The Online Bach Bibliography

Dr Yo Tomita     y.tomita@qub.ac.uk     (Lecturer, Queen’s University Belfast)

Ariadne 2001
(ReLIS:doi:doiari:y:2001:i:26:p:9)

Abstract:

For the majority of musicologists, bibliography is not their main subject of research, but a tool for research, an essential tool to gain quick access to the information with which to pursue their own subject of interest. Bibliography concerns everyone; it is crucially important that we find successfully the most relevant literatures at the earliest possible opportunity, and that we do not miss out any significant research works carried out by other scholars in the field, so that we can get on confidently with the work of our main research interest. However, there is no definitive bibliography as such that will satisfy the needs of every scholar, and hence we all have to make considerable efforts to be knowledgeable in the bibliography of our own specialised areas of research interests in order to guard our own scholarly integrity. In an ideal world, we can perhaps do away with this laborious process, and move straight on to deal with the adequately short-listed literatures. While few would deny that electronic search techniques mitigate some of the difficulties mentioned above, problems will always remain. The subject of this article concerns the viability of this ideal in general and the ways in which it might and has been achieved with the Online Bach Bibliography. Before discussing how this can be achieved, it will be necessary to identify recent developments in bibliography with respect to my particular project and subject area – namely, Bach - and to discuss future plans to create a more powerful tool that will hopefully appear in the next few years to benefit us all.

Note: Dr Yo Tomita discusses some of the challenges he faced in his international collaborative venture to supersede in scope and size all preceding bibliographies on Bach.
Month: 10-January-2001
Year: 2001

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