Library resources are music to dean's ears

When Dr. Dennis McIntire, Interim Dean and Assistant Dean of the School of Music, first came to Reinhardt in the fall of 2003, the music department was part of the School of Communication, Arts and Music. Dr. McIntire came to help start the music education program. “We had 17 music majors,” he said. “Now we have just over 100 undergraduate music majors and 18 graduate students.” The music program currently offers a Master of Music Degree in the fields of Conducting, Music Education and Piano Pedagogy, with evening and summer classes to accommodate working teachers.
Dr. McIntire says he is pleased with what Reinhardt’s library offers his students. “There are wonderful databases. We have an excellent representation. I think we have everything that Alexander Street [Publishing] offers. We don’t have to buy CDs because we can do all of our listening through the databases.” When asked to pick a favorite music database, Dr. McIntire shook his head. “I like all of them.” He did indicate that he’s found Naxos Music Library to be particularly helpful, that many students have discovered Opera in Video, and that the graduate students appreciate the International Index to Music Periodicals and Oxford Music Online, the home of Grove Music Online.
The music databases are accessible to faculty and students anywhere with Internet access, but those aren’t the only library resources at the music program’s fingertips. Many resources are housed at the music library, located at the Falany Performing Arts Center. These materials are not for check out and must be used in the library. “The music library runs on the honor system, and it works on the honor system,” Dr. McIntire said. He is beginning his ninth year at Reinhardt, and he said in all that time the music library hasn’t lost anything as far as he can tell. The books and other materials are all catalogued in the library’s system, and student workers come in regularly to shelve books and keep things tidy. There students have access to monument editions of the collected works of major composers (a collection that grows every year), music education resources and four computer stations where students can do research. “And if that’s not enough, the piano lab upstairs has twelve more computer stations,” Dr. McIntire added.
The music department is currently preparing for the process of renewing its accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Music. “When they came five years ago, one of the evaluators was from [a major state university] and he was astounded. We have a lot of stuff that they didn’t have,” Dr. McIntire said. “We have as much or more than all the schools around us, plus our music library is very friendly, open and accessible. It’s important that the library is here. Our faculty can walk down the hall, take something and use it for a class. It’s a very hands-on library.”