Peter Shirts

Education

• MS, Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• BM, Music Education, Brigham Young University
• MA, Musicology, University of Michigan

Professional Profile

Peter Shirts joined the Robert W. Woodruff Library in June 2017 as the Music Librarian and added Dance in 2021.

Peter earned a M.S. in Library Science at the School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Carolina Academic Library Associate (CALA) working in the music library. His Master’s paper investigated using circulation and interlibrary loan data to inform future subsection-level collection development in a subject library. He also was a Junior Fellow Intern at the Library of Congress in the Music Division.

Prior to becoming a librarian, Peter earned a M.A. in Musicology from the University of Michigan, where his studies focused on the music of Claude Debussy. He also has a B.M. in Music Education, with a capstone recital that featured clarinet, bass clarinet, vocal performance, and composition. Other music research subjects include popular music and culture, traditional Celtic music, and the music of Percy Grainger. He has performed in bands, orchestras, choirs, Celtic ensembles, and Balinese gamelan ensembles; he also founded and led a Klezmer ensemble.

From 2014 to 2017, Peter worked as Music and Audiovisual Librarian and Acting Head of the Sinclair Department at the University of Hawaii at Manoa (UHM), including teaching the Musical Research and Bibliography course for all incoming UHM music graduate students.

Peter is an active member of the Music Library Association (MLA) and currently serves on several MLA committees. He also sings with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Library research interests include streaming media and music preservation.