Campus Life

Hidden Gems: Walter and Doris Goldstein Music and Media Center

Collection offers access to music, movies from throughout the ages; items can be requested from any University Libraries location

The Walter and Doris Goldstein Music and Media Center has a vast collection of vinyl in addition to CDs and DVDs, alongside streaming resources. Most physical resources can be requested for pickup at any University Libraries location.  Credit: University Libraries / Penn State. Creative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State University Libraries’ Walter and Doris Goldstein Music and Media Center, on the second floor of West Pattee Library at the University Park campus, offers access to a vast collection of music and video resources for teaching, research and personal enjoyment. The collection includes 40,000 audio recordings and more than 10,000 video recordings.

The music collection includes recordings of jazz, classical, folk, international, musicals, soundtracks, pop genres and more, as well as music scores. The video collection includes feature films, documentaries and TV series. The Leisure Viewing Collection, located in the first floor Franklin Atrium of Pattee Library and Paterno Library, offers recent releases of popular TV series and movies from around the world, and recently, titles from the Swank Motion Pictures Digital Campus collection of feature films were added to the catalog.

Streaming video offerings include feature films and a wide variety of documentaries and TV programs from sources such as PBS. The Libraries’ guide to video resources offers tips for finding specific titles and browsing collections. Streaming audio offerings include the Naxos Music Library (jazz and classical recordings) and the DRAM database (contemporary American classical composers). The Libraries’ music guide offers tips for searching for specific titles and browsing collections. 

Music within the collection is available on vinyl and CD, and video on DVD, VHS and Blu-Ray. Visitors can use listening and viewing stations within the library, and the service desk offers equipment like portable turntables, DVD players, external CD/DVD drives, and headphones. Dedicated stations allow for transferring records to a USB stick and VHS recordings to DVD.  

Music and video titles, including streaming audio and video and digitized sheet music, can be found in the University Libraries catalog, and LPs, CDs, VHS, DVDs and Blu-Rays can be requested for pickup at any University Libraries location. Commonwealth Campus libraries have additional collections available for perusal.

Most items can be borrowed for a semester; DVDs and Blu-Rays can be borrowed for two weeks and renewed up to four times.  

Last Updated May 10, 2024