Not all the respondents in those countries were aware of these guidelines. The German guidelines were published in 1978 and are now out of print. The US guidelines are the most comprehensive and are prepared by the Music Library Association. Both sets cover books, scores and sound recordings. The German guidelines are aimed at public libraries, the US ones are intended to be comprehensive.
Informal guidelines exist in the Netherlands and Denmark - mainly covering sound recordings.
Several libraries commented that their range of acquisitions was so specialised and limited that guidelines on core collections were not of relevance to them. This was particularly true of Music Information Centres and music archives, and of broadcasting and orchestral libraries. In other cases, libraries commented that budget limitations rendered core collections irrelevant to them. Existing published guidelines should ultimately be transferred to a World Wide Web site and maintained on a regular basis. There was more evidence of co-operative acquisition between libraries.