These are a great place to start. They can give you a basic biography and a few sources to consult. Except in special circumstances, you will not want to cite to these sources in your works cited for an academic paper.
This link opens in a new windowUniversally acknowledged as the unsurpassed authority on all aspects of music. Grove Music Online comprises the full text of The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London, 2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (London, 1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, second edition, edited by Barry Kernfeld (London, 2002).
This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new windowYour first source for both physical and and electronic books is the Cook Library Catalog. If you really want a book, but cannot find it at Towson, consider looking for it in the USMAI system or ordering it through inter-library loan using WorldCat. Chat or email a librarian if you are having trouble.
Like most academic libraries Cook library uses the Library of Congress cataloguing system. That means that books or scores are grouped together by topic. If you go to where these items are located on the shelf you will probably find other related books.
Below you'll find links to electronic books and scores.
This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new window This link opens in a new windowThis collection contains a large selection of ebook titles representing a broad range of academic subjects, including arts and humanities, business, literature, social sciences, sciences, and technology. Books range in audience level from basic introductory texts to scholarly monographs. Titles are from a wide range of publishers, including Cambridge University Press, Harvard University Press, MIT Press, Oxford University Press, Sage Publications, Springer, Wiley, and more.
Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings by 
