Step Up to the Plate @ your library® grand-prize winner travels to Cooperstown
Contact: Megan McFarlane
Campaign Coordinator
Campaign for America’s Libraries
ALA Public Information Office
312-280-2148
mmcfarlane@ala.org
NEWS
For Immediate Release
November 17, 2009
CHICAGO - Eleven-year-old Elizabeth Ann Bishop is a library MVP. Bishop earned a trip to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, winning the 2009 Step Up to the Plate @ your library contest by demonstrating her information literacy skills.
In early October, Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith drew Bishop’s name as the grand-prize winner. She was randomly selected from eligible contestants across the country and Puerto Rico who correctly answered a series of baseball trivia questions.
Each year librarians at the Baseball Hall of Fame work to generate a series of questions for Step Up to the Plate that test library users’ information literacy skills.
A photo from the event is available on ALA’s
Flickr page.
Bishop, a frequent library user from Chambersburg, Pa., traveled with her family to Cooperstown, N.Y. for the Hall of Fame’s 13th Annual World Series Gala on Saturday, Oct. 31. The Gala featured a live broadcast of Game 3 of the 105th World Series, between the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies in the Hall of Fames’ Grandstand Theater.
“The best part was watching the game at the Hall of Fame with other fans,” said Bishop, who sported Phillies player Ryan Howard’s jersey for the occasion. “It was like being there.”
Bishop also received a tour of the Baseball Hall of Fame and library.
“We are lucky to have a branch library a quarter of a mile from our house,” said Bishop’s mother, Kelly, who often visits the library with her daughter. “The library has computer classes and videos, but we mainly use it for the books and to work on school projects.”
Bishop entered the contest at her former elementary school, where school library media specialist April Cole encouraged her fifth grade students to participate in Step Up to the Plate during their library period. Cole encouraged students who didn’t finish answering their questions to visit the Grove Family Library, where she also works. In fact, Cole also partnered with a friend who teaches Internet and sports classes at the local high school so that the high school student could join in the fun too.
Read more about the Bishops’ in the
Chambersburg Public Opinion, Chambersburg’s local newspaper.
Season Four of Step Up to the Plate @ your library teamed up two American classics - baseball and libraries - to promote the importance of information literacy skills and increase awareness of the library as an essential information resource. People of all ages were encouraged to visit their library and answer a series of trivia questions. Questions were inspired by the history and diversity of our national pastime.
The fourth season of the program kicked off during Youth Baseball Week (April 13-19, 2009) and was a featured program during the week’s celebration at The National Baseball Hall of Fame. More than 6,000 fans visited the Hall of Fame during the week.
Step Up to the Plate @ your library is part of the Campaign for America’s Libraries (
www.ala.org/@yourlibrary), ALA’s public awareness campaign that promotes the value of libraries and librarians. Thousands of libraries of all types – across the country and around the globe - use the Campaign’s @ your library® brand. The Campaign is made possible by ALA’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations that advocate the importance of the library in American society.
The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, a Partner in the Campaign for America’s Libraries, is a not-for-profit educational institution dedicated to fostering an appreciation of the historical development of the game and its impact on our culture by collecting, preserving, exhibiting and interpreting its collections for a global audience, as well as honoring those who have made outstanding contributions to our National Pastime.
For more information, go to
www.ala.org/baseball.
