Students have access to three extensive music collections within walking distance of the CJC campus: the Jennifer A. Maxwell Music Library at the California Jazz Conservatory, the Art and Music Department at the Berkeley Public Library, and the Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library at the UC Berkeley Department of Music.
Jennifer A. Maxwell Music Library
Established in February 2018, the Jennifer A. Maxwell Music Library serves as the California Jazz Conservatory’s inaugural systematized music library. Holdings include a collection of approximately 9,000 of the world’s most iconic jazz recordings in LP format, along with hundreds of hard copy books and periodicals on jazz and beyond. The California Jazz Conservatory aspires to house one of the country’s leading archives for jazz and jazz-related music. The Conservatory’s first-ever music library has been made possible through the generous support of Jennifer A. Maxwell.
The Art and Music Department at the Berkeley Public Library
The scope of the music collection at the Art and Music Department runs from Albinoni to Zouk — on compact disc, vinyl and score. The rich jazz collection ranges from reissues of vintage recordings to contemporary offerings from the next generation of jazz masters. Music from around the globe is available in the audio collection in all formats.
The CD collection, started in September 1985, now includes over 14,000 titles. The Art and Music Department music collection also includes roughly 6,000 vinyl records. Classical, opera, jazz, world, and popular music are represented. Printed music scores, a range of music biographies and books on music theory and performance are readily available.
The Art and Music Department subscribes to over forty periodicals covering a variety of musical genres, specific instruments, and recorded sound. Their periodical collection also includes the impressive Greenwood Press jazz periodicals collection, a microfilm archive of the historical jazz periodical, containing reviews and events dating back to the 1920s.
Electronic resources available through the Berkeley Public Library website allow patrons to listen online to recordings of classical and contemporary music from around the world.
The Art and Music Department can be found on the 5th floor of the Berkeley Public Library and is open Mondays, 12pm – 8pm; Tuesdays, 10am – 8pm; Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 10am – 6pm; and Sundays, 1pm – 5pm. Visit berkeleypubliclibrary.org for a complete schedule of holidays.
Students may borrow up to 50 items at any given time with their Berkeley Public Library card. Those items not available onsite may be acquired through Link+.
Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library
Founded in 1947 as a branch of the University Library, the Music Library was located on the second floor of Morrison Hall from 1957 until July 6, 2004, when the Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library opened to the public. Its collections today contain some 180,000 volumes of books and printed music, 50,000 sound and video recordings, and 30,000 microforms in addition to extensive special holdings of manuscripts, rare materials, and archives. The collection serves the diverse teaching and research needs of the UC Berkeley Department of Music, which offers a general undergraduate major and graduate programs in musicology, ethnomusicology, and composition, as well as embracing a variety of performance activities.
The majority of materials in the Hargrove Music Library — with the exception of sound and video recordings, periodicals, microforms, and special collections — circulate for use outside the library. Borrowing materials requires a current UC Berkeley Library card. Borrowers must have a current library card issued by the Privileges Desk at Doe Library. Visitors are welcome to use collections on-site.