About Mills Music Library

Mills Music Library is the primary resource for music materials and information on the UW-Madison campus and in the state. Mills primarily serves the UW-Madison campus community, but it is also open to the general public.

Over the course of its history, Mills Music Library has grown from a 2,500-item departmental collection to a research library of more than 250,000 titles, with Special Collections containing an additional 250,000 items in all formats. Special strengths include Americana, musical theater, recorded sound, and ethnomusicology.

The Music Library houses open stacks, a seminar room, archival special collections, and staff offices and work areas, including a sound studio for preservation work. Audiovisual materials must be requested at the service desk and will be retrieved by library staff. Headphones may be borrowed for in-library listening. Turntables, a cassette deck, and a VHS viewing station are available for use, in addition to 13 PCs and 1 iMac Music Software Workstation. The PCs may be used for playback of CDs and viewing of DVDs. Study carrels and tables provide seating for about 50 users in the reading room.

We do not offer digitization of analog audio or video formats or have equipment patrons may use themselves. We recommend the Media Preservation service of the Department of Communication Arts, or the Personal Archiving Lab at Madison Public Library’s Central Library.

Visiting Mills Music Library

• Enter Memorial Library from State Street and swipe your valid Wiscard at the gate, present your borrowing card, or obtain a day pass with valid ID (an unexpired government-issued photo ID such as a Driver’s License, State ID, passport, or tribal ID). Visitors may obtain a day pass at the Welcome Desk once every 7 days with valid identification. Visitors requiring more frequent access should apply for an Extended Day Pass
• Parking near Memorial Library is available in the State Street Campus Garage (400 N. Frances St.) and at College Library (600 N. Park St.). The State Street Campus Garage Lake Street structure (415 N Lake St.) closed permanently on December 27, 2023.

For the story of Mills Music Library through the years, please see the History page.