Song Index

The Song Index is a searchable database of more than 17,000 song titles available at the Tacoma Public Library. A search will indicate if a song is included in a book or in the Sheet Music File (SMF). For song titles included in books, a search will retrieve a list of call numbers. While most of the books are housed at the Main Library (1102 Tacoma Avenue South), they can be reserved at any of the Tacoma Public Library branches. The Sheet Music File is available for in-library use at the Main Library during normal business hours.

Help on searching

Select the type of search you wish to perform:
Song Title Starting with
Enter your Title here:
Song Title Keyword
Enter your Title Keywords here:
Composer Last Name
Enter your Composer Keywords here:
Call Number
Enter your Call Number here:
Combination Searching

Search Methods Available:
Song Title Starting with: Look at an alphabetical list of song titles that begin with your word or phrase.
Song Title Keyword: Search the Song Title and Alternate Title fields for a specific keyword. Useful for finding every song title with art in its name. This search uses 'automatic right-hand truncation' as a default, so searching for art will also retrieve arts and artist as well as arthritis and but not heart. To just retrieve art and no variations, enter the word with a trailing space. For example, to retrieve art but not artists, enter the keyword search as "art " with a trailing space. The trailing space also prevents the retrieval of plurals or other variations. If you enter more than one word the search will be done as a keyword phrase search, with all words having to be present in the exact manner and order entered. A search for for love will find All for love but not All for the love of a girl. Single keyword searches will be most accurate.
Composer Last Name: Search for a last name keyword in the Composers field. Useful when the name of the song title is unknown but you know the name of the composer.
Call Number: Search for a call number of the book where the song title is indexed. Useful primarily for library staff searching.
Combination: The Combination search combines one or more of the previous searches for a very precise retrieval. Enter information in the preceding search keys, click on the Combination button, and perform a search which will display only titles matching all your searches.


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