In The Stacks – LONG LIVE ROCK & ROLL!

Hello again, dear readers. It is no big surprise that I am a huge fan of music. Not just one particular genre either, I try to be open to all types of music from various times in history. I figure in any one genre of music, there is some song, style, artist, etc. that was good and you would enjoy. So why hate? Embrace your eclectic side!

I have constantly been amazed by the CD selection available through the library. And honestly folks, our collection gets more eclectic over time. That’s not even just factoring in our general CD collection, either. I know I have written a couple of different blogs about Freegal. Freegal is our online database where you can download up to 6 songs every week per library card, and can now download music videos as well! Also, we have once again uploaded the database so you may now also stream hours of music from your computer. Let me tell you guys, I have seen some music featured on Freegal that literally blows my mind as to how we ever thought to order such songs and artists.

In the Stacks: FREE MUSIC!!!

In the Stacks: A Blog Straight from the Mind of Steve: FREE MUSIC!!!

So I am sure this is about the millionth time that I’ve said this, but I am a very avid music lover. I am also quite certain I have mentioned working for the very amazing retail store Pottery Barn. What do these two things have in common you ask? Well…. until the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District feels the need to completely renovate each library with top quality bedroom and living room furniture, it would have to just be the music that both entities provide the public. Since I’ve worked at Pottery Barn, I have become familiar with tons of music constantly playing on the store’s hi-fi that I would never have known existed. There is an abundant amount of sambas and remixed versions of classic songs that quite literally have blown my mind hearing. Of course that’s not in a literal sense though; otherwise I’d owe thousands of dollars to Pottery Barn on dry cleaning bills for all of their beautiful sheet sets and duvet covers.

Needless to say, since hearing these songs off and on for years now, I have felt the need to own the songs so I may listen to them at my own leisure. But since these songs are so rare, you can’t find them much anywhere. Now iTunes has been a big help for me, but as my dream playlist increases, so does the amount it costs to buy all of these great songs. Also, library CDs in our catalog don’t have a lot of the songs, so being able to just borrow the CDs from the library and download the songs that way isn’t an option for me. However… there is still one resource the library has that has shown to be quite invaluable for me over the last few months. That resource of course is none other than Freegal!

Freegal is a music database on the LVCCLD website which contains hundreds of thousands of EXTREMELY eclectic songs enjoyable for just about anyone! I seriously could not believe that almost every song I heard from Pottery Barn and wanted to own was right there under my nose the whole time. And the best part of it all is… it’s 100% free! You can’t possibly get a better deal anywhere else. You get 5 free downloads a week. You can download any 5 songs you want that they have in their catalog. The music genres that are listed on the site are out of this world. The District has clearly worked some miracles to include picks of song catalogs from such vendors as Sony Music and many more!

Now I will say, it takes a lot of willpower to restrict myself to picking the right 5 songs every week. Those downloads can be gone in the blink of an eye for me. Also, though Freegal has their hundreds of thousands of songs, there are probably millions upon millions more that they don’t have. Some staple artists you will probably be disappointed to know are not featured on Freegal. But still, in this day and age, free music is free music so who cares? I mean chances are for those artists not featured, the Library District carries their CDs at various branches, so you can just pick up their CDs at your local library and get WAY more than 5 songs at a time. And also, I’ll let you all in on a little secret. These songs you download onto your computer stay on your personal music libraries forever, and if you have multiple cards you have approved access to use, then you can use each card to get your 5 downloads a week and soon enough you could get 10, 15, maybe 20 songs a week! That’s a whole album right there.

So if you like music in any way, shape or form, then get your free library card and check out this free paradise of sound the library district has to offer. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed. Plus, I almost forgot to mention, you can download the Freegal app to your smart phones and get music that way as well! This is all just such an amazing service offered that you couldn’t possible pass it up.

Meet Bryce, one of our incredible Customer Service Assistants!

Bryce has been working at the Whitney Library as a Customer Service Assistant for two action-packed years!

His favorite thing about his job is meeting and serving Whitney’s extremely diverse clientele.  He wants to let everyone know that we have an AWESOME collection of music CDs, all the way from mainstream pop to indie, and even world music!  Did you know you can even download music for free from Freegal?  Just log in through our web site to download and KEEP 5 songs per week!

Bryce has been reading the Walking Dead graphic novel series by Robert Kirkman, and it is definitely his favorite right now.

Here are some fun facts about Bryce: he speaks Spanish very well, his favorite color is green, he has a twin sister, and he’s a vegetarian!

Make sure to stop by the Customer Service desk the next time you come to the library and say hello (or hola!) to Bryce.  Bryce and the rest of us thank you for using the Whitney Library, and we hope to see you soon!