On June 9th, The City University of New York (CUNY) Board of Trustees agreed, through a unanimous vote, to change the name of the Aaron Copland School of Music Library to the William C. Rorick Library.
In 1981, the Department of Music adopted its current name in honor of legendary composer Aaron Copland’s 80th birthday.
The impetus for this new renaming comes from a monetary bequest from the estate of William C. Rorick to Queens College, according to the Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes from June 30th, 2025. This endowment includes Rorick’s collection including pianos, audio recordings, photographs, manuscripts, and other memorabilia alongside $2,000,000 to be used for the acquisition and preservation of music materials.
Rorick served as an instructor at the Music Library at QC for five years from 1974 to 1979 before transitioning into Assistant Professor and Reference Librarian, a position he held until 1996.
“William Rorick was a musician librarian through the 80s and into the 90s, and when he died, he left a significant gift to the Music Library financially. Part of the acceptance of the gift is the renaming of the library.” said Alex Crowley the current Substitute Visual & Performing Arts, Music Librarian, and Assistant Professor of Development here at the Music Library at QC.
Crowley added, “It’s a huge, vital resource for the sort of flagship music program in CUNY, it’s the biggest music library in the CUNY system, and with additional resources, we can make more stuff available to students.”
With over 40,000 scores, 35,000 books, and 30,000 sound recordings plus a computer lab, book scanner, and circulating iPads, the music library offers a lot of useful resources for the study of music.
In addition to housing materials owned by legendary composers over the years, the music library does something special for all students and professors interested in their collection. The library offers the chance to buy rare albums, CDs, books, scores, and parts that may not be found anywhere else.
“I think people look forward to it, it’s a reason to keep doing it, and it also helps us keep engaged with alums and potential donors because people are always looking to donate, get rid of books [and] materials that they don’t need,” said Crowley.
So what’s next for the music library here at QC? When asked, Crowley encouraged members of the QC community to answer the question for themselves, “God I have no idea, but come hang out at the Music Library.”
