My Library has disappeared. iTunes doesn't see my music on external drive

I use a work computer so I have been using an external drive to store my iTunes Library. It's been working fine for the last couple of months, but for some reason this evening when I launched iTunes, my library was empty and an iTunes pop-up window appeared that said:
The iPod “my iPod” is synced with another iTunes library. An iPod can be
synced with only one iTunes library at a time. What would you like to do?
“Erase and Sync” replaces the contents of this iPod with the contents of
this iTunes library.
“Transfer Purchases” copies iTunes Store purchases this computer is
authorized to play from this iPod to this iTunes library.
The pop up window had three buttons that read: "Cancel", "Erase and Sync", and "Transfer Purchases."
There haven't been any changes to the configuration of my computer that I'm aware of, and when I search for my external drive using "My Computer" I don't have a problem locating my external drive and seeing the music files.
How can I fix this problem without making it worse? I don't want to "Transfer Purchases," because I'm pretty sure this will simply create a second Library and make matters worse. Can anyone help me?

Did you save a copy of the itunes database ITL file? that is what itunes uses to find the paths to your music.
Also, you don't need to move one folder at a time. You can drag the top-level folder into itunes, or use add > Folder.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

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My Library has disappeared. iTunes doesn't see my music on external drive

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