Sterling Library expands its repertoire

• A more harmonious setting for Yale's music collection is currently under construction

By Claire Sufrin

COURTESY YALE FINANCIAL REPORT

With over 15,000 scores of music and books printed before 1800 and 6,000 linear feet of archival material, including manuscripts and personal papers from musicians like Charles Ives and Kurt Weill, the Yale collection of music is unique, put together for both the world of music scholars and the local student body. On an average day, between 100 and 150 items are checked out of the library and 100 recordings are played in the record room.

"The only academic music collection that's larger than ours is the Eastman Conservatory in Rochester," Ken Crilly, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Music Librarian, said. "We support the classroom and teaching needs of the faculty and the undergraduate and graduate students in the Department of Music and the School of Music. And, in a wider sense, [we support] anybody on campus who plays music themselves, is interested in music either for performing or reading or listening to the sound recordings here."

But the library isn't only a resource for Yalies. "We also have a profile internationally, as researchers are drawn to the special collections here," Crilly said. "We wear two hats, serving the teaching and the research at Yale, and serving the wider research community wherever that happens to be."

Professor Craig Wright, who teaches Music 112a, Listening to Music, depends on the University library system for both his research and his classes. "I use it [the music library] intensely for classes and for getting materials on reserve to assign to students in preparation for going to class," he said. "[The library] is a basic resource for all that I do in music."

The collections currently reside in Sprague Hall, a four-story brick building built in 1917 originally to house the entire School of Music. "It was quite ingenious for the time because within the same building you have a nice sized concert hall, but also the library and then all the faculty, studios, and everything," Crilly said. Within a few decades, however, both the music library and the School of Music outgrew the space allotted to them within Sprague. The School of Music moved across the street, and the library filled the newly emptied spaces. Now, the collection is too big even for all of Sprague.

Beyond spatial considerations, Sprague Hall presents a challenge toward proper preservation of the books. "There are a lot of problems in the basement where many collections are stored," Crilly said. "We have a terrible problem with everything from the steam pipes leaking to flooding when it rains. The very physical preservation of the books is in danger." As Wright pointed out, "the collection is of such richness that it should be preserved in a safe and climatically correct environment."

Sprague Hall also limits readers' access to the collection, since its reading room can only seat 25 people. Additionally, a music library requires audio equipment. The equipment in Sprague is insufficient for the demand of people interested in listening to music. "Some of the music courses [at Yale] are very popular and have required listening," Crilly explained. "We have a terrible time, especially at times of midterms and the end of the semester. We've actually got people standing in line because the music library has maybe 30 machines, some of which only play LPs, some of which only play cassettes or CDs."

This problem will soon be a distant memory The new library will have almost 50 stations equipped with every type of listening equipment, more than 30 study carrels, and a reading room that can seat 55 people comfortably. There will also be Internet access ports throughout the library space for laptop computer users. Unlike the current facility, the new space will have two floors. On the first floor, people will enter to find fully-equipped listening stations where they can listen to recordings through headphones. Then, a staircase will lead to a reference reading room with study areas on level 1M. Wright, who became involved in the construction project when its first Planning Committee was formed more than 25 years ago, described the new music library as a "facility that would meet the needs of the student and faculty and be architecturally harmonious with the splendor and magnificence of Sterling Library."

The new music library is essentially an atrium being built into Sterling's Courtyard 2, a light-filled space near the corner of Wall and York streets. The project was designed by Shepley, Bulfinch, Richardson, and Abbott, an architectural firm located in Boston that is also responsible for the renovations of Sterling Memorial Library.

Project manager Jon Ross explained that "the space is supposed to emulate the grand feeling of the reading rooms that you find in Sterling in its scale and feel." The new music library will not, however, be an exact match to Sterling's dramatic Gothic architecture. "The design itself is intentionally meant to be contemporary in feel," Ross said. "This is a 1998 project."

The design features a striking ceiling. "Much of the drama is the room comes from the steel trusses that support the roof," Ross said. "The trusses are custom designed and fabricated. They weigh about 12 and a half tons each. They are contemporary looking but Gothically inspired." The trusses "support a gently curving roof that floats above the four walls of the atrium. Indirect light will enter the space from all sides," he added.

The library will continue to serve the undergraduate music students studying composition and analysis and the graduate students studying performance at the School of Music. Its duty to serve both of these groups is, according to Crilly, part of what makes the Yale music library unique.

"Our music collection has to be built to serve a world class performance program and a world class research program. Usually, you get one or the other," Ross said. "One of the things that makes us so complete and such a large collection is the fact that we have to do and enjoy doing both."

Back to A&E...