about
The Cym Music Library
The CYM Library is owned and administered by a charity (the Community & Youth Music Library), with generous support from the Wates Foundation. It is now situated at the Lilian Baylis Old School, Lollard Street, London SE11 6PY. It holds a very large collection of choral, orchestral and wind band scores, used not only by the CYM but by schools, colleges, choral societies, youth and amateur orchestras and bands nationwide.

The Library originally comprised the collection built up by the London County Council and the Inner London Education Authority. When ILEA was abolished, it became the CYM Library and major additions have been made since then: notably the late Alan Cave's collection of band and orchestral music and a number of generous donations of choral music. Catalogues of the Library's stocks of choral, orchestral and band music can be found on its website, www.cymlibrary.org.uk.

A modest hire charge is made for loans other than for use by CYM and Trinity College: e.g. £12 per month for a set of vocal scores of a major choral work and £15 for an orchestral set. There are smaller charges for wind band sets, minor choral works and chamber music. There is no hire charge for loans for CYM use.

The Library is run by two part-time voluntary workers, Tony Lynes (an ex-CYM parent), who is usually there on Tuesday afternoons and Fridays, and Peter Smith. Tony can be contacted by telephone (at the Library on 0208 127 1027 or at home on 0207 733 7235) or by email: cymlibrary@googlemail.com. Enquiries from potential users of the Library are always welcome.