Home Join the Major Leagues @ your library opens today
Contact: Megan Humphrey
Campaign Coordinator
312/280-4020
mhumphrey@ala.org
For Immediate Release
April 30, 2004
New incentives, online tools highlight launch of
Join the Major Leagues @ your library®;
1,100 libraries registered
New incentives, online tools in English and Spanish, and events at Major League Baseball games nationwide highlight the third year of the Join the Major Leagues @ your library® program, which officially opens today. Co-developed by the American Library Association (ALA), Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association, the 21st century literacy program features an online baseball trivia contest and a trip to the 2004 World Series for one lucky prize winner.
Running through September 10, the program focuses this year on public libraries and is designed to complement summer reading efforts. The Public Library Association (PLA), a division of ALA, is a co-sponsor of the program. More than 1,000 libraries already have registered for the initiative.
Librarians now have access to the program’s Web site in English and Spanish and are encouraged to promote the program to library users of all ages. To assist librarians, ALA has prepared a toolkit with sample press materials and programming ideas, program logos, bookmarks, posters and mascot artwork. To access, click on "How Librarians Can Get Involved."
Librarians must go through a short registration process in order to access the tools and are eligible to receive a free program poster courtesy of Major League Baseball while supplies last. The posters will be mailed to libraries in May.
"Join the Major Leagues @ your library" celebrates and promotes two of America’s oldest institutions -- baseball and libraries -- while heightening awareness of 21st century literacy skills: the use of computers and other media to obtain information and improve communications.
The centerpiece of the program is the "Join the Major Leagues @ your library" contest is an online baseball trivia contest that challenges participants to use the resources available at the library to answer baseball trivia questions. The library staff at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, a program sponsor, once again developed this year’s trivia questions, which are organized by age group (10 and under, 11-13, 14-17 and 18 and older).
The grand-prize winner of the 2004 program will receive a trip to a designated game of the 2004 Major League Baseball World Series next fall and first-place prizes will be awarded as well. New incentives and prizes will also be offered this year for the top five libraries that bring in the greatest number of entries. The three libraries that bring in the most number of entries will receive a $100 bookstore gift certificate; the next two will receive $50 gift certificates to ALA Graphics. Libraries that bring in at least 25 entries will be eligible for a drawing of copies of the ALA Graphics Jackie Robinson "History Lives" poster. All libraries that send in a report detailing how they promoted the program along with sample publicity materials that utilized the official "Join the Major Leagues @ your library" logo will be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift certificate to mlb.com.
"Join the Major Leagues @ your library" is part of ALA’s Campaign for America's Libraries, its multi-year public awareness campaign to promote the value of libraries, librarians and library workers in the 21st century.
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