Step Up to the Plate @ Your Library

The Racine Public Library, 75 Seventh St, is once again participating in the Step Up To The Plate @ Your Library trivia contest during the months of June-August 2009.

The American Library Association (ALA) and the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum have teamed up for Season Four of Step Up to the Plate @ your library®. This national program brings together two American classics – libraries and baseball – to promote information literacy and the library as an essential information resource. Information literacy includes being able to find, evaluate and use information.

Season Four centers around multiculturalism in baseball. People of all ages are encouraged to use the print and electronic resources available at their library to answer a series of trivia questions designed for their age group (10 and under, 11-13, 14-17 and 18 and over) and inspired by the history and diversity of our national pastime. Questions are available in both English and Spanish.

One grand-prize winner receive win a trip for two in October to the Hall of Fame's World Series Gala event in Cooperstown, N.Y., including a behind-the-scenes tour of the library and archives. All of the information about the program is available on the Step Up to the Plate Web site at www.ala.org/baseball.

Last year Racine was able to boast two winners in the national contest. Oscar Youngquist, age 11, was the Grand Prize winner and Matthew Gehne, age 11, was awarded an Honorable Mention.

In addition to the trivia contest, the library is also hosting the Homerun for Hunger food drive to benefit local community food pantries. From June 1 to August 28, 2009, the library will be collecting non-perishable food and personal care items to be donated to Racine County food banks.

The Racine Public Library has set a goal of 4,000 items. If the library reaches its "homeplate" goal, the organization's "team" will be sent to the "dugout". The Library Director, Jessica MacPhail, and the library's TeenSpace Leadership group will be sent to sleep overnight in a makeshift "dugout" to show their devotion to excellent community service.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum (www.baseballhall.org) is a Partner in 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 in part by ALA's Library Champions, corporations and foundations who advocate the importance of the library in American society.

Other partners are Carnegie Corporation of New York, Dollar General, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), Univision Radio, Verizon, and Woman's Day magazine.