I was thinking that it may be a good idea to put up a page outlining the copyright research method, including resources which help (library links, databases of renewals, etc). This would make it much easier for new admins to start doing copyright review
Post any thoughts, suggestions, etc. in this thread.
My 2 most-used resources for this are Grove music online (requires a subscription; many universities purchase access to this database), used for finding when a certain piece was written. And the WorldCat, also another subscription database, but again many universities have access, for determining when a piece was published. If it was ever printed and ever existed, it's safe to assume the WorldCat has a record of it.
This page (http://imslp.org/wiki/IMSLP:Verifying_copyright_status) exists already a considerable time and is devoted to this topic! my successful method is a library catalogue that gives plate numbers, contents, editors, etc (juilcat is probably the most complete) together with sheetmusicplus.
I don't find Worldcat very useful as it is frequently lacking plate numbers, editors and dates. I can access it without university connection - is there a difference in services provided?
Dating and detail of info provided on WorldCat varies wildly. A simple example is to be found with Kalmus scores. Dates are given anywhere from the 1800s to present, despite the fact that the company wasn't founded until 1929. Plate numbers are treated in much the same way: Some librarians are very precise and accurate in their descriptions while others only describe a title in the most general terms imagineable.
The Fuld book is excellent for those relatively few titles he covers, and he does have some plate number, changes in currencies, agencies, etc. that can be helpful in dating a score. Hopkinson has useful bibliographies of Berlioz, Gluck, Verdi and Puccini.
Last but not least, the plate number listings here at IMSLP are getting better all the time. We now have fairly long runs for Durand, Breitkopf, Jurgenson and Peters. I plan to add more over time. Hopefully, as more things are added by the collective wisdom here, we'll end up with IMSLP being an excellent resource for dating any score one comes across.
