Musicians, readers, listeners, and students from every neighborhood in the city rely on the Music Department - but have you visited us lately?  Whether you want to learn how to get your music out there, build your own theremin, or just listen to some music, the library and the librarians are there to serve you and share knowledge.  And just last week we added Girls Rock Philly campers to that community when we brought them in for a tour and scavenger hunt as part of their Summer Rock Institute.  

Our goal was to show the campers just how important a solid music library and librarians can be  - we're here to open the doors to resources that any musician will need at any stage of learning.  This includes questions like, Where do you find books on home recording?  What's a fakebook?  Where can you learn about the histories of women in music? We're also here to tell you that the library's a special place where a free and open dialogue with information is encouraged.

So after a quick tour, we sent the campers on our scavenger hunt.  They learned that different information - information on say, microphones - is spread out all across the spectrum of knowledge, and that the library's one of the only places where that entire spectrum just happens to be represented.  Along the way the campers heard the story of Nina Simone's famous visit to the Music Department...and also, hopefully, they learned that librarians aren’t just the strongest beacons in the sea of information – we actually love diving in and navigating the waters with you.  We're there to help you find the information you need, help you learn, and maybe even help you discover new information you didn’t even know was out there.

You can view the whole set from the visit on Girls Rock Philly’s Facebook page here.  Oh, and if you haven't already, be sure to check out Girls Rock's last success with the library - a vibrant pair of Instrument Shares hosted in neighborhood branches.

And hey, if you're a fan of seeing strong women in music, be sure to visit the Parkway Central library tomorrow for an afternoon devoted to the tango - we'll be bringing in authors, dancers and DJ's who'll be sharing stories, performing pop-up dances, and even teaching you how to tango. This event's free and open to everyone.