Art & Music

Find our Arts, Music, Media and Sports collection on the 2nd floor Swing Space while we work to build a new home for the collection. 

Photo: Gregg Richards, Brooklyn Public Library

The Collection

Spanning all periods and genres, our art and architecture collection features works fit for the needs of the art history student and the casual reader alike—from encyclopedias and textbooks to profiles of artists’ works and museum exhibition catalogs.

Our similarly comprehensive music collection offers research volumes on the evolution of musical forms and genres alongside catalogs of works and biographies of popular artists. Download A Guide to Central Library's Music Collection

Visitors seeking to explore new creative frontiers or revisit old ones can find instructional books on a wide range of activities throughout our stacks, including illustration, photography, sculpting, paper crafts, knitting, chess, songwriting, and playing musical instruments.

Sheet Music

The majority of our sheet music collection is currently in storage while we build a new Arts collection. You can still access the collection by placing a hold or asking our staff to do a Book Call to have materials pulled from storage. Featuring instrumental and vocal music of all styles for performance and practice, our collection includes general musical scores, study scores, collected works, chamber music, operas, musicals, vocal scores and libretti.

The Orchestra Collection

The Orchestra Collection offers full scores and parts to amateur and professional organizations. Special registration and fees are required for borrowing. Please contact Music Librarian Harold Stern for more information at (718) 230-2113 or (718) 230-2184, or via email at orchestra@bklynlibrary.org.

Due to US Copyright Laws, photocopying of orchestral material is prohibited.

Musical Instrument Lending Library

The first public musical instrument lending library in New York City is at Brooklyn Public Library. Adult patrons may borrow one of our instruments for a period of one month. Visit the Musical Instrument Lending Library webpage to learn more and get started. Instruments are picked up in the new Arts collection swing space on the 2nd floor.

Please also visit these departments:

• For DVDs and Audiobooks in all genres, please visit Languages and Literature.
• For books on how to build a career in the arts and entertainment industries, including fashion, music, sports, crafts, painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, and museums, please visit the Business & Career Center.
• For digital technology resources for music and the arts, including the recording studio, please visit the Shelby White and Leon Levy Information Commons.