The New Digital Library: Producing Denver Music and Multimedia

The Park Hill Branch Library is holding free concerts every Wednesday through March.

In searching for ways to connect to the community, Denver public libraries are turning the volume up.

Denver Public Library system launched Volume in August 2014, a local music project giving artists a bigger audience – and even paying them for it. But it’s more than one online project. The new digitally-enabled, tech-intensive library is moving toward offering a vital duo of opportunity to creative dreamers: the tools to create, and the medium to distribute. 

The new Public Media Center at Library 21c in Colorado Springs provides a chance for everyone to learn about and use quality video and audio equipment.
“When we opened the Public Media Center, we became less of a supermarket where you come and pick out the things you want, and more of a kitchen where you have all the ingredients there,” says Jamey Hastings, an Emmy-winning multimedia producer at Pikes Peak Library District.

The Public Media Center, which began offering classes in Nov. 2014, has partnerships with local organizations such as PBS, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak Community College, the Tim Gill Center for Public Media and classical radio station KCME. 

Donna Vessey, now an executive producer of the Rocky Mountain PBS show “Hittin’ the Road,” got the show started by using equipment from the Center. Hastings says that if the footage that other members create is good enough for air, the library staff can connect them with on-air partners.

The edit bay at Library 21c. Photo courtesy Pikes Peak Library District.

Members can check out camera kits, recorders and other gear from the library makerspace to produce multimedia work. The library holds classes to teach members how to use cameras and audio recorders. Computer design software can cost hundreds of dollars, but the library has a special edit bay reserved for members to use CAD (Computer-Aided Design) programs and the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, for free. Hastings says the library staff is still discovering the wide range of topics that their community wants to learn about. 

“People are interested in everything,” Hastings says. “They want to learn about the basics of camera use, we have a green screening class, on the audio end we have people learning about mics, learning to record music, radio production.”

Already, the Center has afforded opportunities to several local groups, Hastings says. A high school string quartet used the video and audio equipment to film auditions for music competitions. A robotics team filmed a contest entry video with the library equipment. One local non-profit organization that connects foster children with families was able to create a video that is helping recruit foster parents. 

The Denver Public Library offers similar services in its ideaLAB makerspace, but doesn’t stop at helping users create. DPL recently created Volume, a new music project that launched in August 2014, to help musicians attract a following.

Library members can download or stream music by local artists on the Denver Public Library’s online music project, Volume. Photo courtesy volumedenver.org. 

Volume is a website where users can stream or download music created by local artists. Different branches of the library are working together to attract local musicians and spread their sounds throughout the community.

“Our customers are downloading hundreds of tracks, DRM free, each month,” says Zeth Lietzau, manager of the community technology center at the Denver Public Library. “It’s helping local musicians by giving them exposure to a local audience that otherwise might never have heard of them.”

Volume just closed its third round of submissions to a library review team, where artists can submit their music for inclusion on the site. 

“More new music will start being available in April,” Lietzau says. “We’re also paying artists a little for the right to offer their music to our customers.”

Chella and the Charm play at Park Hill Branch Library in March.

Dave Wilkinson, a committee member who helped get Volume up and running, says that he’s stoked that the libraries are able to pay musicians for their music. Too many times, he says, bands have to play for free to get their music out there. Denver band Chella and the Charm hopes to get their self-titled album included in the next round of Volume music.

Chella and the Charm performed for a gathering at Park Hill Branch Library’s Wednesday night music series, which goes through March. Lead singer Chella Negro says she moved to Denver from Wisconsin to be a musician. 

“Denver is such a rich community, how it supports itself,” Negro says. “It’s let me do all kinds of weird stuff.”

A young music fan at Park Hill Branch Library’s Wednesday night concert series featuring Chella and the Charm.

by April Nowicki