About Us

The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, located in the heart of La Jolla, California, in San Diego County, is one of only 16 nonprofit membership libraries in the United States. This rare cultural institution, an important one to the greater San Diego area, offers a depth and accessibility of resources and programs found nowhere else in the region.

The library, devoted exclusively to music and art, has an outstanding and ever-expanding collection of books, periodicals, reference material, compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, sheet music, and librettos, as well as one of the most significant collections of artists' books in Southern California. The library is open to the public five days a week; members can check out materials for a modest annual fee.

The Athenaeum also presents an eclectic, year-round schedule of art exhibitions, concerts (classical, jazz, and new music), lectures, studio art classes through its School of the Arts, tours and special events. We invite you to browse through these pages, learn more about us, and participate in our activities. It truly is a feast. To quote the San Diego Union-Tribune, "There are few libraries in America as unusual as the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library."