Your Local Nashville Library Now Has Vinyl Records
If you love music, you have probably experienced browsing the vinyl or CD aisles of your favorite record spot, but you may hesitate to buy an album you haven’t listened to yet.
The Nashville Public Library has the perfect solution for this case. Nashville residents can now, at no cost, use their free library card to check out vinyl records at all 22 Nashville library locations. You can reserve a vinyl record through your account online, or see the vinyl section in person at the Madison and Green Hills branches, which have 275 to choose from.
Rachel Fanta, the marketing manager of the main branch on Church Street, discussed the inspiration behind adding vinyl to the ever-growing list of items you can check out from the local library.
“If you’re in Nashville, you love music,” Fanta said. “That’s one thing we all have in common. The role we get to play in music city is that everyone has access to music, and the vinyl collection is the first step to that. We have a pallet collection of more than 500 LPs — rock, country, jazz, classical, blues, hip-hop, Latin, opera, soul, global music! It’s a great way to discover new music before you buy a new album.”
Folks are allowed to keep each vinyl they reserve for up to 21 days, too, so the library makes sure to give plenty of time to listen at home. There are also several reference books related to vinyl records — Vinyl: The Art of Making Records by Mike Evans, Dust & Grooves: Adventures in Record Collecting by Eilon Paz, Vinyl Nation and more.
Outside of the new vinyl section, there are more musical resources around at all branches of the Nashville Public Library. There are also over 200 instruments that residents can borrow — keyboards, drums, guitars, and more.
“Let’s say you want to learn to play guitar,” Fanta said. “It’s expensive to buy a guitar just to try it out, so we also provide guitars for anyone who wants to learn before they know if they really want one. As well as hundreds of more instruments to try out.”
There are also a few social clubs going on for music lovers, like Vinyl Club and Nashville Opera — or Nashville Ballet if you like to express your love for music through dance.
Fanta connected these musical library resources to the importance of community, and emphasized that we are all still recovering from a lack of community during COVID.
“This is a way to find people who like the same things as you, or are curious about the same things, and we want everyone to feel welcome and included,” Fanta said.
The 500-plus options are spread out across the Nashville Public Library: It’ll be just like hunting for your favorite. You may find a new genre you like at no cost, and get to access a bunch of other music resources while you’re there.