Foreword

 

The first ever bibliography of Finnish music bibliographies and discographies was published in 1990. The new edition of 1998 has been published in printed (only in Finnish) and electronic format (Finnish and English versions). In the future only the electronic version will be up-dated. This second edition contains much new material, especially discographies of the popular music area.

 

The electronic bibliography of Finnish music bibliographies and discographies is not the only resource available. Special music databases with bibliographic information are in future even more important. Unfortunately there area only few of them in Finland in the end of 1990's. The biggest is FONO, database of the Record Library of Finnish Broadcasting Company. The FONO database contains information about acquisitions from 1974 on. Right now the users of FONO need an special agreement, but World Wide Web based use is possible in the future.

 

Another nationally important database is offered by Jyväskylä University Library. MUSTI database covers the Finnish sound recordings 1983-1992. The database is available via Internet free of charge. VIOLA database (offered by Helsinki University Library) contains information about Finnish printed music since 1977 and about Finnish sound recordings of 1990's. The database will in the future be the Finnish National Music Database, but unfortunately users of it need now a licence, which is not free of charge.

Traditional bibliographies cover much music material which is not included in these or any other databases in Finland. In addition there is still material, which are not covered by any catalogue, bibliography or database. E. g. the majority of Finnish printed music of the 19th century is quite poorly represented.

 

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This document has been up-dated 17.8.1998