First published April 24, 2023 in Stories Beneath the Shell.
by Abby Olear
Through a side door and two floors above the University of Maryland’s South Campus Dining Hall lives 90.5 WMUC FM College Park radio, with a treasure trove of records.
No one knows quite how many records there are in the library, but estimates range from 10,000-30,000 records total; the collection is one of the largest non-commercial record libraries on the East Coast. Most of the collection consists of ‘70s and ‘80s material.
The library consists of two rooms. Visitors are engulfed in toppling towers of records upon their first step into the space. The first, which houses the all-important turntable, holds what junior WMUC Record Librarian Jake McInturff calls ‘record store stock;” rock, folk, pop, and more, all carefully categorized from A-Z. Up a narrow, spiral staircase, listeners can find mixed genres of music; blues, funk, soul, jazz, hip-hop. The walls are covered ceiling-to-floor with posters of iconic musicians. Pillows, blankets and worn-in chairs indicate students find comfort in this space. Dimly lit yet full of life, the room is a time machine into the past.
The second room is a hodge-podge of overflow and valuable records. When librarians found a trend of empty record sleeves after visitors left, they began keeping rare tracks under lock and key. In fact, there is a wall of stolen record sleeves to shame past thieves and ward off any potential pickpockets. Any curious onlooker is welcome to explore the library with the help of the record librarians.
Though records are acquired mainly through donation now, record labels or individual artists originally sent the records in hopes of getting on WMUC’s precious airwaves. The station has never spent a penny on a vinyl.
“I feel like people don’t realize that college radio is where a lot of artists do start out and so that’s how you get your music out,” senior WMUC Record Library Manager Carolyn Wood said. “We have relationships with those artists, which is really cool.”
These relationships don’t stop at music. The library is home to a personalized plaque sent from English rock band Supertramp and a grainy media drop audio that says, “Hello this is John Lennon of the Beatles and you’re listening to the number one station in College Park, WMUC at 65 on the dial.”
These two rooms are home to numerous hidden gems and extremely rare items. McInturff, the librarian, has spent countless hours digging through the collection to uncover “vinyl gold.” Many of his favorite pieces had an extremely limited number of copies pressed when they were originally sold and are not available to listen to online.
In the age of digital music and streaming, it’s easy to overlook the record library. But the collection gives music junkies the opportunity to experience music in a more authentic way.
“The library is unbiased,” McInturff said. “If you want to find something cool, something that’s actually out there, something that might actually expand your horizons, your music tastes, go in there, find something, take it off, put on the turntable.”
Record librarians Wood, a hearing and speech sciences major, and McInturff, a computer science major, love vinyl because it encourages one to listen to an album as the artist intended, as a complete experience.
“An example of that by now is the Dark Side of the Moon,” McInturff said. “If you’re listening to one sort of Dark Side of the Moon versus the full project itself, you’re missing out on a lot. Vinyl is something that really helps enhance that experience.”
The pair run the record team in which they share their love of albums with other students, passing their love for vinyl on to the next generation and emphasizing its importance. The group’s bond goes beyond music.
“My favorite part of record team is the space it creates within my week,” said freshman criminology and psychology major Ava Meisner. “Everyone in the club is insanely welcoming and carries such a variety of knowledge on different genres and topics that we never run out of things to discuss. We use it as a place to find new music, study, and talk about life in general.”
Leave a Reply