The Invisible Librarians

NCAA March Madness! No, Really.

As I take in the thrill of watching Yale have a near comeback against Duke and how Duke's loss might break yet another bracket in the craziness that is men's basketball in March, I can't help but notice that of the 38 people who filled out the sheet in a small, friendly pool, 27 of them picked done-in-the-first-round Michigan State to go all the way. Michigan State does not even boast a number 1 seed (number 2, but still). I suspect that none of the Northern Michigan locals--among them a State grad or State dad or State grandpa--could imagine the Spartans taking the title without each of them being a part of it. It's cute, really. Such loyalty. I picked North Carolina. And I'm still smiling.

On the shelves the madness is also in full swing. Our high school (men and women) has had great success in post season basketball play the past few state tournament runs. Because of that and the NCAA propagating every digital feed going in and out of mainstream media, it becomes a real challenge to fill all the requests this time of year. I walked the stacks Friday morning searching to find a basketball book for a student. Just one. He's a brand new fan of basketball fiction, and after discovering The Crossover by Kwame Alexander about a month ago, he can't get enough.

Rucker Park Setup? Read it.

Black and White? Checked out.

On a Devil's Court? Read it.

Foul Trouble? Checked out.

At this point, I start to feel that I already know how this is going to end: our combined disappointment. After feeling guilty that I just haven't stocked the shelves well enough and my recommendation that soccer is right around the corner, I offer up the questions: What's your second favorite sport? I've got the new Ronaldo biography? How about baseball?

There are, simply, times in the year when this lack-of-good-stock phenomenon happens: Halloween (ghosts, horror, mystery, sorcery); sports' seasons (baseball, soccer, football, basketball); winter (Dickens, celebrations around the world, hockey); recent movie releases (Room by Emma Donoghue, The Martian by Andy Weir, The Big Short by Michael Lewis); and a great assignment on the Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Jazz, Jacob Laurence, Zora Neale Hurston, Palmer Hayden, Claude McKay).

So, I take a look at the catalog to see what I really have left on basketball. Not much. I scroll through all the many borrowed books. Is the value of a collection based on what's available or what's checked out? On quick glance, I have about 120 total basketball books checked out of the library, with only 158 individual titles. Mind you, I have multiple copies of some books (4 copies of The Crossover (Alexander), 3 copies of Game (Myers), 5 copes of Rucker Park Setup (Volponi), 4 copies of Swagger (Deuker), 5 copies of Slam Kicks: Basketball Sneakers That Changed the Game (Osborne), etc... I deduce that there are a lot of really good (and some just plain entertaining) books in the hands of our high school students--no need for guilt.

Some Books Currently OFF the Shelf in March 2016: