Hemlines perform in the basement of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.

Punk at the Library

May 1, 2017

What started as an archive to document Washington, D.C.’s fabled punk music history evolved into wider support of the city’s current music scene, including hosting basement shows—a punk staple—in the library itself. Librarians Michele Casto, Bobbie Dougherty, and Margaret Gilmore of D.C. Public Library (DCPL) explain how this unconventional venture increased visibility not only for … Continue reading Punk at the Library


Maureen Brunsdale (Photo: Lyndsie Schlink)

Bookend: Not Clowning Around

May 1, 2017

Don’t ask Brunsdale to name a favorite item; instead, “it’s the stories that draw me in,” she says, such as the contents of a 1907 letter from circus magnate Otto Ringling to his brothers, suggesting that they purchase the rival outfit of Barnum & Bailey. Among other highlights of the collection: an elephant harness and … Continue reading Bookend: Not Clowning Around


Hoopla’s catalog includes more than 500,000 items and is accessible by mobile app.

Online Streaming Options

November 1, 2016

Hoopla Hoopla, launched in 2013 by Midwest Tape, provides single-platform access to most major types of digital holdings: audiobooks, ebooks, video, and music. Patrons can access content either by streaming it from the Hoopla website or by using the mobile app, which allows both streaming and temporary downloads for offline access. Items are automatically removed … Continue reading Online Streaming Options


Frank Bridges, media studies doctoral student, and Christie Lutz, New Jersey regional studies librarian and head of public services in Special Collections and University Archives, with items in the New Brunswick Music Scene Archive at Rutgers University.

Rock in the Vault

May 2, 2016

The do-it-yourself ethos of the local music scene tells a story of dissent from mainstream culture, says Rutgers University media studies doctoral student Frank Bridges, who played in bands and ran his own record label in the 1980s and 1990s near the New Brunswick, New Jersey, campus. He thinks it’s a story worth preserving. Bridges’s … Continue reading Rock in the Vault


A music therapy student (a violinist) demonstrates how she experimented playing the Turkish spike fiddle before finding more official instructions.

Music without Borders

January 27, 2016

The answer, to be more precise than that 1st-grader, is “termites,” and the question was, “What hollows out the branch of the eucalyptus tree used to make the didgeridoo?” It’s one of the most organic world-music instruments around and easily one of the best known. The 1st-graders had just finished a unit on Australia, and … Continue reading Music without Borders


MusicFirst Student App

Making Music in Your Library

January 4, 2016

MusicFirst Student App Digital music education company MusicFirst has created an app that streamlines music education for students and teachers, using cloud-based solutions. The MusicFirst Student App allows students to continue their in-school music learning outside of the classroom. When connected to a school or library’s MusicFirst Online Classroom subscription, the app lets students view … Continue reading Making Music in Your Library


Eiko Otake offers a bowl of water to Russell Library Director Arthur Meyers. Otake’s performances often allow audience members to participate and react to elements of the dance.

Eiko Otake at Russell Library: “A Body in a Library”

December 31, 2015

“A Body in Places” is a two-year series of dance and movement performances that includes “A Body in Fukushima,” in which Otake danced in the vacant areas surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, damaged during the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in 2011, and “A Body in a Station,” first performed at Philadelphia’s 30th … Continue reading Eiko Otake at Russell Library: “A Body in a Library”





Image from Bookless at Madison Public Library in 2012

Becoming a Part of Art

June 30, 2015

Presenters Erinn Batykefer, program coordinator at New Canaan (Conn.) Library, Kara West, library arts and culture exhibition manager at San Diego Public Library, and Rebecca Hopman, outreach librarian at the Corning (N.Y.) Museum of Glass cited Madison (Wis.) Public Library’s 2012 Bookless art event, in which the library invited more than 100 artists to create … Continue reading Becoming a Part of Art


Photo: Henry Lim

Bookend: The Right Notes

September 1, 2014

The series has helped position the library as a center for creative cultural ­exchange within the UCLA and Los ­Angeles–area communities and has provided a ­pedagogical opportunity for faculty to perform with their students. “I’m rewarded by seeing the concentration and enjoyment on audience members’ faces, and the relief and excitement from the ­faculty and … Continue reading Bookend: The Right Notes