“Development of an online database of the scholarly output of Polish musicologists and music theorists”
is the title of a project co-financed from the state budget under the programme “Social Responsibility of Science II - Support for Scientifical Libraries” of the Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Polish Republic.
Date of signing the agreement: 18 December 2024
Amount of funding: PLN 64,680.00; total project budget: PLN 77,280.00
The aim of the project is to develop a modern database providing information on the scholarly literature of Polish musicologists and music theorists. The work is based on the existing resources of the Research Library of the Polish Composers’ Union, including:
1) its extensive book collection, which allows many items to be catalogued on the basis of direct examination, 2) previously collected data on the scholarly output of Polish musicologists and music theorists, which — in the absence of a modern database — had been stored in simpler environments that did not allow full use of this resource, 3) the experience and infrastructure developed during the creation of a database on contemporary compositional output.
In developing a database tailored to the specific nature of Polish musicological resources, we draw on the experience and procedures established during the creation of a modern relational database on compositional output. That project was carried out in 2020–2021 and culminated in the launch and public presentation — in September 2021, during the Musicological Conference at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn — of an open-access online database now known as “Nowa Muzyka Polska”.
Since its first public presentation until the end of 2025, the database had been freely accessible at:
https://www.bazapolmic.infoforhumans.eu/index.php
and provided data on composers and musical works.
The database is currently being expanded with a new, large module, “Theoretical Works”, and the persons database has been extended to include music theorists and musicologists. The decision to integrate and expand the databases into a single, unified tool was motivated by a concern for efficiency and user convenience. The integrated system will enable simultaneous searching of both music-related literature and examples of theoretical concepts, as well as their applications in the works of Polish composers.
The database currently operates as a dedicated section on the website of the ZKP Research Library; its visual design and functionalities have been modernised.
