<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tashadoestulsa/3828092778/" title="Hardesty Regional Library by Tasha Does Tulsa, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2583/3828092778_ba400f7c4f.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="Hardesty Regional Library" /></a>

A  big argument from fans about buying music digitally is that it leaves out the thrill of a little something called bin browsing. 

To a music fan, there’s nothing like a spontaneous trip to the record store and stumbling upon a copy of that rare or forgotten gem that suddenly becomes the perfect salve for what ails you.

But in case you haven’t noticed, there’s a serious lack of local record stores these days (he said as he tips his 40oz. to Under the Mooch/Mohawk Music/Peaches and more). 

Big box shops, which carry CDs almost as an afterthought, mostly fail to deliver on the hidden-gems front, too. But fear not, dusty bin browsers. There’s a damn-near perfect solution for your musical grab-bag blues. 

<!--more-->It’s a place that was around before music shops and the Internet and combines the best of both - browsing bins and free music samplings. What I'm talking about is more than just Raffi albums and recordings of Tuvan throat singing - it’s the library, suckers.

Some locations of <a href="http://www.tulsalibrary.org/">our city-county library system here in Tulsa</a> have a larger selection than others, of course, but with the their fabulous holds and inter-library loan system (which, if you have a library card, you can access online), you can always get great stuff brought in. 

The Netflix-like online catalog is a wonderful tool. One can spend hours virtually bin-browsing the wonderful  music titles that the library has to offer. When you find something you like, simply add it to your “queue.” You can have items sent from libraries all over town to your neighborhood location as soon as those titles become available.

The Tulsa City-County Library is doing quite an impressive job at regularly acquiring lots of new releases. They may not be available the same week as their national release, but at my location alone, (big ups to the Nathan Hale branch), there were several titles on-shelf that were released within just the last few months.

Users can also click “new titles” on the web catalog page to view what was recently added to the stock. Current titles include the new Elton/Leon duet album, Sufjan Stevens, Mavis Staples, Grinderman, and Lil Wayne...yes, Lil Wayne. At the mother-scratching library).

Here's a look at my recent library grabs. Cost? $0. Plus, I realized some funny looks from the librarian. (Not a Bread fan, I guess.)

<a title="TDTLibStash by tdannerclark, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdannerclark/5149930396/"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4003/5149930396_e492738c0c.jpg" alt="TDTLibStash" width="375" height="500" /></a>

The library also has a great selection of rock-related movies and books, including a book on Burlesque Poster Design (which inspired many rock posters). 

So yeah, librarians aren’t the only sexy thing you’ll find at the library.

So dust off your library card, rude-boy. Pay those late fees and go get your rock on at the Tulsa City-County Library. (Not to be confused with getting your rocks OFF, which is still prohibited at the library, by the way. Believe me.)

<h2>PLAYLIST: Revisit the '90s</h2>
Since I know people who haven’t even been to the library since they were researching for their senior paper in ‘97 (as I cut my eyes to my wife), I decided to spin the crank on the 'ol Way-Back Machine and give you a set of gems from the 1990s sans the trip to the house of stacks. 

In case you haven't noticed, I'm kind of obsessed with this decade right now. Fellow music geeks will recognize most of these, but hopefully you’ll find a few you haven’t heard.

It blows my mind that we can still find music released during our adolescence that we’ve never heard before. It reminds us that maybe we didn't know <em>everything</em> like we thought we did. Then it makes us wonder if we <em>still</em> don't know everything. If only there was a place in our community where we could go to learn things and stuff, and for free...

<ol>
	<li>Silver Jews - "Random Rules" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1o0">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Elevator to Hell" - Why I Didn't Like August '93" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1ox">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>The Dismemberment Plan - "Gyroscope" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1pk">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Sleater-Kinney - "Get Up"</li>
	<li>Jawbox - "Savory" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1qn">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Built to Spill - "Car" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1sj">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Helium - "Pat's Trick" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1t0">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>The Beta Band - "Dry the Rain" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1tl">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Arches of Load - "Web in Front"</li>
	<li>Jesus & Mary Chain - "Little Stars" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1u4">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>The Magnetic Fields - "Underwear" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi1z9">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Damien Jurado - "Ohio" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi20e">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Neutral Milk Hotel - "Holland, 1945" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi20x">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Bonnie Prince Billy - "Another Day Full of Dread" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi22h">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>De La Soul - "A Roller Skating Jam Named 'Saturdays'" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi230">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Fugazi - "Forensic Scene" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi23b">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Solex - "Randy Costanza" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi23v">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Mercury Rev - "Holes" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi249">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Bettie Serveert - "Kid's Alright" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi259">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Modest Mouse - "Trailer Trash" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi25p">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Guided by Voices - "I am a Scientist" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi26c">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Olivia Tremor Control - "No Growing (Exegesis) (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi26w">listen here</a>)"</li>
	<li>Of Montreal - "Tim I wish You Were Born a Girl"(<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi27q">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Heatmiser - "Plain Clothes Man" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi28d">listen here</a>)</li>
	<li>Pavement - "Trigger Cut/Wounded-Kite at :17" (<a href="http://blip.fm/~yi2bc">listen here</a>)</li>
</ol>

Keep rockin', Tulsa. 

Peace, hearts and pink tutus, 
T.J.