The first example you cite is generally called a library shelfmark--it's
what tells librarians where a particular item is located in their
collection. It varies from library to library.
"Olim" is Latin for "once upon a time" or "formerly" . . . something
that used to be shelved under "Mf. 2004" but got moved to its new
location, "RM 4137". The older number is still useful since people might
be using older references.
I cite this particular manuscript with the full RISM siglum in my
database
(http://applications.library.appstate.edu/music/lute/C18/1700.html) as:
PL-Wu Ms. RM 4137 (olim Ms. Mf. 2004) [beginning of the 18th century-1735]
"Grissau MSS" (Grissau [Krzeszów, Poland]) [RISM B/VII p. 368 (as Mf.
2003); SMT III/2 p. 190]
11- and 13-course lute in French tablature
(Note Boetticher got the shelfmark wrong--not unusual, unfortunately.)
So the actual location, according to RISM, is PL (Poland), W (Warsaw), u
(Biblioteka Uniwersytecka, Oddział Zbiorów Muzycznych). That siglum
(Lat. "sign") should always be used when referring to the manuscript.
In short, just saying "RM 4137" doesn't say which library owns it; PL-Wu
Ms. RM 4137 does.
I hope this clears things up a bit,
Gary
--
Dr. Gary R. Boye
Professor and Music Librarian
Appalachian State University
I am not a musicologist, so please forgive my ignorance.
But I am
confused, sometimes manuscripts are identified by notations such as,
e.g. "RM 4137 olim Mf 2004" and sometimes as, e.g. "A-Wn MusHS
17706" - which makes a lot more sense to me, because I realize this
gives the country, and library location.
Are the two methods of
identifying manuscripts mutually exclusive? Or does each manuscript
have an identifier of each type? If there a source to translate one
ID to the other? Thanks for any explanation-
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