A different way to reach out to different market segments...

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Originally uploaded by Bramptonboi.

The Toronto Public Library is "collecting local music" by scheduling rock concerts in various public library venues, according to "Rockin' bands shatter silence at the library: `Shhh!' not in the lyrics on hot new live music scene`Documents of the moment' meet Dewey decimal," from the Toronto Star.

From the article:

"We've never done anything like this at the library before," he said, surveying the rapidly-expanding, vintage-clad crowd, most of whom were sitting patiently on the floor. "It looks like storytime for adults in here," he said. "We've done piano recitals, that sort of thing. But nothing like this."

"This," in this case, was the first of a series of decidedly unlibrary-like events: A free full-blooded rock-out session with some of the city's most bleeding-edge bands — on this night, The Creeping Nobodies, Ninja High School, Hank, Bob Wiseman and the inaugural Polaris Prize-winner himself, Owen Pallett, otherwise known as Final Fantasy. (The second, featuring Elliott Brood, Great Lake Swimmers, LAL, The Old Soul and Shad, goes tonight at 7:30, at the Toronto Reference Library. All seats have been claimed.) ...

Heggum, a young librarian who sports the thick black glasses and Chuck Taylors of her target audience, sensed both opportunity and responsibility for the library. "My thinking was, we collect local authors, why not local bands?" she said. "I just thought there's such a vibrant scene here in Toronto, it makes sense for the library to help people get involved in what's going on in their own city."

I know for a fact this hasn't been suggested in the current DC Library Planning process, which may be an inkling that having developers and their minions run the process might lead to a circumscribing of what gets considered.

See this entry, "Blocks Recording Club Show -- REVIEW," from Blog Toronto, for a review and photos. The photos don't seem to feature mayhem or anything like that.

Index Keywords: arts-culture; music; libraries