Dear Music Cataloger:
     Thank you for requesting the list of thematic indexes and
the list of reference works used by the Library of Congress for
formulating uniform titles.  The list of thematic indexes is
called THEMIN and the list of reference works is called NEWREF.
     The Music Cataloging Bulletin lists these works as either
reference works or thematic indexes (or catalogs).  After
struggling with titles such as A thematic catalog of the sacred
works of Giacomo Carissimi, by Ira Buff, which was listed as a
REFERENCE work in the Music Cataloging Bulletin, Vol. 12, no. 1,
I decided to take each citation at face value.  If the MCB lists
it as a REFERENCE work, I have listed it as a REFERENCE work.
This has caused at least one casualty, in that the catalog used
for Vivaldi (Fanna) was listed on the THEMATIC CATALOG list, but
its REPLACEMENT, by Ryom, was listed on the REFERENCE WORKS list.
Therefore, since the Ryom didn't REPLACE the Fanna on the thematic
index list, the impression that is given is that the FANNA is the
thematic index of choice for Vivaldi.  In this case, especially,
you may wish to "move things around" after receiving these files!
Also, the format of the citations was not entirely consistent
throughout the first 20 years of publishing the MCB.  I have
listed the citations as they were listed in the MCB, which means
that the thematic index citations which appeared in recent years
have no publication information.
     The call numbers listed in these lists are those listed in
the MCB.  In those cases when there was no call number listed
with the citation in the MCB, I often added the call number found
in the 050 field of the OCLC record.
     I listed the MCB from which the citation was taken for a
number of reasons.  In preparing this list, I often had a
question about something I had written, and, after adding the MCB
volume and number to each citation, the questions were MUCH more
easily answered.  In several cases, I never re-found the
citation, and these have no MCB information added!  Since the
documents I am sending you probably contain errors, even after
numerous proofreadings, the MCB information will help you solve
any problems which might arise from an incorrect entry.
     I have included a separate file called volumes.mcb, which is
a list of the Music Cataloging Bulletins which contain citations
of reference works or thematic indexes.
     To put this document to its best use, I suggest that you add
the new reference works and thematic indexes as they are
published in the Music Cataloging Bulletin.  (The latest MCB
included on the list you are receiving is Volume 23, no. 4.)
Hard copy lists of these documents have existed for quite
some time, but they are out-of-date as soon as another MCB is
published.  With this format, the music cataloger can keep an
updated list quite easily.
     The diacritical markings have been stripped from these ASCII
format files, and replaced with the alphabetic character alone.
     If you detect mistakes in these documents, please let me
know.  I will send mistake reports to anyone who requests them,
especially if I can do so via e-mail!
     I wish to thank Merry Bower of Kansas State University and
Sue Weiland of Wichita State University for ideas, suggestions
and advice on this project, and Rene Dulaney of Kansas State
University for hours of "footwork" for the project.
     Thanks again for your request, and happy cataloging!
 
                    Dr. Lois Kuyper-Rushing
                    Cataloging Dept.
                    Kansas State University Libraries
                    Manhattan KS   66506-1200
                    (913) 532-7435
                    BITNET: lkuyper@ksuvm