Today is Record Store Day! RSD is a worldwide event that started back in 2007 and celebrates the art of music, vinyl records and independent record stores. It is a day where new music and special releases officially drop and hundreds of recording artists make appearances in local record stores across the nation. This year’s Record Store Day is particularly special as it coincides with the inaugural launch of our very own vinyl record collection!
Fountaindale Library’s Vinyl Record Collection
Our library collection has about 450 vinyl records. They are categorized in the following genres: Classical, Country, Holiday, Jazz, Pop, Rock, R&B, Rap, Soundtrack, Spanish and World. We offer older albums, classics and the newest releases across all genres.
Browse our catalog to find your favorite vinyl records and place holds.
Portable Record Players
Don’t have a turntable? We’ve got you covered! Our collection also features 15-20 portable record players with accompanying accessories. The record players are primarily from the brands Victrola and Crosley and come in a variety of fun colors and patterns. Additionally, we offer plastic cases that you may check out to hold and transport the vinyl records.
Browse our catalog to pursue our offerings of portable record players. Place a hold on one that strikes your fancy.
Vinyl records and record players can be expensive. While sales have gone up, prices have as well. A new vinyl record averages at about $30. The equipment needed to play records can also be costly. A big advantage of the library lending out vinyl records and players is that you may enjoy the collection and test them out before making a financial commitment to purchase for yourself.
The Vinyl Revival
In 2017, Sony Music announced they would begin producing vinyl records in-house for the first time since ceasing its production in 1989, following their acquisition of a cutting lathe that is used to produce master discs needed for manufacturing vinyl records. The year 2019 marked a momentous milestone, as vinyl records outsold compact discs for the first time in 33 years. Despite the Coronavirus pandemic, global vinyl sales have continued to rise. According to RIAA’s annual revenue report, global vinyl record sales increased a mammoth 29.2% to $619.6 million, compared to $479.5 million in 2019. Vinyl album sales in the United States have grown for the fifteenth consecutive year. In 2020, $27.5 million LPs were sold in the United States, up 46% compared to 2019. Based on these numbers alone, we can safely say that vinyl is back and will continue to rock on.
The Vinyl Experience
Audiophiles will maintain that vinyl records produce the absolute best sound quality. When you listen to a vinyl record, you are hearing uncompressed music that sounds just how the artist intended. There is no tone loss due to the compression of digital music files. Vinyl records bring a colorful, textured, warmth which results in a unique and characterful sound—distortion and all.
Vinyl records are an experience. Listening to vinyl provides a tangible quality that just can’t be replicated in the digital realm: the large artwork, the ritual of flipping the record from one side to the other and the general sense of nostalgia. The whole vinyl experience makes the world melt away and allows you to just listen.
Nostalgia and Sentimentalities
Vinyl records and turntables ooze nostalgia. They weave together multiple generations of music lovers. The Greatest Generation regales us with stories of how, in days past, vinyl records were one of the few forms of entertainment they had. Baby Boomers recount the first albums they have ever bought and how they stored them in milk crates on their bedroom floors. Gen Xers and Millennials are now inheriting their parent’s collections, while Gen Zers are discovering vinyl for the first time, appreciating the physicality of records that cannot be replicated in their otherwise digitally-centered lives.
Vinyl records are very personal to me, as my dad passed down his beloved collection of records to me last year. Over 100 vinyls ranging from The Rolling Stones’ Let it Bleed to the Grease Soundtrack (actually one of my mom’s that slipped in), these records have formed a new bond between my dad and me. I feel honored that he has entrusted me to take care of his records. While I was physically distant from my family during the pandemic, I listened to my dad’s records and felt like he was sitting right next to me, father and daughter jamming away. That is the power of vinyl records.
The Fine Print: Checkout Rules and Returns
The vinyl record collection is located on the 2nd floor in the AV area. All vinyl records, portable record players and cases can be checked out at any Fountaindale self-checkout stations inside the building. Vinyl records and players are not available for pickup through the drive-thru window. Records and players must be returned inside to the Circulation Desk. However, vinyl records may be returned in the book drops if they are inside one of our plastic record cases.
- Vinyl records and cases check out for 21 days with up to two renewals if there are no holds
- Portable record players check out for two weeks with up to one renewal if there are no holds
- A limit of five vinyl records can be checked out on your account at one time; a limit of one portable record player can be checked out at a time
- Vinyl records and players can be placed on hold but are limited to pickup at Fountaindale Library. Holds will be held behind the Circulation Desk.
- Any Pinnacle or reciprocal borrower may check out the vinyl records and record players, however, they must check out and return them to Fountaindale Library only.
If you’re not quite ready to dive into the world of vinyl, we still have a large collection of music CDs available. More into streaming and downloads? We’ve got you covered there too with Freegal Music.
Learn more about our new vinyl collection on our Equipment Collection page.
Happy listening!