As of 5 January 2013, our Library has a collection of 1,637 LP records. An LP record is an audio storage medium and refers to a LONG PLAY phonograph record which is played on a gramophone. It was introduced by Columbia Records in 1948 but the emergence of other modes of audio storage such as audio cassettes, CDs and DVDs has led to a smaller number being produced. Popularly known as vinyl, it is still popular amongst those who favour this form of audio storage.

The University of Malaya Library’s collection of LP records is kept at the Media Unit on the topmost level of the Library. We hope to further increase the collection by acquiring more LP records in various languages.

If you have LP records to donate to the Library, please contact me (edzan@um.edu.my). In this way, we are able to preserve LP records for future generation. Do come over to listen to the music stored in the LP records. You can view a listing of our collection at http://www.umlib.um.edu.my/umlps.asp.

For those who are interested, there is an article about the study of LP record collection in US academic libraries which was conducted in 2007. The report of the study can be found at http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1020&context=morris_articles.

Dr Nor Edzan Che Nasir
Chief Librarian
UM Library
6 January 2013