Abstract
This qualitative study uses document analysis to explore the description of archival music materials in 35 online finding aids for music collections, including single-level and multi-level finding aids. A group of 29 codes was developed and applied across the sample to determine the characteristics related to music materials that were most frequently described. Findings include “date” as the most frequently described characteristic, with format of materials being the second. Regarding differences between description of sound recordings and notated music, this study also finds that date was more frequently described for notated music and format more frequently for sound recordings.