Directory of South African Music Collections

As we read from our colleague Santie de Jongh on IAML-L earlier this week, there is a new resource from South Africa: the Directory of South African Music Collections.  Its goal is to "collat[e] information on special music collections in South Africa in order to stimulate music research on South African materials in South Africa and internationally." It includes information from 37 institutions and will continue to grow.

The guide is organized into seven geographical sections and each section lists between one and thirteen institutions and organizations, including archives, public and university libraries, museums, and private collections.  When you click on an institution, you find contact information (with a link to their website and a map) and a summary of their holdings, including type of music, nature of the material, and extent of the collection.

For example, Domus (Documentation Centre for Music--which, among other things, is the RILM partner in South Africa) has 51 collections covering people (composers, performers, musicologists) and organizations (music institutions, societies, and competitions).  Its holdings include music manuscripts, rare books and printed music, musical instruments, newspaper cuttings, and sound recordings, and covers African music as well as Western art music and popular music.

The types of materials are listed on the main page of the guide, thus making it easy to search for one type if needed. For example, a search for "printed music" returns 28 institutions with holdings of printed music.

Keep this resource in mind if your patrons are looking for music materials about South Africa.