The Cary Town Band music library consists of over 400 pieces printed as separate selections and another 150 pieces printed in collections in small books. The director and music librarian maintain a catalog of all the printed music available in the music library. The catalog indicates the assigned library number and published title of each piece. For a more complete description of this catalog, see Cary Town Band Policies Section II.a. The music catalog is usually sorted in two orders: (1) Library Number order where the sheet music is listed first followed, if at all, by the books and their contents; (2) Published Title alphabetical order that allows leading numbers in the title to be properly sorted, with numerals preceding letters. This latter listing includes all titles in the library from both sheet music and book contents.

The catalog listings, sorted in both orders, is periodically distributed to members as printed pages or as Excel spreadsheets. This allows members to share and translate music lists by naming only library numbers. This is made available so that members and non-members may peruse the library and, perhaps, make requests for works to be included in concerts. In the near future, this page will also have a section where at least the Published Title lexicographic order for the entire library including book contents is presented along with the composer names.

The two orders of catalog listings described above are also included here and may be printed out for your use. The light green shading for some entries indicate those selections that are currently included in the "Instant Concert Folder", maintained by each band member.

The total library itself is maintained as a “semi-distributed library”, divided between one central library location, holding the bulk of the pieces (maintained by the music librarian); and individual music folders (maintained by each member) holding the music for the "Next Concert", a few "Future Concerts", and a collection of pieces maintained in an "Instant Concert" Folder for use on short notice or smaller concerts.

The practices used to move pieces from the central library to members' folders, vice versa, and among members' folders is detailed in the Cary Town Band Policies, Section II.b.

In addition to the printed music, there are another 600 selections (with a little duplication) of strictly public domain music available as scanned pdf files that can be printed as needed. A catalog of these files may be accessed here. If you have an interest in reading any particular selection, you should contact the music librarian or the director to gain access to the related pdf files.

Requests for works to be scheduled should be made to the Director in writing, e.g., via email. A few ground rules apply, however:

• All requests must be selected from the existing library, as detailed in either the printed music catalog or the scanned music catalog.
• If the requestor believes the request fits into an already scheduled theme, or is suitable as an “anchor piece” for a future theme selection, this should be made known along with the request.
• If the request fits neither of the criteria above, a specific concert date may be requested that is no sooner than two months from the date of the request.
• Works with multiple requests will receive higher priority for inclusion.
• The final decision for inclusion remains with the director.
• If a request is scheduled, the requestor will be notified, usually via an email, of the date on which the request will be included.
• If a request is deemed unsuitable, for whatever reason, the requestor will be notified of that decision, usually via an email.