Using standard bibliographies

Lists of bibliographic references can be added in various contexts in MerMEId: As a general bibliography to the work described in your file (e.g., references to the composer's letters about this work, or a list of historic/analytic literature on the work; such lists may be added at the Bibliography tab), or on individual performances either as a list of reviews or a list of evidence for that particular performance (like concert programs, announcements, or references to secondary literature; this kind of list is edited in the performance details editor, available with each performance at the History tab).

When adding a new reference in the general bibliography using the add button (if there are no references yet, you may need to create a bibliography first by clicking the " Add bibliography" button), a menu appears to let you choose the type of material for your reference – a letter, book, article etc.:

However, projects will often need to refer to the same standard literature frequently. To make such frequently used references readily available, general or even collection-specific lists of standard references may be created. In that case the reference add menu will offer you these references as well instead of just the empty references types. It may look something like this:

To create a list of standard references, open the settings menu by clicking the settings icon and choose "Edit standard bibliographic references". This opens the standard bibliography editor:

The uppermost select box lets you choose among the existing standard reference lists. There may be one for each file collection. If you are not using file collections, only the "General" list, visible in all collections, is available. (Remember that file collections are created simply by typing something in the "File collection" field at the editor's File tab). When choosing an existing list, please note that it may take a little while to retrieve the desired list.

If you do use file collections, but have not created any reference lists for them yet, they will be available in the lower select box. Choose the desired file collection and click the "Add" button to create an empty list for it.

Use the " Add reference" button and select the appropriate reference type to add the first reference to the list.

By default, reference details are hidden give you an overview of your list. Click the "Show details" button to edit the reference data.

When you are finished editing references, click the "Save and close" button to save your list and return to the main editor. Whenever you are editing files from this collection, your standard references will be available when adding references at the Bibliography tab and in the performances evidence lists.

After adding a reference from the list, edit it as necessary by adding, for instance, the page numbers relevant in this place.

• Please note: The list of standard bibliographic references is simply a tool for fast input of frequently used information to save you from entering it manually again and again. It does not provide a database for centralized storage of bibliographic information, but simply puts a copy of the selected reference into your file. So, correcting a typo in the standard reference list does not automatically correct it in the files where you have already placed a copy of the reference.