Hit a home run @ your libraryTM
Contact:Deb Davis
312-280-2148
dedavis@ala.org
For Immediate Release
January 2002
Hit a home run @ your library™
ALA teams up with Major League Baseball on grand slam partnership
Two American classics - libraries and baseball - are coming together for one of the largest partnerships the American Library Association (ALA) has ever undertaken to promote libraries and literacy.
Called Hit a Home Run @ your library™, this multi-year partnership is part of The Campaign for America's Libraries, ALA's five-year public education effort about the value of public, school, academic and special libraries and librarians in the 21st century.
The goal of the program is to promote the importance of 21st-century information literacy skills and increase awareness of the library as an essential information resource and librarians as "the ultimate search engine." It will launch on the first-ever National Baseball Literacy Day in May (date to be determined). The program is being planned for ready implementation in libraries across the country.
"Libraries and baseball appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds, and they are both found in communities nationwide," says ALA President John W. Berry. "Many libraries already have relationships with their home teams. We hope this partnership will help strengthen local ties and provide new opportunities for programming and promotion that are sure to be winners."
The focus of the program is a fun and educational, intergenerational online game to be hosted on the MLB Web site that will challenge players of all ages-children, teens and adults-to test and develop their information literacy skills. A committee of ALA and MLB representatives is currently working to develop program content to address the following:
- Reading for adults, children and families
- Literacy in using online and print media
- How to find, evaluate and use information efficiently and effectively
- Understanding how to use information to communicate, connect and solve problems
Players (the public) will be encouraged to head to the library, get online, review the program introduction, select an appropriate skill level, and step up to the plate. A pitcher will throw out the first "pitch" (question/exercise) and players will have to access library resources to complete a variety of literacy exercises, which, if done correctly, will result in a "home run." Everyone who successfully completes the program will be eligible for a grand prize drawing.
Full details on the
Join the Major Leagues @ your library is available online.
Major League Baseball is a founding partner in @ your library™, The Campaign for America's Libraries. 3M Library Systems, the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Morningstar Foods, Inc., maker of Hershey®'s Milk, and Woman's Day Magazine also are founding partners.
For more information about The Campaign for America's Libraries, including how to subscribe to a discussion list for the latest updates and idea-sharing, see the
Web site. Libraries are encouraged to send multiple hard-copy samples of how they are involved in the campaign to: Megan Humphrey, Campaign Coordinator, ALA Public Information Office, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611. Samples also may be sent electronically to:
atyourlibrary@ala.org.
