Welcome to Florida Atlantic University, new Owls! As you embark on this exciting journey, you’re not just joining a university but becoming part of a vibrant community with endless opportunities for growth, exploration, and discovery. From the bustling campus life to the serene beaches nearby, FAU offers a unique environment where academic excellence meets a supportive, diverse community.

As you settle in and navigate your new life here, you’ll find FAU full of hidden gems—one in the Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus. I’m talking about the Recorded Sound Archives (RSA), a part of FAU Libraries that you might not have heard of yet but one that you’ll want to know about. Read More About This…

The Recorded Sound Archives at FAU Libraries has embarked on translating Russian Music titles and will add approximately 100 rare Russian recordings.

FAU President Dr.John Kelly presented Maxine Schackman with this prestigious award on April 22, 2015.

Maxine was nominated for the prestigious Jeffrey Gabor Exemplary Employee Award by Rita Pellen, Interim Dean of FAU Libraries. In her nomination letter Pellen praised Schackman for her hard work building up the Judaica Sound Archives since the early 2000’s.

In 2009, when she stepped in as director, Schackman expanded the scope of the online archives by including rare historic vintage and jazz recordings.

In 2013 the Recorded Sound Archives made the news when, with the help of Peter Muldavin, the “Kiddie Rekord King,” they rescued over 800 vintage children’s recordings from a flooded storage facility after SuperStorm Sandy hit Long Island. Schackman and her crew worked tirelessly for a year to digitize the sound and images that had been damaged. Now this wonderful collection of recordings are available online. For more about this story see video here.

Pellen also praised Schackman for being a leader in the development and expansion of the Judaica Sound Archives, making it the largest online collection of Jewish recordings in the world. “Under her leadership the RSA at FAU Libraries has become known as the ‘go to’ place for rare and difficult to find recordings of Jewish and other vintage music.”

According to Schackman, “When I became director in 2009 my first goal was to totally revamp our very popular website. It was a great website and had an amazing number of digitized sound tracks but it was old technology and I knew we just couldn’t survive in the 21st century without going mobile. Now the JSA and other RSA recordings are available on mobile devices using streaming audio technology. Now people can take the music with them wherever they go.”

“This award means a lot to me. I have dedicated the past 13 years of my life to the Judaica Sound Archives and more recently, the Recorded Sound Archives. I worked very hard but I loved every minute of it. I loved talking to groups and introducing them to the wonderful music we have rescued and preserved. I am very proud of the contribution that I have made to FAU Libraries. I am very grateful to my dedicated staff and to the many students who have worked for us over the years.  I am especially grateful to the volunteers without whom none of this would have been possible. This award is a wonderful capstone for my career since I will be retiring on June 30, 2015.” Read More About This…

Looking for local volunteers

RSA’s sound technician, Ben Roth, set up a table and tried to entice passersby to sign up at Boca Pointe’s Volunteer Fair on Tuesday, January 20, 2015. Not much luck.

People are often amazed at the number of recordings that the RSA has been able to digitize and put online. “How do you do it?” That’s a question we often hear.

The answer? VOLUNTEERS!!!!

But why should you volunteer when you have so many other things to do? What’s in it for you? So here is my top ten reasons to volunteer at the Recorded Sound Archives in FAU Libraries, Boca Raton.

10. You can reminisce about some of the world’s greatest Jazz musicians as you enter information from LPs into the database.

9. You can learn more about Jazz history, songs and musicians by reading the backs of album covers.

8. You can improve your mind and improve your memory by exercising your brain muscles.

7. You can improve your manual dexterity and keyboard skills.

6. You can feel good about spending your time doing something useful and worthwhile.

5. You can volunteer whenever you have time to kill as long as it is on Mon through Thurs between 9am and 4pm.

4. You can enjoy the ambiance of FAU’s beautiful Boca Raton campus and the Wimberly Library.

3. You might make new friends.

2. You can see and hear demonstrations of the RSA’s antique equipment, including an original Edison cylinder player and two console Victrolas from the 1920s.

And the number 1 reason to volunteer at the RSA…..

We need you!

Contact Alethea Perez at 561-297-0080 for more information.

RSA Director, Maxine Schackman, at the IAYC conference on Nov. 15 in Boca Raton, FL.

RSA director, Maxine Schackman, told the audience at the International Association of Yiddish Clubs  conference in Boca Raton that FAU Libraries has been collecting Judaic recordings since 2002.

“We take these antique recordings and digitize them so that a new generation can learn and enjoy what came before them,” she said.

The Recorded Sound Archives website has the largest searchable online collection of Jewish music in the world with recordings by 7,344 Jewish performers, 13,776 albums and 72, 577 song titles.

Among the musical pieces Schackman presented that had the audience laughing and singing along were “Roumania, Roumania,” written and performed by Yiddish theater star Aaron Lebedeff; “Good Night ‘Oy Vey’ Irene”, a Yiddish parody of “Good Night Irene” sung by Seymour Rechtzeit and written by his wife, Miraim Kressyn; and “Bei Mir Bistu Shein,” a Yiddish swing song that became a number-one single in America in 1938 as recorded by the Andrews Sisters.

CLICK HERE to listen to a selection of Yiddish recordings.

CLICK HERE for full story written by Randall Lieberman and published in Jewish Journal. Read More About This…