Research Library

Museum of Portable Sound Research Library logo

Origins of the Research Library

As Seen In A PhD

Our museum’s collections were born out of the research process. In fact, the Museum of Portable Sound (MOPS) was originally established as a creative research tool to investigate whether it was possible to operate a cultural institution that displayed sounds as its objects within the parameters of accepted museum theory and practice. MOPS served as the subject of our Director’s cross-disciplinary PhD thesis, Listening to Museums: Sounds as Objects of Culture and Curatorial Care (2020).

Through a three-year process of trial and error guided by visitor feedback, MOPS found its place as a museum dedicated to sound studies ‘beyond music’, and increasingly, contemporary and historical acoustemology – ‘an interdisciplinary area of study dedicated to understanding … sounds, hearers, and listeners in their historical contexts’ (Mansell, 2021). This focus on both past and present histories of sounds, hearing, and listening continues to guide our library’s acquisitions process.

Research Library Online Catalogue – FREE Access

Now you can search our library online with Zotero! Message us your Zotero account's email address and we will add you to the access list.

The MOPS Research Library currently holds over 1,500 books, articles, patents, manuals, audio recordings, and ephemera, in both physical and digital formats. It not only contains resources related to the study of sound but also museology and experimental curatorial practices.

We have catalogued our library’s materials using Zotero, industry-standard software for researchers and librarians, and have made our library’s holdings accessible online as an invite-only Zotero Group Library.

Getting FREE Access

To search our Research Library Catalogue online, you will need to create a free Zotero account.

Once you have your Zotero account, simply message us to let us know the email address you use with Zotero, and we will add you to the access list. We won’t use, sell, or share your email address for any other purposes.

Message Us For Free Online Access

Download original Guide

In October 2021 we published the first edition of our Research Library Catalogue, a bibliography organised into over fifty cross-disciplinary subject areas.

While this guide may still be useful, it is no longer updated. For access to the complete and current Research Library Online Catalogue, please join the Zotero Group Library mentioned above. This version of the Catalogue is preserved here for archival purposes.

Download our original Research Library Catalogue

Collection Highlights

Browse a selection of notable items held in our Research Library at Museum of Portable Sound Laboratories in Southsea, Portsmouth, UK.

Feaster, P. (2012) Pictures of sound: one thousand years of educed audio: 980-1980, Atlanta, GA, Dust-to-Digital. Includes 1xCD.
Järviluoma, H., Uimonen, H., Vikman, N. and Kytö, M. (2010) Acoustic environments in change – Introducing the study of six European village soundscapes in transition, Järviluoma, H. and Schafer, R. M. (eds.), Tampere, Tampereen ammattikorkeakoulu. Donated by Meri Kytö.
Bonk, E. and Duchamp, M. (1989) Marcel Duchamp, The portable museum: the making of the Boı̂te-en-valise de ou par Marcel Duchamp ou Rrose Selavy, London, Thames & Hudson.
Thakkar, U. (2021) Congress Radio: Usha Mehta and the Underground Radio Station of 1942, India, Penguin Random House India. Donated by Jigisha Patil.
Procter, A. (2020) The whole picture: the colonial story of the art in our museums & why we need to talk about it, London, Cassell.
Mansell, J. (2017) The age of noise in Britain: hearing modernity / James G. Mansell., Studies in sensory history, Urbana, University of Illinois Press, 2017.
Murray, W. and Wingfield, J. H. (1975) Say the sound. [4c], London, Ladybird.
Donated by Dr Louise Gray.
Fish, M. P. and Mowbray, W. H. (1970) Sounds of western North Atlantic fishes: a reference file of biological underwater sounds, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins Pr. 2xCD of original recordings donated by the Graduate School of Oceanography Library, University of Rhode Island.
Bove, T. (2009) iPod and iTunes For Dummies, 7th Edition., John Wiley & Sons. Donated by Ryan Sarnowski.
Candlin, F. (2015) Micromuseology: An Analysis of Small Independent Museums, First edition, London, Bloomsbury Publishing.
Papenburg, J. G. and Schulze, H. (eds.) (2016) Sound as popular culture: a research companion, Cambridge, Massachussets, The MIT Press.
Meijer, E. (2019) When animals speak: toward an interspecies democracy, New York, New York University Press. Donated by Lara Torres.

Got something you’d like to donate to our Research Library? Contact us!

Digital Image Library Highlights

Our social media accounts contain significant amounts of research – links, historic images, and our museum’s own creative output creating sound-related memes. Our Research library also keeps an archive of all the digital images we post across social media. Below is a gallery of some of our most popular (and/or infamous) meme images at the intersection of sonic and online culture.

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