Take me out to the library

In last week’s column on National Library Week, I mentioned the different types of libraries that are members of the American Library Assn. Someone asked for a definition of a special library, thus providing a good topic for this week.

A special library is one that is part of an organization. Libraries at hospitals, insurance companies and the Department of Education are all special libraries.

The collections are narrow in scope and often contain ephemeral materials like letters, photographs and programs. Most frequently, the special libraries are of interest only to people within the organization and are closed to the public.

But there is one special library worth noting, especially at this time of the year: the National Baseball Hall of Fame Library and the A. Bartlett Giamatti Research Center.

The Hall of Fame was founded in 1936, and the library was added to the complex in 1939. Cooperstown was chosen for the site of the museum because it was the home of Abner Doubleday, the purported inventor of baseball. The contents of the hall’s library now show, however, that Doubleday did not invent the game, nor did he ever claim to do so.

Virtually anything anyone would like to know about the game of baseball can be found in this special library. Other libraries contain a lot of baseball information (including the library at the Sporting News in St. Louis, the Library of Congress, various baseball teams, the Amateur Athletic Assn. of Los Angeles and the University of Notre Dame), but none of them has the depth or variety found at Cooperstown.

The research center contains tens of thousands of books, complete runs of baseball and sports magazines and newspapers (including newspapers from the 19th century) and clipping files on all Major League and most Negro League players, owners, writers, scouts, etc. They have complete runs of baseball guides, team publications, contracts, statistics and box scores. In addition, the center has private collections donated by individuals or families ? the Doubleday papers, the Roger Angell collection, the Kenesaw Mountain Landis papers and much more.

And unlike a lot of special libraries, this one serves the public. Each year thousands of people turn to the Giamatti Center (named for the late Yale president and baseball commissioner) for information. League officials, sports journalists, players, radio and television producers, the film industry, manufacturers and advertisers, students, teachers, publishers, authors, genealogy researchers and fans visit or write to the library every year.

Though anyone can use the Giamatti Research Center, you must make an appointment first. But since Cooperstown ? in upstate New York ? is a bit out of the way for most people, the librarians will also assist by mail, phone or fax. They charge 25 cents per photocopy and $25 an hour for research assistance. Please note, however, that all questions received from children through high school age are handled free of charge ? unless, of course, it involves extensive staff research time.

Check out www.baseball halloffame.org to find out more about the hall and how to request information.

The season is already a week old. Who knows what sort of question might come nagging at you while sitting in the bleachers watching a double play?