Main Content
Eugene Ormandy Music and Media Center
Otto E. Albrecht Music Library
Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center/4th Floor West
3420 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206
(215) 898-6248
Hours, Mar. 3: closed
The Eugene Ormandy Music and Media Center is named for the long-term conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, whose professional papers, conducting scores, and recordings the Penn Library holds. The Center houses more than 34,000 sound recordings of Western music, as well
as art and traditional musics of the world in LP disc, cassette, and compact disc formats. The Music Library's video collection is also housed here and includes DVD and laser disc recordings of opera and ballet as well as a diverse collection of video tapes, primarily related to the study of world music. All compact discs and video recordings, as well as a portion of the LP and cassette collection, are listed in
Franklin, the Penn
Library's online catalog. For older LP discs and cassette recordings, the Recordings Card Catalog, located in the Ormandy Center, should also be consulted. Hints for finding recorded materials in Franklin may be found in the guide
Searching for Music Materials on Franklin
The Center's facilities include turntables, compact disc and cassette players, a reel-to-reel tape machine, and DVD, laser disc and VHS players. All videotape players are capable of playing PAL, NTSC, and MESCAM formats. Consult the document, Public Video Players in the Penn Libraries, for a more detailed description of available equipment and facilities. All of the audio and video equipment is used with headphones, though up to three individuals may listen/view together.
The Center also houses the Glossberg Recording Room, a facility for recording interviews, podcasts, and voice-overs for video productions.
A valid Penncard or other form of photo ID is required
to use the Ormandy Media Center collections and facilities. Circulating compact
discs and videorecordings have a loan period of seven days. A limit of four sound recordings and four videorecordings may be borrowed
at one time. Compact discs designated in Franklin as circulating "In Library
Only" have a loan period of four hours. Reserve materials shelved in the Ormandy Center and all cassettes and LPs circulate for a loan period of four hours and must remain in the building. Special permission to borrow recordings for class presentation may be granted. Patrons are welcome to use the Center's audio-visual equipment for listening and viewing of personal recordings, although priority is given
to those using library-owned materials.
