The extensive archives from nearly 40 years of AOSA — its work, its events, its people, much of its research and its history — comprise the Isabel McNeill Carley Library. AOSA established the Carley Library in 1982, naming it in honor of one of its founding members and long-time editor of The Orff Echo. The collection is housed within the Sibley Music Library on the campus of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. The century-old Sibley is world-renowned for its vast resources and the expertise of its staff.

Since 2001, when the Carley Library was transferred to Sibley from the University of Arizona, overseeing the valuable AOSA collection has been Special Collections Librarian and Archivist David Peter Coppen. He has developed the Finding Aid to help researchers locate materials within the Carley Library. Whenever new materials are sent to him from AOSA, he revises the Finding Aid to reflect the new additions.

Materials in the Carley library are one-of-a-kind, and so cannot be removed from the building. Access to the collection is obtained through a direct inquiry to Coppen. He welcomes the opportunity to help members use the Finding Aid to identify materials. Once identified, library staff is available to make photocopies at $.10/page, in most cases.

For extensive research AOSA members will need to come to Rochester to use the records on-site at the Carley Library. Staff members will bring the documents to the research tables in Special Collections reading room for further study.

To learn now to use the Finding Aid, or to learn more about the Isabel McNeill Carley Library, contact Coppen directly:
(585) 274-1335
FAX (585) 274-1380
e-mail

Many tools for researchers are available through the Sibley Library Web site, such as the online Voyager catalogue. To plan a visit or to find out more about the Sibley Library at the Eastman School of music, visit their Web site at:
http://www.esm.rochester.edu/sibley/