Whittaker Library
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The Whittaker Library contains one of the most comprehensive collections of performance materials for music, dance, drama, production and film in the UK and internationally.
The Whittaker Library is named after Dr William Gillies Whittaker, the first principal of the Scottish National Academy of Music (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).
Our collections offer a mix of print and electronic content and it’s all searchable via our Library Discovery Service.
We offer access to thousands of e-resources via our Catalogue for E-Books, and thousands of additional e-resources via Catalogue Plus. You can also check out our E-resource database listing and our E-journal titles in the drop-downs further down on this page.
If you have any Library-related questions, please email library@rcs.ac.uk.
Opening Hours
Our Term-time opening hours are:
Monday-Thursday: 845am-830pm
Friday: 845am-6pm
Saturday: 9am-4pm
Sunday: 12-4pm
Term-time opening hours will be in effect from Monday 23rd September – Friday 13th December.
Stay in touch with the library
Ask a Librarian – RCS staff and students can make an appointment to speak to one of our librarians
- Library Blog: Whittaker Live!
- Library Twitter: Whittaker Library
- Library Instagram: @rcs_whittakerlib
- Email: library@rcs.ac.uk
Download Our Library Support Guide
We know that sometimes library users can encounter barriers to access, often due to a disability, learning difference, neurodiversity or health condition. We have a range of helpful services available for anyone needing some extra support. Read our Library Support Guide to find out more about library accessibility and the extra help and support that’s available.
Diversifying the Library Collections
The Library is committed to counter contemporary and historic racism and inequality in our collections. We will endeavour to build inclusive collections, reflective of the global performing artist talent pool, and the RCS stance on anti-racism and injustice. We welcome your comments and contributions to this work.
Archives & Collections
Since its foundation as the Glasgow Athenaeum in 1847, the Conservatoire’s archives have accrued many important collections of instruments, manuscripts, artworks, photographs, performance ephemera and memorabilia that provide extraordinary insight into the heritage of RCS and the arts in Scotland. You can find out more about our Archive & organise a visit on the dedicated Archives & Collections page.
Library Policies
Databases
Resources available for students, staff, and eligible visitors
*Institutional login required for external access
American Psychological Association (APA) PsycArticles*
African American Music Reference*
Art Song Transpositions (not available outside RCS building)
Audio Drama: The L.A. Theatre Works Collection*
BabelScores (for offsite access please ask Library for password)
BBC Literary Adaptations in Video*
Bloomsbury Dress & Costume Library*
British Library Newspapers Parts I and II (1800-1900)*
British Library Sounds * (currently not accessible)
Classical Music Reference Library*
Classical Performance in Video*
Dance Online: Dance Studies Collection*
Film & TV Literature Index with full text *
The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music Online*
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance (with Full Text)*
IPA Source International Phonetic Alphabet – transcriptions and translations of songs and arias.
National Theatre Collection: volumes 1 & 2*
National Theatre Collection: volume 3*
Naxos Music Library (internal access)
includes access to Naxos Musicology International
Naxos Music Library (external access- Please ask Library for password)
includes access to Naxos Musicology International
Naxos Music Library Jazz (internal access)
Naxos Music Library Jazz (external access- Please ask Library for password)
Nineteenth Century UK Periodicals Part I*
Oxford Bibliographies – Music*
Oxford Music Online* (including Grove Music)
Performance Design Archive Online*
Planet eStream* (Please note that due to licensing restrictions imposed by broadcasters, some content may not be available outside of the UK)
Pro Sound Effects (Please ask the Library for username and password)
The Royal Shakespeare Company Collection*
Screen Studies* (access to Bloomsbury and Faber Screenplays and Criticism and BFI Film Studies)
Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Burney Newspapers Collection*
Smithsonian Global Sound for Libraries*
Stan Winston Schoolof Character Arts (Please ask the Library for username and password)
Teachers TV from Education in Video*
Theatre in Context Collection*
Web of Science (including Arts & Humanities Citation Index)
E-Journals
Electronic Journal Collections:
*Institutional login required for external access
E-Journals by Subject
Below are a sample of the e-journals we have access to. To find more related to your specific discipline go to our Subject Guides or use Catalogue Plus to search collectively.
Music | Dance | Drama & Musical Theatre | Film | Production | Education (all disciplines)
Music
19th Century Music (1977-2019)
Acta Musicologica (1931-2019)
African Music (1954-2017)
American Music (1983-2020)
American Music Teacher (1951-2019)
Applications of Research in Music Education (1999 onwards)
Asian Music (1968-2017)
Bach (1970-2019)
Black Music Research Journal (1980-2016)
British Journal of Ethnomusicology (1992-2003)
British Journal of Music Therapy (1999 onwards)
Cambridge Opera Journal (1989 onwards)
Choral Journal, The (1959-2021)
Computer Music Journal (1977-2017)
Contemporary Music Review (all content)
Early Music (1996 onwards)
Early Music (1973-2017)
Early Music History (1981 onwards)
Early Music History (1981-2017)
Eighteenth-Century Music (all content)
Ethnomusicology (1953-2018)
Ethnomusicology (2006 onwards)
Ethnomusicology Forum (1997 onwards)
Folklore (1997 onwards)
Folk Music Journal (1965-2019)
Fontes Artis Musicae (1954-2021)
Galpin Society Journal, The (1948-2017)
General Music Today (1999 onwards)
Gramophone (all content)
International Journal of Community Music (all content)
Jazz Perspectives (all content)
Jazzwise (all content)
Journal of Music Therapy (1996 onwards)
Journal of Music Theory (1957-2017)
Journal of Musical Arts in Africa (all content)
Journal of Musicology, The (1982-2019)
Journal of Musicological Research (1997 onwards)
Journal of New Music Research (1997 onwards)
Journal of Popular Music Studies (1997-2017)
Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (1932-1964)
Journal of the International Folk Music Council (1949-1968)
Journal of the Royal Musical Association (2015 onwards)
Journal of the Royal Musical Association (1986-2017)
Journal of the Society for American Music (all content)
Latin American Music Review / Revista de Musica Latinoamericana (1980-2019)
Lied und populäre Kultur / Song and Popular Culture (2000-2018)
Medical Problems of Performing Artists (all content)
Music Analysis (all content)
Music and Letters (1996 onwards)
Music and Letters (1920-2017)
Music and the Moving Image (2008-2019)
Music in Art (1998-2019)
Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal (1983-2019)
Music Teacher (all content)
Music Theory Spectrum (1996 onwards)
Music Theory Spectrum (1979-2019)
Music Therapy Perpectives (1996 onwards)
Musica Disciplina (1948-2018)
Musical Quarterly (1996 onwards)
Musical Times, The (1904-2019)
Musicology Australia (1997 onwards)
Nineteenth-Century Music Review (2004 onwards)
Notes (1934-2019)
Opera (all content)
Opera Now (all content)
Opera Quarterly (1996 onwards)
Organised Sound (all content)
Perspectives of New Music (1962-2015)
Plainsong and Medieval Music (1992 onwards)
Popular Music (1981 onwards)
Popular Music & Society (1997 onwards)
Psychology of Music (1999 onwards)
Psychomusicology (1981 onwards)
Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle (2015 onwards)
Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle (1978-2017)
Scottish Music Review (all content)
Sound Studies (all content)
The Strad (all content)
Tempo (1939 onwards)
Twentieth-Century Music (all content)
World of Music, The (1957-2022)
Yearbook for Traditional Music (2012 onwards)
Yearbook for Traditional Music (1981-2018)
Dance
Arts & Health (all content)
Dance Chronicle (1997 onwards)
Dance Europe (Aug/Sept 2020 onwards – request username and password from Library)
Dance Research (2000 onwards)
Dance Research Journal (2007 onwards)
Dancing Times (all content)
Journal of Dance Medicine & Science (all content)
Medical Problems of Performing Artists (all content)
Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (all content)
Drama & Musical Theatre
Applied Theatre Research (all content)
Broadside (all content)
Comedy Studies (all content)
Contemporary Theatre Review (1997 onwards)
Dramatherapy (1999-2023)
Dramatherapy (2024 onwards)
International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media (all content)
Journal of Beckett Studies (2000 onwards)
Medical Problems of Performing Artists (all content)
Musicals Magazine (all content)
New Theatre Quarterly (NTQ) (1985 onwards)
Nineteenth Century Theatre & Film (all content)
PAJ : A Journal of Performance and Art (all content)
Performance Research (1997 onwards)
Scottish Journal of Performance (all content)
Shakespeare (all content)
South African Theatre Journal (1997 onwards)
The Stage (all content)
Stanislavski Studies (all content)
Studies in Musical Theatre (all content)
Studies in Theatre & Performance (1997 onwards)
TDR : The Drama Review (1999-2020)
TDR: The Drama Review (2021 onwards)
Text and Performance Quarterly (1997 onwards)
Theatre, Dance and Performance Training (all content)
Theatre Journal (all content)
Theatre Record (all content) includes access to Doollee an online database of playwrights and theatre plays
Theatre Research International (1975 onwards)
Theatre Survey (1960 onwards)
Total Theatre (all content)
Youth Theatre Journal (1997 onwards)
Film
Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Television Studies (all content)
Film International: Journal of World Cinema (2011 – 2013)
Film Matters (2011 vol.2 – 2013)
Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television (all content)
Journal of British Cinema and Television (all content)
Journal of Chinese Cinema (all content)
Journal of Popular Film and Television (1997 onwards)
Journal of Screenwriting (2011-2013)
New Review of Film & Television Studies (all content)
Nineteenth Century Theatre & Film (all content)
Screen (1996 onwards)
Sight and Sound (2005 onwards)
Studies in Australasian Cinema (all content)
Studies in Documentary Film (all content)
Studies in Eastern European Cinema (all content)
Studies in European Cinema (all content)
Studies in French Cinema (all content)
Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema (all content)
Studies in World Cinema (all content)
Television and New Media (all content)
Transnational Screens (all content)
Production
Art In Translation (all content)
Clothing and Textiles Research Journal (1999 onwards)
Costume (2000 onwards)
Design and Culture (all content)
Design Journal (all content)
Dress (The Journal of the Costume Society of America) (1997 onwards)
Fashion Practice (all content)
Fashion Theory (all content)
Home Cultures (all content)
Interiors: Design, Architecture & Culture (all content)
Journal of Visual Culture (all content)
Prosthetics Magazine (all content – onsite access only)
The Stage (all content)
TEXTILE: Cloth and Culture (all content)
Textile History (1997 onwards)
Theatre and Performance Design (all content)
Education (all disciplines)
Action in Teacher Education (1997 onwards)
Action Learning: Research & Practice (all content)
Active Learning in Higher Education (all content)
Art Education (1997 onwards)
Arts Education Policy Review (1997 onwards)
Arts and Humanities in Higher Education (all content)
British Journal of Educational Studies (1997 onwards)
British Journal of Music Education (1984 onwards)
British Journal of Sociology of Education (1997 onwards)
Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education (1963-2019)
Cambridge Journal of Education (1997 onwards)
Contributions to Music Education (1972-2021)
Critical Studies in Education (1997 onwards)
Curriculum Journal (1997 onwards)
Dance Education in Practice (all content)
Deafness & Education International (all content)
Distance Education (2015 onwards)
Drama Research: International Journal of Drama in Education (current year access – request username and password from Library)
Educational Forum, The (1997 onwards)
Educational Research (1997 onwards)
Educational Review (1997 onwards)
Educational Studies (1997 onwards)
Ethics and Education (all content)
European Journal of Teacher Education (1997 onwards)
Gender and Education (1995 onwards)
Higher Education (1997 onwards)
Higher Education Research and Development (1997 onwards)
Intercultural Education (1997 onwards)
International Journal of Disability, Development and Education (1997 onwards)
International Journal of Education Through Art (all content)
International Journal of Music Education (1999 onwards)
International Journal of Research and Method in Education (1997 onwards)
Journal of Continuing Higher Education, The (1997 onwards)
Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy (all content)
Journal of Curriculum Studies (1997 onwards)
Journal of Dance Education (all content)
Journal of Diversity in Higher Education (2008 onwards)
Journal of Education for Teaching (1995 onwards)
Journal of Education Policy (1997 onwards)
Journal of Educational Research, The (1997 onwards)
Journal of Experimental Education, The (1997 onwards)
Journal of Further and Higher Education (1997 onwards)
Journal of Higher Education, The (1997 onwards)
Journal of Historical Research in Music Education (1999 onwards)
Journal of Learning Disabilities (1999 onwards)
Journal of Music Teacher Education (1999 onwards)
Journal of Music, Technology & Education (all content)
Journal of Popular Music Education (all content)
Journal of Research in Music Education (1999 onwards)
Journal of Research in Music Education (1953-2019)
Journal of Teacher Education (1999 onwards)
Music Educators Journal (1999 onwards)
Music Educators Journal (1934-2019)
Music Education Research (all content)
Music Teacher (all content)
New Educator, The (all content)
Oxford Review of Education (1997 onwards)
Philosophy of Music Education Review (1993-2019)
Research in Dance Education (all content)
Research in Drama Education (1997 onwards)
Research in Higher Education (1997 onwards)
Research Papers in Education (1997 onwards)
Research Studies in Music Education (1999 onwards)
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies (1997 onwards)
Scottish Educational Review (all content)
Studies in Higher Education (all content)
Studying Teacher Education (all content)
Teacher Education and Special Education (1999 onwards)
Teaching Artist Journal (all content)
Teaching in Higher Education (1997 onwards)
Visual Inquiry (all content)
