Did you know that the Grosvenor Room has a circulating collection of LP vinyl records? This music collection, housed in a Closed Stacks storage area, includes thousands of albums of ethnic, folk, classical, opera, jazz, rock and popular music, as well as musical anthologies of all genres. There are also recordings of poetry, speeches, and sound effects. The records are roughly from 1950 to 1985, although some are reissues of music from earlier eras.
There are two ways to search for vinyl records in the collection:
1.Use the online catalog and search for a musician or musical group and/or an album title as a keyword.
After you click search, the results page provides options on the left side to narrow by Format and/or Material Type. Select “Music LP” and “Phonograph Record” and click “Include” for each.
In the results list, a vinyl record will be noted by the little record icon and “Music LP” as the format:
Click on the title to view more information on the album, and to see if it is currently available.
If you’d like an overall view of the record collection, leave the search box blank and click search. On the next page you can choose Format and/or Material Type. Again, select “Music LP” and “Phonograph Record” and click “Include.” Over 11,000 records will be listed, and now you can choose a Subject to narrow down by music genre (i.e. Big band music).
2. If you are at the Central Library, you can also search the Record Index Card Catalog located in the Grosvenor Room. While more recent donations to the collection will not be listed in the cards, you can search for older items in the collection by album title, musician/musical group, and genre.
Once you have identified the LPs you’d like to check-out , just ask a Grosvenor Room Librarian for assistance and the records will be retrieved in minutes. LP records circulate for 7 days, and may be renewed twice.
The Grosvenor Room: Genealogy, Local History, Maps, Music & Rare Books 