In January 2014, a new space for student music listening activities was unveiled in the Education & Music Library. It is designed to meet the needs of students who are required to complete individual and group assignments related to music listening, arranging, editing and composition. The space includes new equipment, which replaces the listening carrels that were in the branch for many years.

The listening area includes movable listening carts and comfortable red armchairs.

The configuration includes four media carts equipped with listening equipment such as LP turntables, tape and CD players and input ports for mobile devices and laptops. The stations can accommodate up to 6 simultaneous listeners at once and students can now also borrow noise reduction headphones from the circulation desk.

A close up look at one of the listening carts.

One computer station equipped with software for music editing and music notation is accessible to all students. The music department has generously donated a midi keyboard for use with the computer station. The station is in high demand these days as students have composition and arrangement assignments due throughout the semester. In addition, the equipment helps to facilitate self-directed student projects in music creation and exploration.

The computer workstation allows students to access music composition and notation software and input with midi keyboard.

The listening area is located in close proximity to the CD and DVD collections. The space is part of a larger project to provide more open and flexible study spaces for library users in our branch.

Thanks to a summer-long shifting project, this area has been opened up for comfortable group study.