A couple of months ago, we installed a platine vinyle in the Espace musique et cinéma and introduced a collection of about 20 vinyl records that our users could listen to in the library. We were very excited about this! It was a project that my colleagues had started preparing before I arrived, and I was happy to help continue advancing it. I catalogued the vinyl records, prepared them, and when the furniture arrived, I helped install it.
The platine vinyle was left out in the open all the time, and unfortunately, after only about two weeks, somebody broke the needle, completely detaching it from the machine. I was in shock! What was worse, I think we didn't communicate the new service very well, and as a result, nobody even listened to the vinyl records! :(
I thought that we had insurance for our materials, but no, we are not insured in these cases, so right now the machine is in limbo. We need to buy the broken part, and for some reason, it is taking a long time for my colleague in charge of materials to take care of it. It was a nice platine vinyle that I even used in the accueils de classe with kids. Luckily, we have another, lower-quality platine vinyle, which is in closed furniture, that I still use for the classes, and it works well. We didn't put it in public because if that one gets broken, I won't have anything for the classes. But this means that we currently don't offer the service of listening to vinyl records for our users. :(
A couple of days ago, a person came to the Espace musique et cinéma and asked if she could listen to a vinyl by Bob Marley that is in our collection. I couldn’t resist, so I took the platine vinyle that we use for classes out of the closet, set the lady up at the desk, plugged in the platine, and brought her the Bob Marley album Legend.
I asked the lady if she had ever used a platine vinyle or listened to a vinyl record. She said it was her first time! I was super grateful to have had the chance to be there for her first experience with this music format. I explained what to do, step by step, and let her do it. We plugged in the speakers, and she enjoyed the music. :)
I love moments like this! Seeing people ask to listen to music, and being able to help them, even teach them, and provide them with a new experience.
The lady listened to the whole album and said it was great! :)