Sabres

I am not a hockey fan. Sports are not my forte at all. But somehow the idea of organizing our Open House event around sports came into play. We tossed ideas around about how to encourage our new students to come into the library. We had met with a marketing professor and talked about what we should be considering, and how the current generation of students expect to have positive experiences with places, and that's what makes them want to come back.

So we thought if we provided a positive experience, they would feel comfortable being in the library. And since we know they like to play online and electronic games, we thought we would set up games throughout the library and invite them to come and play a game. We asked to use the college's big popcorn cart and give out free popcorn, and we asked local rental stores to donate the use of units and games to play. We got Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, and a few others, plus we are setting around board games like chess, checkers, monopoly and puzzles.

It took on a life of its own, this Open House. Our theme is We Got Game, and someone commented that its too bad we couldn't get a local sports figure to come and sign autographs. Never one to turn down a good challenge, I asked. The person who donated the money to build our library, Mr. Golisano, also owns the Sabres, a hockey team in Buffalo. Their contact person was happy to consider our request, but since our event was before the players return, he offered us a signed hockey stick instead.

Fabulous! This morning I drove out to Buffalo and picked it up. What a hoot! Official and everything. As I walked back to my car in the parking garage, any number of people pointed and remarked about the trophy I carried. "Look - Mom - she's got a hockey stick!" "Hey, nice stick." "Wow - where'd you get that?"

Maybe our students will be interested too. Maybe they'll come in our library and check us out. Wouldn't that be great!