On the record
by Nathaniel Miller
The Louis J. Blume Library on the St. Mary’s University campus invites you to stay a while and listen.
Not to audiobooks but to the soft (or harder) sounds of its vinyl musical collection at its newly unveiled Listening Library.
Located near the second-floor entrance, the area contains two turntables and a myriad of vinyl records across many genres.
With almost 500 records in the collection, students can check out the music of their choice at the front desk, lounge in a chair and listen via wireless or plug-in headphones. Splitters are also available for students who want to listen to a record together for a more retro vibe.
All records must be listened to in the area.
The library’s vinyl collection was previously held by the Department of Music and Theatre Arts for several years before it was brought out for students to enjoy campus-wide, said Director of Collections and Metadata Services Gabriel Lopez.
The display had a soft opening at the beginning of the Fall 2026 semester with a grand opening scheduled for Sept. 23.
Lopez also said the library would host Turn Table Tuesday, when staff will play an album for an hour starting at 1:45 p.m. (a play on listening to one 45, which is the number of revolutions per minute at which a record spins).
Anyone is welcome to donate albums to the collection. The library is also seeking volunteers to help check albums for quality purposes.
