Sibley Music Library

[1] Mr. Sibley was prompted to found a music collection after Elbert Newton, a Rochester, NY church organist, suggested to him that such a collection would be of value to Rochester's music-loving public.

In January, 1922, following an agreement by ESM founder George Eastman (1854-1932) and Hiram Watson Sibley, the collection was formally merged with the Eastman School of Music and was moved from its original home to the newly built Eastman School of Music in downtown Rochester.

By 1937 the library had outgrown its space within the Eastman School's main building, and an annex was erected at 44 Swan Street, the adjacent block.

The library moved to its current location in 1989 and now occupies 45,000 square feet (4,000 m²) on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors of the Miller Center building, formerly known as Eastman Place (re-named in 2004).

[4] Barbara Duncan, the first librarian was also a founder of the Music Library Association.