxos Music Library
      Search and access with your university account via Primo, or directly in the app with your library login.

    Great for comparing interpretations! Better sound and selection than YouTube! Over 177,500 CD recordings of classical, early and contemporary music from over 940 labels are currently available. The NML is constantly updated, so you can listen to brand new recordings. For mobile devices, the NML is also available as an app for iOS and Android in the app stores.


    Note: The app's battery optimisation should be turned off on the mobile device in order to use it. The app must be able to run in the background, otherwise playback will be constantly interrupted.

    Video streaming of selected current opera and operetta productions as well as video dossiers and interviews from the world of musical theatre.

    Collection of 78rpm records, cylinder recordings, and other recordings from the early 20th century.

  • only available in the university network

    E-books from various subject areas. But there are hardly any books directly related to music.

    free to use

    DBIS lists databases of all academic subject areas. The accessibility of the databases is labelled according to a traffic light system.

    free to use

    Bibliographic search engine. Search simultaneously and in combination in library catalogues in Germany, Europe and overseas, book trade, second-hand bookshops or digital media.

    free to use

    Search all libraries participating in the BVB at the same time.

    free to use

    The Nuremberg Municipal Library also has a large music section.

    free to use

    The library of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum has a large collection of literature on musical instruments.

Library team

Falk Hartwig Leiter der Hochschulbibliothek

Phone +49 911 / 215 22 - 180

Email falk.hartwig(at)hfm-nuernberg.de

Room no H.14c

More infos

Magdalena Grimm Bibliothek

Phone +49 911 / 215 22 - 182

Email magdalena.grimm(at)hfm-nuernberg.de

Room no H.14a

More infos

FAQ about the library

  • First and foremost, we are the library for the students and teaching staff at our university. However, we are also happy to welcome you as an interested external user if you are a student of some other university, pupil, professional or amateur musician, academic or amateur researcher. But, we have to limit the scope of services for external users. This concerns for example the maximum number of loans or the access to digital resources.

  • Using the library is conceivably simple. As a member of the university (student or employee) you automatically have a user account. On your first visit in the library we will issue a library card for you so that you can be identified more quickly when borrowing items. In effect, this registration will take no more than two minutes. The IT-department will provide you with access data for accessing your user account and digital resources.

    As an external user, we will register you in a temporary user account. For that please bring a document for personal identification (passport, identity card or something similar). However, as an external user you are limited to five simultaneous loans and will have no access to licensable digital resources.

    → Who can use the library?

  • First and foremost the library is your provider for media and academic information. But it is also the place that offers you a quiet workspace and comfortable seating for relaxing. You will find devices for listening CDs and vinyl records. In addition there is a record player connected to a computer for digitising vinyl records. Two e-pianos let you try out music pieces. With a photocopier and a book scanner you can make copies on paper or digitally.

    The biggest part of our physical holdings is sheet music. You will find the whole range of materials  that you need for your studies at our university. Because music pedagogy is strongly represented at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg, we have a lot of schooling literature for children and adults. An equally large part of the collection is devoted to the music of the 20th century as well as to the Jazz. The Early Music studies will find a good selection of facsimiles of Early Music printings.

    Academic literature: The subject of music education is once again taking up a lot of shelf space. Then we offer the standards among encyclopedias and dictionaries, in music theory and music history that underpinning your studies. In addition to its traditional branches, musicology is also represented by interdisciplinary research literature in specific topics of the 21st century.

    You will find a shelf with journals, e.g. on music education, different instrument families, opera and orchestra, Early Music and Neue Musik. On the shelf you will find all issues of the current year. We will be happy to look for older issues in our magazine on request. You can access a selection of digital magazines and digitised issues via our Primo search engine.

    Digital offer: See the section Digital Resources on the website plus try out our search engine Primo.

    → Internet and digitality: Are there digital offerings?

    Last but not least there are two special collections that are worth mentioning. The “Walter-Schätzlein-Jazzarchiv” holds the collection of vinyl records and CDs, Jazz-journals and other media collected by the former Nürnberg Jazz celebrity Walter Schätzlein. The “Teilnachlass Enrico Mainardi” archived a significant part of the artistic legacy of one of the greatest cellists in the first half of the 20th century. It consists of sheet music that Mainardi used for study and performance. So this scores containing his markings and notes which makes this material highly interesting for todays musicians and researchers in performing practise.

  • Where you can find a particular book or volume of sheet music on the shelf is first indicated by its location within the library.

    Our Primo search engine will show this location in your search results. “Open shelf“ (“Freihandbestand“) refers to the shelves that you can access yourself in the library. “Closed stacks” (“Magazin”) you cannot access yourself. Media items from there will be issued to you by the library staff.

    The precise placement of an item within the shelf is indicated by the shelf mark. The shelf mark is printed on a sticker on the items back or bottom left corner of the frontcover. In Primo, the shelf mark is displayed right next to the items location.

    The shelf mark is made up of two parts: The sign for the subject classification of the book or sheet music and a letter abbreviation for alphabetical sorting. The sign for the position in the classification scheme is a combination of letters and numbers. The letter abbreviation for alphabetical sorting is usually formed from the name of the author or composer. Both parts together form the shelf mark.

    Examples:

    Sbc 77 Kad (for books on the Sociology of music by Christian Kaden)   

    A 203 Wol WolffH (for sheet music of compositions for one singing voice and piano by Hugo Wolff)

    The classification scheme categorises the academic literature (books) according to its subject area. There is a different system fo the sheet music. Apart from the orchestral scores and the piano reductions, the sheet music is organised according to musical instrumentation. The books and sheet music are sorted alphabetically within their classification groups.

    You will find the classification schemes in printed form next to the computers in the library, as PDF-files on the Media Search section on the website or embedded on the Primo interface.

    CDs and vinyl records are placed following a consecutive number. In order to find on the shelf what you looking for you have to search in advance via Primo to find out the shelf mark. A shelf mark for a CD looks like this: CD02.346.

    We generally recommend searching via Primo in order to get an overview over the whole range of media offerings which consists of physical and digital resources. We have put together short tutorial videos to show you how to research effectively with Primo. The videos are accessible via the Media Search section on the website or directly on the Primo interface.

  • In this case, you can suggest the title you are looking for to the library for purchase. You can do this online via Primo. Simply click in the header menu on “Purchase request” and fill out the form. Or you fill out a PDF-form, which you download from our website and send this via email to the library. Please make sure that your details are precise enough so that we can order the correct items.

    The other possibility is Interlibrary-loan. The library can try to obtain literature from other libraries via the Interlibrary-loan system. These can be books or sheet music that are lent to us for a certain period of time by the lending library. In case of essays or journal articles copies/scans are possible as well. Please note that the loan periods are determined by the lending libraries. The Interlibrary-loan services are basically free of charge. But some services, such as copies or scans may cost a little.

    Please send interlibrary loan requests to the library by email. Please make sure that your details are precise enough so that we can order the correct items.

    Interlibrary loan is regulated by the Leihverkehrsordnung für Deutschland.

  • The borrowable physical holdings include books (academic literature), sheet music, CDs. Journals and vinyl records are types of media that generally cannot be borrowed. A certain part of the librarys holdings is also excluded from borrowing and can only be used on site. Reasons for this can be the state of preservation, the age, the material- or the rarity-value of a book, music volume etc. Not borrowable media can be recognised by a red shelf mark sticker.

  • The regular loan period is 4 weeks/28 days. You can renew your loan for further 28 days up to the maximum loan period of 84 days.

    Performance material for the Repertoireproben (repertoire rehearsals), for orchestral- or choir-concerts or musical drama productions have different loan periods. Regularly, the due date for returns of that sheet music will be one week/7 days after the last rehearsal or last performance.

    For interlibrary-loan media the loan period is determined by the lending library.

    Please note that for return overdues recovery fees will be charged. The first fee level starts 5 days after the due date.

    → Costs and fees: Does it cost anything to use the library? Are there any fees?

  • You can extend your loan for further 28 days up to the maximum loan period of 84 days. You can do this by yourself via your user account. You will find a tutorial video for using your account on the website's Media Search section. The specific video is no. 5. You will find these videos on the Primo search engine interface as well.

    Of course, as you wish the library staff will renew your loans as well.

    Exceptions: Interlibrary-loan media as well as performance material for orchestra and choir (instrumental parts and choral scores) you cannot renew by yourself. Specific loan periods apply here that can be changed by the library staff only.

  • Yes, requests are possible in case all items of a title are on loan. You must first be logged into your user account (Button “Sign in” on Primo). In the detailed view of your desired title, you can then click on ‘Request’, whereupon a form will open in which you can enter a maximum reservation date.

  • → Search and find: What I am looking for is not available in the library. What can I do?

  • If you are singing with the Hochschulchor or Kammerchor you usually get your scores for the current programms on the library’s circulation desk.

    The loan period for that scores usually ends one week/7 days after the last performance (concert or musical drama performance). Please note that you cannot renew the loan period for your choral scores yourself.

  • If you are playing with the Hochschulorchester or being engaged in some other orchestra project of the university you usually will get your parts on the library's circulation desk.

    The loan period for the Repertoireproben (repertoire rehearsals) usually ends one week/7 days after the last rehearsal. In case of orchestra concerts or musical drama productions the loan period usually ends one week/7 days after the last performance. Please note that you cannot renew the loan period for your orchestral part yourself.

  • Yes. The Digital Resources section on the website contains a selection of various resources on the internet. For the most part these are resources providing full texts (articles, reference entries, e-books) on the subjects music, musicology, pedagogy and social sciences. A music streaming service is also available for you.

    On the other hand, in most cases it is sufficient to search with our Primo search engine. Most of the digital resources as well as the largest indices for open access e-books and e-journals are automatically searched by Primo. So you don't necessarily have to visit the various websites individually. The catalogues of other libraries cannot be searched with Primo.

  • Yes, you will find a photocopier, usable with your prepaid card, as well as a book scanner for digital copies. When copying, you are responsible for complying with copyright regulations (i.e. the German Urheberrecht). Legal information is available next to the book scanner. If in doubt please ask the Head of the library.

  • For listenting to music we offer you a CD-player and a turntable. Furthermore there is one place for digitising vinyl records. You can listen to music from the library’s streaming service NAXOS using the university’s WiFi eduroam or the freely usable BayernWLAN. Of course you can also stream NAXOS at home or on the move.

    → Listening and watching music: Is there a streaming service?

  • Yes, the library offers a large number of vinyl records and CDs. Special mention deserves our unique Jazz collection of 3,000 vinyl records and 6,000 CDs, a legacy of the former Nürnberg Jazz celebrity Walter Schätzlein.

  • The library offers the NAXOS Music Library (NML) for streaming Classical Music. Ideal for comparisons of interpretation! Better sound and a better selection than on YouTube as well as listening without adverts! There are currently over 177,500 CD recordings of Classical, Early and Contemporary Music available from over 940 labels. In addition to that there is a selection of music didactic recordings, such as those of masterclasses as well as biographical informations and informations on the composers oeuvre. The NML is constantly updated, so you can also listen to brand new recordings there.

    You can access the NML via its website or as mobile app (iOS and Android). In that cases you need specific access data we provide for you on small flyers on the library’s circulation desk.

    You can also use Primo as starting point for the NML. In that case you don’t need extra access data for the NML because you need to login on Primo only. The content of the NML is completely searchable with Primo. If you want to follow a link for listening you have to be logged in or you have to log in at that point at the latest. See also details for that on the Primo-Tutorial-Video no. 5, which you find on our website’s Media Search section or on Primo itself.

    Note: To use the NML-app on smartphones it is recommended to switch off the battery optimisation for that app to avoid playback interruptions. The app must be able to run in the background.

    Other, freely accessible streaming services are Opera-Vision and the 78rpm-Project.

  • There are two e-pianos in the library for trying out pieces of music. Please use headphones to play, which can also be borrowed from the circulation desk.

  • Basically using the library is free of charge. However, reclaim fees are charged for significantly late returns:

    5 days after the due date: € 7.50

    15 days after the due date: € 10.00

    30 days after the due date: € 20.00

    The fee levels accumulate. This means, for example, a 20 days overdue cost you € 17.50. Only days on which the library is open count as overdue days. The amount of media borrowed does not affect the amount of the fee.

    The reclaim fees are based on the Kostenverzeichnis (KVz) vom 12. Oktober 2001 (GVBl. S. 766, BayRS 2013-1-2-F), lfd. Nr. 3.III.2.

    The library charges the following fees for copying services (digitally or on paper) if the ordering person is not a student or employee of the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg respectively for external orderings made not via the Bibliotheksverbund Bayern (Bavarian Library Network):

    1-20 pages: € 1,50

    21-40 pages: € 4,00

    each additional 20 pages or part thereof: € 2.00