As part of a You Read, We Buy the Library has access to African American Music Reference, until June 2022. At the end of that period the Library will purchase the collections with the most usage.
AAMR is an online resource hosting over 50,000 pages that offers the first comprehensive coverage of blues, jazz, spirituals, civil rights songs, slave songs, minstrelsy, rhythm and blues, gospel, and other forms of black American musical expression.
It provides coverage of a wide range of material types, including: discographies, biographies, anthologies, encyclopedias, critical works, photographs and other images, lyrics, sheet music, chronologies, and textbooks.
It is also an important resource to support identity and place in society for African American musicians, and will provide a rich reference point for past and present lived experiences.