Sports Archives | American Libraries Magazine

Author Linda Holmes, photo by Tim Coburn

Newsmaker: Linda Holmes

By Sallyann Price | August 1, 2019

Holmes recently spoke with American Libraries about her fiction favorites, the breadth of the romance genre, and why librarians are the original influencers. Tell me about your relationship with books and reading. Where does fiction fit in your personal pop-culture landscape? When I was a teenager I read a ton of big, heavy commercial fiction, … Continue reading Newsmaker: Linda Holmes →

Newsmaker: Andrew Luck

By Terra Dankowski | November 1, 2018

Have you always been an avid reader? Do you have any fond book or library memories from childhood? I always have been an avid reader. It was encouraged in our household. I remember an 18-hour car ride to Colorado from Houston, and reading Lonesome Dove [by Larry McMurtry] for like 17-and-a-half of those 18 hours. … Continue reading Newsmaker: Andrew Luck →

Students play videogames during the grand opening of the Nest, the e-sports facility at University of North Texas in Denton. Photo: Photo: University of North Texas

Wide World of E-Sports

By Timothy Inklebarger | May 1, 2018

The biggest competitions in the world of e-sports—of which the most popular include League of Legends, Super Smash Bros., and Overwatch—fetch top players millions of dollars in prizes, and in 2017 the industry is estimated to have earned $696 million in revenue. Universities across the country have established e-sports teams, and some of the top … Continue reading Wide World of E-Sports →

Julie Foudy during the United States Women's National Soccer Team/South Korea Women's National Football Team international friendly match. (Photo by Joe Faraoni / ESPN Images)

Newsmaker: Julie Foudy

By Phil Morehart | April 11, 2017

Where did the title Choose to Matter come from? It comes from a summer leadership academy we’ve been doing for 10-plus years, which is a combination of sports and leadership woven together for a weeklong residential camp. Our tagline is “Choose to Matter” with the kids, because our message is that leadership is personal, not … Continue reading Newsmaker: Julie Foudy →

New York Public Library posted this image on Twitter on October 29 to signal comeback hopes for the New York Mets in the World Series. The friendly social media exchange among several New York and Kansas City libraries has caught the attention of several mainstream media outlets.

Libraries Take Part in World Series–Themed Twitter “Battle”

By Alison Marcotte | October 30, 2015

Some #bookspinepoetry for our friends @BlueJays & @torontolibrary #TaketheCrown #GoRoyals #ALCS pic.twitter.com/Zj5ZvhFljv — KCMO Public Library (@KCLibrary) October 20, 2015 Toronto Public Library responded, saying, “Warning.” “Kansas City.” “It Ain’t Over till It’s Over.” Well played @KCLibrary but we’ve got a way with words too. ‘Til tomorrow! @BlueJays #ComeTOgether #GoJaysGo pic.twitter.com/qED5PFp95t — TorontoPublicLibrary (@torontolibrary) October … Continue reading Libraries Take Part in World Series–Themed Twitter “Battle” →

At Yankee Stadium during the 1955 World Series, Brooklyn batter Roy Campanella and New York catcher Yogi Berra both start toward first base: Campy attempting to beat out his grounder and Yogi preparing to back up the play.

Take Me Out to the Library

By Ron Chepesiuk | October 23, 2015

Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the March 1999 issue of American Libraries. The librarian headed first for the file cabinets that contained biographical records on every individual who played major-league baseball, and then to the library’s collection of hundreds of thousands of photographs. The records Gates retrieved showed that Paul Derringer (1906-1987) played … Continue reading Take Me Out to the Library →

Seabiscuit with jockey George Woolf and trainer Tom Smith after winning the Pimlico Special, November 1, 1938. (Photo: Keeneland Library)

And They’re Off!

By Alison Marcotte | June 5, 2015

“This is the job of my dreams,” says Becky Ryder, director of Keeneland Library. Founded in 1939, the public research and reference library is one of the largest sources of equine industry information. It holds hundreds of thousands of thoroughbred-related books, articles, and photographic negatives, such as the Daily Racing Form’s archives and materials on … Continue reading And They’re Off! →

James L. Gates Jr. (Photo: Milo V. Stewart Jr./National Baseball Hall of Fame)

Bookend: National Pastime

November 1, 2014

Since its opening in June 1939, the Hall has served as the cornerstone of baseball, honoring the sport’s greats and marking its significance in history over the years. Pictured here, James L. Gates Jr., library director, holds the promissory note for the sale of Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox to the New York … Continue reading Bookend: National Pastime →

Friday Night Library Lights

By Adam Doster | November 26, 2013

Helping patrons manage their fantasy football rosters was one way Waelchli thought to do it. “I really enjoy helping people research and problem-solve and crack the nut of trying to find the information that they’re looking for,” he says. “I enjoy playing fantasy football, too.” Nothing in America brings people together quite like sports. Although … Continue reading Friday Night Library Lights →

Latest Library Links

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The National Library of Israel is working with Google to digitize 120,000 books from its extensive collection of Jewish texts and put them online for public use. The collaboration will significantly increase the percentage of Hebrew texts available on Google Books. The library has already begun transporting 50,000 books to Google’s digitization center in Germany using climate-controlled shipping containers. Another 20,000 will be scanned in-house due to their rare or fragile nature. The whole process is expected to take around two years, after which all out-of-copyright Hebrew books will be available online and free to the public.

Washington Post, Nov. 13
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Jenny Rosenfeld writes: “Recently, the interlibrary loan staff at the Loyola Notre Dame Library tracked the locations around the world from which they borrow and lend library materials. The exercise was prompted by a student who, after being shown ILL by staff members Kate Strain and Zach Gahs-Buccheri, asked, ‘What’s the farthest library that you’ve gotten an item from?’ Turns out the answer was the Dalton McCaughey Library at the University of Melbourne in Australia, which is 10,038 miles from Loyola in Baltimore. What a great example of how ILL makes us one big library with endless shelves.”

OCLC Next, Nov. 14
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LITA and Baker & Taylor are accepting applications for the Christian Larew Memorial Scholarship for those who plan to follow a career in library and information technology, demonstrate potential leadership, and hold a strong commitment to library automation. The successful applicant will receive a $3,000 check and a citation. The application form is open through March 1.

LITA, Nov. 14
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Carrie Smith writes: “Think election season is the only time libraries can engage communities with elected officials? Think again. Not only have some libraries taken year-round approaches to civic engagement, but some also have broken with tradition to create memorable opportunities for interaction. At Manitowoc (Wis.) Public Library, which hosts a free carnival every August, local representatives such as the mayor and aldermen hop into a dunk tank or serve as targets for the water-balloon catapult. Youth Services Manager Julia Lee says getting local celebrities in the dunk tank helps break down barriers between residents and officials.”

American Libraries feature, Nov./Dec.
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Anne Ford writes: “Finding love after 50 isn’t always easy. Social norms change, life events like divorce and death leave emotional scars, and it sometimes feels as if the rest of the world has already paired off. Fortunately, there’s the library—not as a place to make romantic connections per se, but as a resource for older adults who want to learn how to navigate the world of online dating. Several public libraries have begun offering programs that help older patrons safely and effectively meet potential partners on the internet. Among those are Westport (Conn.) Public Library, Skokie (Ill.) Public Library, and Billings (Mont.) Public Library.”

American Libraries Trend, Nov./Dec.
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The New York Times Magazine editors write: “The internet hasn’t lived up to all our dreams for it. But neither, perhaps, does it conform to the nightmares (of misinformation, of alienation, of exploitation) that so many people spin around it now. In this special issue of the New York Times Magazine, we’ve tried to see the internet and its likely future as best we can, from as many angles as we can, in the hope that—after decades of imagining it as a utopia, and then a few years of seeing it as a dystopia—we might finally begin to see it for what it is, which is a set of powerful technologies in the midst of some serious flux.”

New York Times Magazine, Nov. 14
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Joe Puccio writes: “In January 2017, the Library of Congress adopted a set of strategic steps related to its acquisition of digital content as part of its strategic goal to ‘Acquire, preserve, and provide access to a universal collection of knowledge and the record of America’s creativity.’ There have been many notable achievements since then, including registration of newspaper e-prints by the Copyright Office, an increase in the number of publishers participating in Cataloging in Publication, a first-ever formal assessment of library’s purchased and leased electronic resources collection, and a model electronic resources license agreement.”

Library of Congress: The Signal, Nov. 14

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