There’s a new club starting up at Parkway Central Library! Please welcome the Vinyl Record Listening Club!

What does your club do?

We are going to get together, listen to, and discuss vinyl records! We’ll have a different theme or aspect of music we’re looking at each month. Attendees can bring their own records or request an album from our online or card catalogs. There aren’t a lot of places to listen to records aloud in the city, especially not for free. We’re hoping to build a third-place community around physical media and music listening through vinyl records. 

It can be hard to just sit and listen mindfully to music, so do feel free to bring a book, craft, puzzle, or activity to keep your hands occupied! Bring a friend! The more the merrier. 

Check out our first session, Kickoff Party: Vinyl Record Listening Club, to get more information about what we'll be listening to and what you can bring!

How often do you meet? 

Once a month, on the last Wednesday of the month!

When do you meet?

The club meets from 5:30–7:00 p.m. If there’s enough demand, we may expand our hours. 

Where do you meet?

In the Music Department! 

Do I need a library card to join?

You do not need a library card to join the Vinyl Record Listening Club (though our librarians always recommend you get one anyway).

Is there an age limit?

This is a club for adults only, you must be 18+ to spin records with us. Are you a teen between the ages of 12–18? Check out Field Teen Center’s event calendar to see if there’s a Teen Vinyl event happening! Librarian Jane is trying to get down there once a month with records. Most recently, we listened to various guitar records while decoupaging a retired Musical Instrument Collection guitar!

Do you need to know a lot about vinyl records to join?

Not at all! All you need to do is be curious, respectful, and down to listen to different types of music! We’re here for a good time and to learn new things together! There’s a broad scope of knowledge about vinyl records even within our Music Department librarians. Keep scrolling to see how our department librarians feel about vinyl!

How can I join the Vinyl Record Listening Club?

Show up to one of our sessions! And make sure to join our email list to get meeting reminders and to help us workshop our club name! We’re taking suggestions until our June 25 meeting, and then voting will begin!

Why vinyl records? 

The Music Department’s vinyl collection is in the thousands of LPs, only some of which are in our online catalog. We’re hoping to explore the collection and find neat things to listen to with like-minded listeners. Vinyl is amid a major comeback! The upswing is more commonly known as the vinyl revival or vinyl resurgence. According to Wikipedia: 

“The analogue format made of polyvinyl chloride had been the main vehicle for the commercial distribution of pop music from the 1950s until the 1980s when it was largely replaced by the cassette tape and then the compact disc (CD). After the turn of the millennium, CDs were partially replaced by digital downloads and then streaming services. However in the midst of this vinyl record sales were increasing and was growing at a quick rate by the early 2010s, eventually reaching levels not seen since the late 1980s in some territories.” 

Music Department Librarians' Experiences with Vinyl

Leanne F., Assistant Department Head: Leanne’s vinyl collection began about 15 years ago when her mom generously passed down boxes of records she rescued from the radio station at Princeton University, where she worked. They were clearing things out, and Leanne ultimately benefited! Since then, she’s slowly but steadily grown her collection. During grad school, Leanne sold records on eBay for a New Jersey record store and got a crash course in pressings, labels, and what makes certain vinyl truly special to collectors. Basically, she’s a big fan.

Leanne’s favorite vinyl moment: During the height of the pandemic, she dabbled in pressing her own (charmingly low-fidelity) records using a toy record maker.

Perry G., Music Librarian: Perry remembers sifting through his mom and dad's vinyl collection growing up in the 90s. Listening to his parents' copies of The Beatles' Revolver and Rolling Stone's Aftermath. He found out that the "dinosaur bands" actually had good songs beyond his parents' claims. There was his dad's Dark Side of the Moon when he got older. And Yes's Fragile when he started playing bass as a tween. The first record he bought was Poison's Look What the Cat Dragged In, which he never actually played. He held its classic cover over his beautiful face for his first profile pic selfie on MySpace. When he met his partner (no thanks to MySpace), he found out that she owned records and a player. She charmed him with her records from the New Bloods, Finally Punk, Reading Rainbow, and other local punk and indie. When they moved in together, he started buying vinyl for her player: Devo, The Human League, and electro and synth classics from thrift stores.

Perry’s favorite vinyl moment: In 2012, he gorged on buying secondhand PhilOrch classical LPs to prepare for the privilege of becoming a music librarian.

Jane L., Music Librarian / Vinyl Listening Club Leader: Jane grew up surrounded by their dad’s record collection that they didn’t have any way to play! In their 2010s hipster era, Jane finally got a turntable setup and started buying their own records. Not in a 'crate digger looking for rare records that will be devalued if you play them' way, but in a 'I like this album and think it would be fun to listen to it more ritualistically' way. Jane doesn’t know much about the history of vinyl, but loves watching videos of colorful records getting pressed and trimmed on social media.

Jane’s favorite vinyl moment: Accidentally listening to Tubular Bells on the wrong speed setting on Halloween by candlelight

Nathan A., Music Librarian: Nathan’s interest in vinyl began when he worked for his college radio station, sorting records and maintaining the turntables. Later, he invested in his own stereo system, and ever since, he’s been on the lookout for first pressings, rare oddities, and any other kind of curiosity he can get his hands on. Ask him about the Music Department’s collection of 78s and other historic records (1900s–1950s)!

Nathan’s favorite vinyl moment: Haggling down the price of a pressing of Hanatarash 3 at a local record shop

We hope you'll join our new club! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please reach out to the Music Department via email at erefmus@freelibrary.org or by phone at 215-686-5316.