"The one constant through all the years...has been baseball....
[B]aseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past... It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again."
-Terrance Mann (from Field of Dreams)
[B]aseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past... It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again."
-Terrance Mann (from Field of Dreams)
This statement, written by the Field of Dreams screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson, so eloquently states one of the reasons I have loved the game of baseball for as long as I can remember.
This past week, I had the opportunity to interview Jim Gates, the director of the A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center and library at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY. As a longtime fan of the game, I was thrilled about this. After all, Cooperstown is very much like a Mecca for fans. And to have a chance to work at a library dedicated to all things baseball would be a dream come true. For now, it was enough to get to talk to the man in charge of such a dream job and see what he had to say about it.
Perhaps I should explain that up until recently, I did not actually realize that the Hall of Fame even had a library. I have been there a few times in past years but was somehow never aware that there was a library tucked away behind the actual Hall of Fame where all the bronze plaques hang. Since we have talked in class about how to make the community aware of the services libraries have to offer, how to draw them into the library and how to meet their needs as members of a cohesive community, one of my questions was about their marketing tactics, which seem to be pretty low-key. I was surprised by his answer. He said that as it is, he and his staff of about 10 get 50,000-60,000 questions in any given year, which is more than enough to keep them busy without going out of their way to promote the existence of the library. Through phone calls, e-mails, faxes, letters, and even just walk-ins, they have more than enough to keep them busy all year. If they were to actively promote the library, they would be easily overwhelmed by all the information requests.
In class, we have also talked about many librarians currently in the profession sadly see their jobs as slowly becoming obsolete because of how easily people can access information from home through the Internet. In many places, libraries are not as vibrant a part of the community as we would have them because of this. That is why so many resort to gimmicky tactics to try to make themselves look current and relevant to the surrounding community. Cooperstown is not a large town, and it definitely caters to tourists for the greater part of the year. Thus, it was not too surprising to learn how much the Hall of Fame and even the library itself are considered integral parts of the community. Mr. Gates noted that he and his staff--even as "behind the scenes" people--are widely recognized and valued by the locals. Once again, unlike most libraries these days, they really do not need to do much to make their presence known and felt.
Truly, this library seems to be in a unique position. In The Atlas, Prof. Lankes referred to Mike Eisenberg's idea of the "Anti-Field of Dreams Model," the idea that instead of building it and they will come, libraries need to get them to come first, and then "scramble like hell to meet the needs they bring." While I agree that in most cases, this is indeed the way libraries need to look at their communities in order to connect with the members on their level, after talking with Mr. Gates, I feel that the A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center and library is an exception to this idea. They DO work hard to meet the needs of those who seek the information they have to offer, and they are welcoming and inviting to the many who come from near and far, but it seems that just by being there, "people will come." It was built, and they do come.
This past week, I had the opportunity to interview Jim Gates, the director of the A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center and library at the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY. As a longtime fan of the game, I was thrilled about this. After all, Cooperstown is very much like a Mecca for fans. And to have a chance to work at a library dedicated to all things baseball would be a dream come true. For now, it was enough to get to talk to the man in charge of such a dream job and see what he had to say about it.
Perhaps I should explain that up until recently, I did not actually realize that the Hall of Fame even had a library. I have been there a few times in past years but was somehow never aware that there was a library tucked away behind the actual Hall of Fame where all the bronze plaques hang. Since we have talked in class about how to make the community aware of the services libraries have to offer, how to draw them into the library and how to meet their needs as members of a cohesive community, one of my questions was about their marketing tactics, which seem to be pretty low-key. I was surprised by his answer. He said that as it is, he and his staff of about 10 get 50,000-60,000 questions in any given year, which is more than enough to keep them busy without going out of their way to promote the existence of the library. Through phone calls, e-mails, faxes, letters, and even just walk-ins, they have more than enough to keep them busy all year. If they were to actively promote the library, they would be easily overwhelmed by all the information requests.
In class, we have also talked about many librarians currently in the profession sadly see their jobs as slowly becoming obsolete because of how easily people can access information from home through the Internet. In many places, libraries are not as vibrant a part of the community as we would have them because of this. That is why so many resort to gimmicky tactics to try to make themselves look current and relevant to the surrounding community. Cooperstown is not a large town, and it definitely caters to tourists for the greater part of the year. Thus, it was not too surprising to learn how much the Hall of Fame and even the library itself are considered integral parts of the community. Mr. Gates noted that he and his staff--even as "behind the scenes" people--are widely recognized and valued by the locals. Once again, unlike most libraries these days, they really do not need to do much to make their presence known and felt.
Truly, this library seems to be in a unique position. In The Atlas, Prof. Lankes referred to Mike Eisenberg's idea of the "Anti-Field of Dreams Model," the idea that instead of building it and they will come, libraries need to get them to come first, and then "scramble like hell to meet the needs they bring." While I agree that in most cases, this is indeed the way libraries need to look at their communities in order to connect with the members on their level, after talking with Mr. Gates, I feel that the A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center and library is an exception to this idea. They DO work hard to meet the needs of those who seek the information they have to offer, and they are welcoming and inviting to the many who come from near and far, but it seems that just by being there, "people will come." It was built, and they do come.