By: Alex Crowley, Adjunct Visual & Performing Arts, Music Librarian

The QC Music Library would like to announce the return of the BOOK SALE to the Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM). Items for sale will include Books, Scores, LPs, and CDs. The sale is CASH ONLY.

• Location: ACSM Atrium
• Date: Wednesday, March 25, 2026
• Time: 10am – 4pm

Please contact the Music Library if you have any questions about the event: musiclibrary@qc.cuny.edu.

See you then!��

By: Alex Crowley, Substitute Visual & Performing Arts, Music Librarian

• Location: ACSM Atrium
• Date: Wednesday, October 22, 2025
• Time: 10am – 4pm

Please contact the Music Library if you have any questions about the event: musiclibrary@qc.cuny.edu.

See you then!��

October 5–11 is Banned Books Week, and this year the Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education (EECE) and �춹��Ƶ Library teamed up to spotlight banned and challenged books. The entire QC community is invited to see the display in front of the EECE office in Powdermaker Hall and borrow books from the display on the main floor of the Library.����

Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and the value of access to information by spotlighting books that have been challenged or banned in schools and libraries across the country. The two QC displays feature picture books, young adult novels, and classic works of U.S. literature that have all faced challenges or state-sanctioned bans.����

The American Library Association (ALA) started Banned Books Week in 1982. While book challenges have been a part of U.S. political culture since the nation’s founding, the ALA has documented an explosion in the number of bans since 2020.����

We might assume that book bans don’t happen in New York. However, the library display features three prominent court cases that occurred in New York that addressed the limits of young people’s freedom to read.��

Banned Books Week display at EECE Office in Powdermaker Hall

Featured New York Court Cases on the Freedom to Read

Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico (1982)��

• Key Question: Is banning books from school libraries a First Amendment violation?��

• Facts of the Case: The Island Trees School Board ordered 11 books removed from school libraries, labeling them “anti-American” and “filthy.” Students, led by Steven Pico, sued the Board.��

• Outcome: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school boards cannot restrict books in libraries simply because they disagree with the ideas contained within, affirming the library’s role as a center for free inquiry.��

• ��

Banned Books Week display in Rosenthal Library

Rosenberg v. Board of Education (1949)��

• Key Question: Should books be removed from school curricula for promoting negative stereotypes?��

• Facts of the Case: A group of parents sued the NYC Board of Education to remove Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, arguing they were anti-Semitic on account of their portrayals of Jewish characters, Fagin and Shylock.��

• Outcome: The New York State Supreme Court dismissed the petition. It ruled that a book’s literary and educational value should prevail unless its apparent purpose is to promote hatred, arguing that education, not censorship, fights prejudice.��

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Banned Books Week display in Rosenthal Library

Ginsberg v. New York (1968)��

• Key Question: Does a person’s age limit what books and magazines they can legally purchase?��

• Facts of the Case: The parents of a 16-year-old boy sent him to purchase sexually suggestive magazines from a store owned by Sam Ginsberg. The parents’ goal was to incriminate Mr. Ginsberg under a New York law that prohibited the sale of material “harmful to minors.”��

• Outcome: The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the New York law. It ruled that while the material wasn’t obscene for adults, the state has a compelling interest in protecting the welfare of minors by regulating the materials sold to them.��

• ��

In September of 2024, QC’s First Year Experience (FYE) program collaborated with the Music Library to host a listening party that showcased the Music Library’s extensive collection of vinyl records. The event with FYE marked the end of the first phase of an inventory and rehabilitation process that Music Librarian Alex Crowley had begun earlier that year, which also included the creation of an browsable table that facilitates easier engagement with the Music Library’s vinyl holdings. A workshop on turntable use followed in the Spring of 2025 as part of the Library’s Byte-Sized Workshop Series open to all members of the QC community.��

One of the Music Library’s Technics SL-1200 MK2 turntables and some albums picked by event participants

The success of these two campus events, and a heightened level of interest in vinyl records more broadly, led to a reprise of the FYE for the new academic year. On Wednesday September 15, students in the FYE program visited the Music Library after hours to gain a basic familiarity with the components of a turntable and learn how to use the three Technics SL-1200 MK2 turntables in the Music Library’s media center. Attendees were then invited to dig through a couple crates of representative selections from the library’s record collection, picking out Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 5 in F maj Op. 76 (Istvan Kertesz, London Symphony Orchestra), Two Centuries of Bengali Songs, and Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil, among others. Each turntable station features a headphone pre-amp with four jacks, so small groups can listen together simultaneously.��

As the event concluded, attendees retreated back upstairs for pizza where they were welcomed by the QC Vocal Ensemble, conducted by Dr. James John, practicing the final movement of composer Melissa Dunphy’s “American DREAMers: United We Dream” (2018) in the atrium of the Aaron Copland School of Music. And though the Music Library plans to host another turntable workshop in the Spring 2026 semester, that doesn’t mean you have to wait to listen to something from the record collection. All the info you need is on the Music Library Vinyl Collection Page. The Music Library staff is ready to assist. ��

The Music Library is located in the Aaron Copland School of Music and is open Mon-Fri, 10am-4:45pm.

��By: Library Administration

The �춹��Ƶ Library has a long-standing “No Food” policy. Currently, Library users are bringing food into the Rosenthal Library, including sandwiches, salads, hot platters, etc., which results in increased insects & other pests and massive trash throughout the building – health hazards for everyone. We also see a deterioration of Library spaces and materials.

Thus, we are republicizing the Library’s “No Food” policy so that we can have a clean, healthy, and safe Library for everyone.

No food or drink is allowed in the Library by users, except water in re-sealable bottles.��

Library Administration reserves the right to accommodate food and drink for staff offices and scheduled events.

If you need to eat and drink while visiting the Rosenthal building, you can do so in the library café/lobby space prior to entering the Library proper.�� If you bring food into the Library you will be directed to eat it outside in the library café/lobby.

Please help us to continue providing quality spaces, resources, and services to you by not bringing food into the Library.

By: Caitlin Colban-Waldron, Archivist and Special Collections Specialist

We think archives are important all year round, but every October we take time to advocate for archives, archivists, our work, and the many, many collections that exist in our repositories during Archives Awareness Month in the United States. Archivists in all kinds of archives across the country talk directly to people who use (or will use!) archives about what exactly it is we do as archivists, what exists in our collections, and how you can access them.

The Society of American Archivists traditionally designates one day each Archives Awareness Month to , a public initiative where archivists solicit questions from the curious, usually through social media, and answer through the same channels. Questions run the gamut, from advice on preserving your family’s old materials, clarifying when you can visit the archives, highlighting specific collecting areas, explaining how we decide what to keep, or just giving the archivists an excuse to be silly.

🎵 A-R-C-H-I-V-E, send your questions all to me! 🎶 have a question about archives, archivists, �춹��Ƶ, or CUNY? day is TOMORROW!

This year, �춹��Ƶ Special Collections and Archives participated once again across our Instagram and TikTok channels. Catch up on what you missed below, and be sure to subscribe throughout the year to see what we’re up to!

Asked from instagram: What events were going on at QC and CUNY during 1969? A pivotal year, 1969 was a hotbed of student activism in two major directives: anti-Vietnam War protest and SEEK uprising and rebellion. Our Campus Unrest Collection, Student Publications, and photographs show evidence of student power and how they prevailed. Remember: these were QC students, just like you. ♬ For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield

By: Annie Tummino, Head of Special Collections & Archives

Helen Marshall as a child, and family

In this virtual show and tell held on Sept 19, 2024, archivists shared unique items from the Helen Marshall Papers documenting her celebrated career in politics. Marshall (1929–2017) was the second woman and first African American Borough President of Queens, elected to three four-year terms starting in 2001. Earlier, she served on the New York City Council, in the New York State Assembly, and as a co-founder of the Langston Hughes Library in Corona, Queens. Prior to her political career, Marshall earned a Bachelor of Arts in education from �춹��Ƶ and served as a teacher, later making education reform one of her main goals as an elected official. The Helen Marshall Papers were donated to the college by Donald E. Marshall Jr. in 2017.

The collection was recently processed due to a generous grant from the New York State Archives Documentary Heritage Program.

Presenters:��

• Gianna N. Fraccalvieri, Project Archivist for the Helen Marshall Papers
• Annie Tummino, Head of Special Collections and Archives

This event was part of the “At Home with �춹��Ƶ” series sponsored by the Office of Institutional Advancement

By: Alex Crowley, Substitute Visual & Performing Arts, Music Librarian

The QC Music Library would like to announce the return of the BOOK SALE to the Aaron Copland School of Music (ACSM). Items for sale will include Books, Scores, CDs, and more. The sale is CASH ONLY.

• Location: ACSM Atrium
• Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
• Time: 10am – 4pm

Please contact the Music Library if you have any questions about the event: musiclibrary@qc.cuny.edu.

See you then!��

By: Annie Tummino, Head of Special Collections & Archives

This past spring, Special Collections and Archives mounted an exhibit in the Rosenthal Library celebrating the history of the , from its origins in the Civil Rights Movement to its emergence as a national model for higher education opportunity programs across the country. The exhibit featured items from , such as brochures, handbooks, newsletters, photographs, clippings, and fliers, demonstrating the incredible innovation, resilience, and impact of the program over its 58-year history.

Now, Special Collections and Archives is proud to announce that the majority of items featured in the exhibit, plus a number of others, have been scanned and are available through ! This online access will benefit researchers around the world as well as our local community here at �춹��Ƶ. The collection currently has 71 entries, but we hope to add hundreds more as resources allow.

�춹��Ƶ SEEK Program

Please enjoy browsing the collection, as well as using JSTOR’s tools for downloading, citing, saving, and sharing items of interest. If you have any questions about the SEEK collection or how to use JSTOR, please email qc.archives@qc.cuny.edu.

By: Alex Crowley, Substitute Visual & Performing Arts-Music Librarian

On Wednesday, September 4, 2024, the Music Library re-opened after hours (5-7pm) to host students from the First Year Experience (FYE) program for a Vinyl LP Listening Party. More than a dozen students, accompanied by FYE staffers Jorge Ivan Velez, Saarah Ahsan, and Elisheva Conway, joined me for an introduction to the Music Library and a basic turntable tutorial session that included some “crate digging” through selections taken from the Music Library’s vinyl record collection.

Vinyl LP Listening Party

Vinyl LP Listening Party

I have been conducting an inventory and reorganizing the long-neglected record collection since early Spring, so hosting this event with FYE was a great opportunity to introduce students to both the music collection and the analog music-listening experience.

The Music Library’s pair of Technics SL-1200 MK2 turntables each have external adapters for four sets of headphones, making it possible for multiple people to simultaneously listen to the same record. Attending students picked a few albums to check out and listen to in small groups. They had questions about the various technical functions (pitch adjustment, arm weight, skate control) on the turntable device and remarked upon the “crackling” noise of the records—more noticeable on some albums than others.

Technics SL-1200 MK2

Engaging with the LPs is a reminder that for decades these records were the only game in town, so the library would have held multiple copies of many of these albums. One student who selected a Billie Holliday album noted that Holliday’s work is largely absent from streaming services, and it is likely that among the approximately 5,000 LPs in the collection are many others that cannot be found on any streaming service.

LP Selections

Now that the inventory of the collection is complete and the improved finding aid for the LPs, is functional, a future project for the Music Library may lie in taking stock of rare LPs and those that are not available digitally. In the meantime, all QC students are welcome to browse the LP collection and come to the Music Library for a record break.