Providing a national resource: The management of music manuscripts in the UK.

This article seeks to identify the major issues in the management of music manuscripts within the UK. With knowledge of current practice gained through the investigation of five case study repositories, from both archive and library domains, aspects of management are explored and considered within an archival context. Three major aspects of management are identified—collecting (collecting policies, storage and preservation), describing (finding aids, standards) and providing (access, outreach)—and each of the five case studies is tailored to fit these key areas. Exploration of these issues facilitates the ultimate aim of producing an approach to better, more consistent methods in this neglected area. Suggestions for improvement include the development of specific standards or guidelines for preservation and description, and the establishment of a specialist, cross-domain working group, prompting formal networking between the music library professional body, the International Association of Music Libraries, and representatives from other domains. The continued development of collaborative music resources such as Cecilia is also found to be key to the unified provision of user access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]