Submitted by Jessica Abbazio (University of Minnesota), Joe Clark (Kent State University), and Jon Sauceda (Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester)
Greetings! We wanted to let MLA membership know about a soon-to-be published article in College and Research Libraries that may be of interest. “Music Students and Library Collections after Pandemic Closures: An Examination of Format Preferences and Reported Usage” details university music students’ required resources, format preferences, and information-seeking behaviors after the campus shutdowns brought about by COVID-19. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, the investigation was undertaken at the University of Minnesota, Kent State University, and the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester in Fall 2022. Results revealed that music students continue to use and value library resources, a sentiment that rose with class standing. Longitudinal comparisons with 2012 and 2017 studies reveal that the dramatic shift towards digital resources seen between 2012 and 2017 has not continued and that format preferences are largely unchanged from 2017. Students reported heavy reliance on libraries for books, scores, and articles, while audio and video content were likely to come from freemium resources like YouTube or other streaming sites.
The study is forthcoming in the July 2025 issue of C&RL; in the meantime, the accepted version of the manuscript may be found here: https://hdl.handle.net/11299/262659.
We hope you find it informative!