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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

  • The library is located in the southern wing of the university, in the courtyard and basement. After entering the university, walk straight ahead towards the orchestra hall, then turn sharp left and you will see the entrance to the library.

    On both floors of the library you will find open access areas for specialist literature and journals, sheet music, CDs, DVDs and records as well as some technical equipment. You will also find work tables and comfortable armchairs to relax in.

  • First and foremost, we are the library for students and teaching staff at our university. However, we are also happy to welcome interested parties who are not members of our university, such as students from other universities, pupils, professional musicians and academic researchers or amateur musicians and hobby researchers. However, we have to restrict the services for this external user group somewhat. This applies, for example, to the amount of media that can be borrowed or access to digital resources.

  • The opening hours of the library are divided into teaching times and non-teaching times.

    Lesson times:

    Monday - Thursday: 9:30 - 16:00

    Friday: 9:30 - 12:00

    Please note: During a lunch break between 12:00 and 13:30, the lending desk is not staffed. However, the library remains open and all other services can be used.

    Lesson-free time:

    Tuesday - Thursday: 9:30 - 12:30

    The non-teaching period is the semester break and the Easter holidays. The library is completely closed in August and between Christmas Eve and Epiphany.

  • It is very easy to use. As a university member (students and employees), you automatically have a user account in the library. On your first visit, we will issue you with a library card, which we can use to identify you more quickly for future loans. This registration in the library only takes two minutes. When you start your studies or employment at the university, you will be assigned access data with which you can use your user account and authentication for the library's other digital services.

    We will set up a temporary user account for external users. This requires an identity card or similar personal identification document. However, as an external user, you are limited to five simultaneous loans and do not have access to digital resources that require a licence.

    → Who can use the library?

  • The library is first and foremost your service provider for media and specialised information. But it is also a place that offers you a quiet place to work and comfortable armchairs to relax or listen to music. Devices are available for listening to CDs and records; you can even digitise records. Two electric pianos invite you to try out pieces of music. A photocopier and a book scanner are available for copying from books and sheet music.

    The majority of the library's physical media stock is sheet music. Here you will find the entire spectrum you need for your studies at our university. Due to the emphasis on pedagogical education at the NUM, school works for children and adults, for example, are well represented. Mention should also be made here of the selection of facsimile editions as specific material for Early Music. A not insignificant amount of music is also devoted to 20th century music and jazz literature.

    Music Pedagogy occupies a large space in the stock of specialised literature (books). The usual literature for reference and research, music theory and music history underpins music studies. In addition to its traditional branches, musicology is also represented with literature in the area of interdisciplinary research on specific topics of the 21st century.

    You will find a shelf with journals, e.g. on Music Pedagogy, individual instrument families, Opera and Orchestra, Early Music and Contemporary music. 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.

    The library's digital offer is divided into two parts. On the one hand there is our Digital Offer page and on the other hand our Primo search engine.

    → Internet and digitality: Is there a digital offer?

    The library's special collections include the Walter Schätzlein Jazz Archive, which is the media legacy (records, CDs, jazz magazines, books, etc.) of the former Nuremberg jazz great Walter Schätzlein. On request, the library makes available for study a partial legacy of one of the greatest cellists of the first half of the 20th century, Enrico Mainardi, namely sheet music from his playing repertoire, including markings and notes.

  • Where you find a book or a particular volume of sheet music on the shelf is first indicated by its location within the library. This location will be displayed in your search hits when searching with our Primo search engine. "Open stacks" refers to the shelves that you can access in the library itself. Media with the location "stacks", on the other hand, are issued to you by the library staff.

    The exact location on the shelf is indicated by the shelfmark. The shelf mark is affixed to the media as a spine label and is displayed in Primo directly next to the literature section.

    The shelf mark is made up of a classification point - a combination of letters and numbers - and a letter abbreviation, according to which the items are sorted alphabetically. The letter abbreviation is usually formed from the names of the authors or composers. The classification point and letter abbreviation together form the call number.

    Examples:

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

    A 203 Wol WolffH (works for one voice with piano by Hugo Wolff)

    The classification system organises the specialist literature, i.e. the books, according to their subject area. There is also a classification system for the sheet music. Apart from the scores and piano reductions, the sheet music is organised according to musical instrumentation and alphabetically within these groups.

    You will find the classification system on paper next to the computers in the library or you can call it up as a PDF on the website or directly from the interface of the Primo search engine.

    Records and CDs are organised according to a consecutive number. To find what you are looking for quickly on the shelf, you need to search for the shelfmark in Primo beforehand.

    We generally recommend searching via our Primo search engine so that you have an overview of the library's entire range of services, including digital resources where applicable. We have put together short tutorial videos to show you how to search effectively with Primo. The videos are available here 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 by clicking on the "Acquisition suggestion" button in the header menu, filling in the form and sending it immediately. Or you can fill in this form in PDF format on the website and send it to the library by e-mail. Please make sure that your details are precise enough so that we can order the correct item.

    Another option is interlibrary loan. Using the interlibrary loan system, the library can try to obtain the literature you are looking for from other libraries. This can be books or sheet music that are lent to us for a certain period of time by the lending library or copies of individual articles or journal articles. Please note that the loan periods are determined by the lending libraries. And although services such as copies/scans are generally free of charge, there may be a charge for these services.

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

    Interlibrary loan is regulated by the Interlibrary Loan Regulations for Germany.

  • The physical stock that can be borrowed includes books (specialised literature), music (sheet music) and CDs. Magazines and records cannot be borrowed.

    A certain part of the library stock is also excluded from lending and can only be used on site. Reasons for this may be the state of preservation, age, material or rarity value of a book, sheet music etc. Media that cannot be borrowed can be recognised by a red signature label.

  • The regular loan period is 4 weeks or 28 days. You can extend your loans by a further 28 days until a total loan period of three months or 84 days has been reached.

    The loan period for performance material for repertoire rehearsals, orchestral concerts, choral concerts or music theatre productions usually ends one week or seven days after the last performance date or rehearsal.

    In the case of media from interlibrary loans, the loan periods are determined by the lending libraries.

    Please note that reclaim fees will be charged if the loan period is exceeded by 5 days or more.

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

  • You can extend your loans by 28 days at a time until a total loan period of three months or 84 days has been reached. You can extend your loan yourself online via your user account. You can find brief instructions for your user account on the website under "Primo: Quick guide" or in our video tutorials on the website under "Primo: Video tutorials". Of course, the library staff will also renew your loans on request.

    Exceptions: You cannot renew items from interlibrary loan or performance material for Orchestra and choir (orchestral parts and choral scores) yourself. Specific loan periods apply here, which can only be changed by library staff.

  • Yes, this is possible if all copies of a title are currently on loan. You must first be logged into your user account(Primo: "Log in" button) to make a request. In the detailed view of your desired title, you can then click on "Request", whereupon a form opens in which you can enter a maximum request date.

  • → Search and find: What I'm looking for isn't in the library. What can I do?

  • If you sing in the university choir or chamber choir, you can usually obtain your choir scores for the current programmes directly from the circulation desk.

    The loan period for these scores ends one week after the last concert or music theatre performance. Please note that you cannot extend the loan period for choral material yourself.

    For the duration of a choir project, you will be loaned not only the sheet music but also a choir folder to put the sheet music in.

  • If you play in the university orchestra or another orchestral project, you will usually receive your orchestral part directly from the circulation desk. For the repertoire rehearsals of the university orchestra, the sheet music is issued at the earliest one week before the rehearsal.

    The loan period for repertoire rehearsals ends one week after the last rehearsal, for orchestral concerts or music theatre performances one week after the last performance. Please note that you cannot extend the loan period for your orchestral part yourself.

  • Yes, on the one hand we have compiled a range of online resources on music, musicology, pedagogy and social sciences on the Digital Resources page. For the most part, these are offers that give you access to full texts (specialist articles, encyclopaedia entries, e-books). A streaming service is also available for you.

    On the other hand, in most cases it is sufficient to search via our Primo search engine. A large part of the digital resources as well as the largest indices for e-books and e-journals in open access are automatically searched by our Primo search engine. This means that you do not necessarily have to search the various websites individually. You cannot use Primo to search the catalogues of other libraries, for example.

    As some of our digital resources are subject to licence, you must log in to Primo in order to make full use of them.

  • Yes, you will find a photocopier for use with your prepaid card and a book scanner for making digital copies. You are responsible for complying with copyright regulations. Information on copyright regulations can be found next to the scanner. If you have any questions, please contact the library management.

  • Yes, we offer CD players and record players for listening to music in the library. We also provide a space for digitising records. The library's streaming service can be used on site via WLAN (eduroam or BayernWLAN) and, of course, at home or on the move.

  • Yes, the library has a wide range of records and CDs. Our unique jazz collection of 3,000 records and 6,000 CDs from the estate of the former Nuremberg jazz great Walter Schätzlein deserves special mention here.

  • The library offers the NAXOS Music Library (NML). Ideal for comparing interpretations! Better sound and better selection than on YouTube! Over 177,500 CD recordings of classical, early and contemporary music from over 940 labels are currently available. In addition, there is a range of music didactic recordings, such as masterclasses, as well as biographical and work information on composers. The NML is constantly updated so that you can also listen to brand new recordings.

    You can use the NML directly via its website or as an app (iOS and Android). For this method, however, you will need the web access data, which you can obtain from the library.

    However, you can also start your search with our Primo search engine, then log in with your library account details and access the contents of the NML without an additional password. Details can also be found in our Primo tutorial video 5 on the library website or directly on Primo.

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

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

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

  • Use of the library is generally free of charge. However, a reclaim fee will be 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 are cumulative. This means, for example, that 20 days overdue cost € 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 cost list (KVz) of 12 October 2001 (GVBl. p. 766, BayRS 2013-1-2-F), No. 3.III.2

    For copying services (digital or paper), the library charges the following fees for external persons/entities or for orders that are not placed via the Bavarian Library Network:

    1-20 pages:€ 1,50

    21-40 pages:€ 4,00

    each additional 20 pages or part thereof: € 2.00

  • Please send general enquiries, enquiries about your loans, renewals or interlibrary loans by e-mail exclusively to bibliothek(at)NUM-nuernberg.de.

    The library staff directly:

    Magdalena Grimm (lending desk)

    +49 911 / 21522-181 or -182

    magdalena.grimm(at)NUM-nuernberg.de

    Falk Hartwig (Management)

    +49 911 / 21522-180

    falk.hartwig(at)NUM-nuernberg.de