[Publib] Official NBA Guide

[James Casey]

A lot of stuff is available on-line and scattered hither and yon on different sites, but not always as easily accessible to the average person.  Sports fans also tend to want handy guides at their finger tips while watching games on the TV or elsewhere.  Serious sports fanatics care more about statistics and data --- even ridiculous minutiae --- than one might think.  Accessing a computer for this or that information might not be as convenient when one is tailgating, sitting in the bleachers, watching multiple games on cable or in a sports bar.  [I won’t even get into the insanity of gambling, point spreads, expert predictions, and all of that stuff.]  

 

I’m sure that the Almanac of American Politics information is available on-line as well if you want to look everything up, but plenty of copies of that valuable tome will be sold at $95 a pop when the book finally is released.  People still want good quality reference books and would be quite angry of such a handy reference work as Almanac of American Politics were to be discontinued.  That being said, I would venture the sad hypothesis that a lot more folks are apt to be interested in information about sports figures and teams than they are in facts relative to voting records (etc.) of the members of the U.S. Congress.

 

I think that its more about “dumbing down” and raising the price on frothy magazines as a lame substitute in the case of Sporting News Guides.  It is a financial decision by the new owners that will leave another void on our reference shelves.   --- I would much rather that they simply raised the price on the book before discontinuing publication.  

 

Jim Casey – My own views

 

From: Sue Kamm [mailto:suekamm at mindspring.com] 
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2007 12:30 PM
To: James Casey; publib at webjunction.org
Subject: Re: [Publib] Official NBA Guide

 

I wonder if the reason for the decision to cease publishing the sports guides is that the information is available online.  All the professional sports leagues have websites which include information and statistics on individual players.  

Meanwhile, the basketball encyclopedias don't appear to have been updated recently.  

Those libraries serving fans of local sports teams might want to contact the public relations offices of those teams and see if they will supply copies of their media guides.



	-----Original Message----- 
	From: James Casey 
	Sent: Nov 2, 2007 8:57 AM 
	To: publib at webjunction.org 
	Subject: [Publib] Official NBA Guide 
	
	
	

	If any Libraries are wondering where the Official NBA Guide for 2007-2008 is to be found, it not available in book form.  The last one published was for the 2006-07 year.  Their Official Baseball Guide for 2007 was also discontinued.  Apparently Street & Smith bought out Sporting News and proceeded to discontinue these excellent sports reference books in favor of magazine versions.   

	 

	I trust that many thousands of sports fans across the country are now looking for the Official NBA Guide for 2007-08 at their library or in book stores.  You might suggest that they call those responsible for eliminating this important reference book (704-973-1300) and voicing their concern.  Maybe these books can be resurrected at some point in the future.   

	 

	James B. Casey – my own views.

	Director, Oak Lawn Public Library

	ALA Council Member

	 

	 

 
 
Your friendly CyberGoddess and Councilor-at-large,
Sue Kamm
Inglewood/Los Angeles, CA
Truest of the Blue, Los Angeles Dodgers Think Blue Week 2000
Visit my blog:  http://suekamm.blogspot.com
email:  suekamm [at] mindspring.com
Baseball Is Life -- the rest is details
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