A Brief History of the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library

For 60+ years, the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library has served the research and instructional needs of the students and faculty of the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). Dedicated May 31, 1949, the library was named after Dr. Albino Gorno (1859-1944), professor of piano and a highly-regarded accompanist who also served as Dean of the College of Music of Cincinnati. In 1955, the College merged with the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music to form the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. In 1961, the music school was absorbed by the University of Cincinnati.

There is no written record of the size of the original CCM Library, but from evidence in the current collection, it consisted primarily of basic materials often obtained through donations by local citizens. After the 1955 merger of the College and the Conservatory, contemporary photos show that a library existed, along with modest record-listening facilities.

Serious collection development in the CCM Library began in the late 1960s, after a permanent building for the College-Conservatory had been constructed on the UC campus. A small library facility was provided on two floors in the former Mary Emery Hall. At that time, the collection consisted of 4,500 cataloged items (books, scores, recordings, and microfilms). During the 1960s and 1970s, however, the collection underwent tremendous growth and by 1983 the CCM Library had outgrown its space in Mary Emery Hall. Fortunately, space had just become available on the fourth floor in the adjacent building, the Carl Blegen Library.

Blegen Library served as the main campus library from 1930 to 1978, at which time it was renovated to house several departmental libraries. The move of the CCM Library to Blegen in 1983 saw the installation of a state-of-the-art audio playback system the could connect any audio source to a listening carrel. Library staff handled the fragile LP records for patrons in order to minimize wear and tear. Shortly after its installation, playback equipment for compact discs was added. This audio system, designed and installed by American Audio Systems of Madison, Wisconsin, was inspected by music librarians from all over the United States, many of whom consequently installed similar audio systems at their institutions. In 1997, 12 computer workstations were added with keyboards, providing access to the Internet as well as music composition, ear training, and choreography software.

The CCM Library had its home on the fourth floor of the Blegen Library from 1983 to 2009. In January 2010, the library opened in beautiful new quarters on the sixth floor of the Blegen Library building.

In this renovated space, the main Reading Room recaptures the grandeur of the original 1930 library building with its high ceiling, new carpeting, and oak shelving and paneling. The distributed audio listening model has been replaced by hands-on listening stations where patrons handle the recordings themselves. The new library space includes a central computer workstation area for patrons and a handsome new circulation desk. The spacious atrium features a convenient single service point circulation desk and a display case housing the CCM Library’s Spanish Antiphoner.

From its peak in the late 1980s of six full-time staff (both professional and support), the CCM Library currently has four full-time staff members. Head Librarians who have served the library are: Theresa Noak (1949-1966), Samuel Douglas (1967-1968), Robert O. Johnson (1968-2000), and Mark Palkovic (2001-present). Current full-time staff members of the CCM Library also include Assistant Music Librarian Paul Cauthen (since 1991), Cataloging Assistant Sharon Downing (since 1968) and Circulation Supervisor David Sandor (since 2004).

The CCM Library collection currently comprises some 40,500 print volumes (books and serials), 74,000 scores, 57,000 sound recordings, 3,000 media materials (videos, DVDs, CD-ROMs), and 6,000 microforms for a total of over 180,000 volumes.

For more about the Albino Gorno Memorial Music Library, visit them on the sixth floor of Blegen Library.

A Note on the Chandeliers in the Reading Room

The chandeliers in the CCM Library are original to the building and bear quotations in various languages. The chandelier at the entrance to the Reading Room has a Japanese proverb translated as: “There are no age limits to learning. Anyone can learn anything if he studies it a hundred times.” In the Reading Room itself are three large chandeliers. The south chandelier bears a Hebrew inscription from Proverbs 3:13: “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding.” The center chandelier bears a Latin inscription from Terence: “Humani nihil a me alienum puto” (“Nothing human do I consider alien to myself.”) The north chandelier bears a Greek inscription from Democritus that reads: “Do not aim at knowing everything.” The scores area at the south end of the building contains a chandelier with a Chinese proverb: “Libraries are valuable to readers because they preserve the riches of the world from which come the beginning of wisdom. Everything in the heavens or upon the earth is for our appreciation.”

Source Index