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Dance Research Guide

Video on Dance

The videotape and DVD collection includes approximately 6000 VHS and 1000 DVD titles.

Cal Poly Humboldt faculty, students, staff, and patrons with community borrower cards may check out videos/DVDs. Students may check out titles for up to 16 weeks.

Videos and DVDs are arranged by call number on open shelves in the Media Resources Area, located on the 2nd floor of the Library.  Viewing equipment is also in the Media Resources Area. Persons using the Media Resources Area or conference rooms with viewing equipment may be asked to show a currently valid Cal Poly Humboldt ID card. The Media Resources Area has stations containing a variety of video and audio equipment to review non-print materials.

The first priority for use of the equipment is for materials placed on Reserve. Students using the equipment to view non-Reserve items must relinquish their stations to those needing to view Reserve items. 

Call numbers for videos and DVDs begin with VIDEO (eg. Video1045).  Find video call numbers in the Cal Poly Humboldt Library Catalog.  Tips for searching are below.  If you need more help with finding videos, please ask a librarian.

To search for videos by title:

  • Click on Advanced Search on the library home page.
  • Select Books & Media (Cal Poly Humboldt) at the top of the search window
  • Type in the title. Click search.

To Search for foreign language feature films in video format:

  • Click on Advanced Search on the library home page.
  • Select Books & Media (Cal Poly Humboldt) at the top of the search window
  • In the Language drop-down box, select a language you would like to find materials in. 
  • Type in the title. Click search.

To see an entry for a video/DVD when you have the call number:

  • Type in the call number you have in Library Catalog box on the Cal Poly Humboldt Library homepage. 

Finding Music for Dance

The library's audio recordings collection includes over 8,000 CDs (compact discs). Only CDs are being added to the collection. There are no LP (vinyl) or tape recordings in the collection.  The collection focuses on classical, jazz, folk, and rock music.

In addition, the Naxos Music Library provides streaming access to thousands of recordings. Cal Poly Humboldt faculty, staff, and current students may use this resource on campus or remotely. The general public has access from the library only.

 Recordings may be checked out by anyone with a valid Cal Poly Humboldt library card for three weeks with no renewals. Up to three recordings may be checked out at one time. Fines of $1 per day are assessed for overdues ($25 maximum). The borrower will be charged for ruined recordings.

NOTE: Cal Poly Humboldt students, faculty, and staff may make interlibrary loan requests for CD recordings not in our collection. Not all libraries loan CDs, but we may be able to borrow what you need. Community patrons should contact the Humboldt County Library with interlibrary loan requests.

Call numbers for CDs begin with CD (for example, CD-4902).  The CDs are shelved by call number in the Media Resources area on the second floor, north, listening equipment is also in the Media Resources area. 

 Find call numbers for CDs in the Cal Poly Humboldt Library Catalog.  Below are some tips for searching.  If you need more help with recordings, please ask a librarian.

To find recordings of a particular piece of music, or a particular type of music, or by a particular composer, performer, conductor, or group:

  • Enter keywords into the Search for box. Put quotation marks around any phrases. Use truncation to retrieve plurals and variant spellings of words in different languages.  The catalog’s truncation symbol is ?
  • Choose Compact Discs in Limits, then click Search.
Tips and examples of keywords:

If the music has a distinct title or nickname, use it:

"don Giovanni"
"an die musik"
"jupiter symphon?"
"kind of blue"
"eleanor rigby"
"you'll never walk alone"

The exception is that the songs in operas are not separately indexed for recordings of the operas. To find them, search for the opera in which they appear. The songs on rock, jazz, recital, and musical albums are usually indexed, and you can search for them directly.

If there is no distinct title, use keywords for composer, musical form (symphonies, duets, fugues, sonatas, masses, concertos, etc.), instrumentation (violin, violoncello, strings, horn, orchestra, etc.), thematic catalog or opus number, or key to find recordings of the piece:

grieg piano concerto Mozart 626

If you are searching for folk music, you may want to truncate country or location names:

gree? will find greek or greece afric? will find africa or african

To find recordings of sound effects:

  • Type "sound effects" including the quotation marks into the Search for box.
  • Choose Audio or Audio CD under Resource Type, then click Apply Filters.

To find animal sounds:

    • Type keywords for the animal and the word sounds into the Search for box:
fish sounds birds sounds
  • Choose Audio or Audio CD under Resource Type, then click Apply Filters.

To find copyright free recordings of music and arrangements:

  • Type "production music" including the quote marks into the Search For box.
  • Choose Audio or Audio CD under Resource Type, then click Apply Filters.

To see an entry for a recording when you have the call number: 

  • Type the call number, including the hyphen, in the Search for box.
  • Click Search