Celebrate ALA’s first annual Preservation Week and Step Up to the Plate @ your library

Contact: Megan McFarlane


Campaign coordinator


Campaign for America’s Libraries


ALA Public Information Office


312-280-2148


mmcfarlane@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release


April 27th, 2010

CHICAGO – Step Up to the Plate during the American Library Association’s (ALA) Preservation Week (May 9-15) and celebrate two American institutions – baseball and libraries.

Recognizing the critical role libraries play in preservation, the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS) in partnership with the Library of Congress and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, launches the first national Preservation Week, May 9-15, 2010. It is the first national awareness campaign targeting collections preservation awareness for the general public by strengthening community partnerships for preservation.

At the same time the fifth season of the ALA’s and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum’s
Step Up to the Plate @ your library celebrates the Hall of Fame’s role in the preservation of our national pastime as a collecting museum and library.

Step Up to the Plate centers on a baseball trivia contest - to promote the importance of information literacy skills and increase awareness of the library as an essential information resource. People of all ages are encouraged to visit their library and answer a series of trivia questions. This year's questions, developed by the library staff at the Hall of Fame, were inspired by the exhibits at the museum in Cooperstown, NY.

Trivia questions are now available to library users on the
program's Web site.

Librarians looking to tie-in programming to Preservation Week are encouraged to register for the Step Up to the Plate toolkit, which includes preservation themed programming ideas. To register visit
www.ala.org/baseball.

For more information on Preservation Week visit
www.ala.org/preservationweek, send questions to
preservationweek@ala.org.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is a Partner in
The Campaign for America's Libraries, 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 in part by
ALA’s Library Champions, corporations and foundations.

Other Partners include Carnegie Corporation of New York, Disney Book Group, Dollar General, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Univision Radio and Verizon.

ALCTS is a division of the ALA.