Organized in thirteen series: Series 1, University of Illinois Ensembles; Series 2, Faculty Recitals; Series 3, Student Recitals; Series 4, Festival of Contemporary Arts, 1953-1978; Series 5, Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra; Series 6, Convocations, Symposia, Forums and Guest Recitals; Series 7, Special Requests and Donations; Series 8, Card Catalogs; Series 9, Transcription Discs; Series 10: DAT Sound Recordings; Series 11: F1 Audio and Betamax Video Recordings; Series 12: CD-R and DVD Sound Recordings, 1951-2009; and Series 13: Rex Anderson Master Recordings, 1977-1991.
Recordings in series 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8 are arranged by call numbers as originally assigned by the Music and Performing Arts Library, which begin with a MO number or Music Archive Tape number. All items included within these series that do not have identifying numbers are arranged chronologically at the end of the series. Recordings in Series 4, Series 7, Series 9, Series 10, and Series 11 are arranged chronologically, with the exception of the end of Series 7, which contains items arranged by call number beginning with the letter "R". Series 9 in particular, has been arranged chronologically rather than by record label number because several of the original label numbers duplicate, many are missing, many appear out of order, and the record labels changed in early 1949 from a four digit label (ex. 5000/5001) to a single digit label (ex. 1/2). Series 12 is arranged by item number as originally assigned by the School of Music Audio Department, and is largely, though not consistently, chronological by recording creation. Some cases include duplicate recordings of concerts, each assigned a unique item number despite sharing the same archival number. Some recordings dated prior to 2000 are noted as remastered copies, reel-to-reel transfers, and DAT to CD-R transfers. Series 13 is arranged alphabetically by the performer's surname, enabling users to browse the collection by musician.
Note: Cards in Series 8 include all extant cards from the Music and Performing Arts Library that correspond to the recordings; cards marked "Withdrawn" indicate tapes that were deaccessioned based on their being duplicates or on other appraisal decisions.