For instance, did you know we have a whole collection of music cd's that showcase many of the different musical styles that have been popular over the years? We have classical, jazz, ragtime, blues, reggea, country, rock and even some more recent alternative music. We even have a small selection of different music styles from around the world. We also have many cd's of early American music which has been saved and reissued by a local St. Joseph company, Archeophone Records.
For the more serious music student, we have books and audiobook lectures on how to appreciate classical music as well as a few books on how to teach your children about music. We even have a 20-volume Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Aside from fine art, literature and music, film is one of the most popular art forms of today. We currently have around 2000 movies available for our patrons to check out. Some are just fun entertainment but many are good examples of film as art. You may have seen our recent flyer asking for donations of some of the classics that we currently only have on old VHS tapes. The reason we are requesting help updating these is because certain movies are such a part of our culture that it seems like we would be doing our community a disservice by not having them available to future film enthusiasts. While we try to get in many of the popular new movies, having a well-rounded cultural collection is just as important for film as it is for books. We believe our library should be a place to find not just classics in literature, but classics in all art forms. Because of this, we hope to enlighten and educate our patrons on the arts and hope that in many cases we are doing so while they think they are just being entertained by some fun music cd or movie.
We hope that you will take advantage of your local library and bone up on your arts education this week - even if it is just watching an old movie or listening to some Ella Fitzgerald.
