A New Source of Support for Libraries

At some universities, academics and sports are worlds apart. According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, a new initiative at Duke University will bring those worlds closer together. Duke recently announced that

Starting this fall, a dollar from every ticket purchased at home games for baseball and for men's and women's basketball, soccer, and lacrosse games will go into a fund for the library system. Football tickets will become part of the venture in the fall of 2012.

(Athletic officials declined to give an estimate of how much money this venture could raise, saying only that the amount would be "significant.")

This is a great idea, as long as the University doesn't reduce the library system's budget because of this influx of new revenue. The Chronicle article points out other "partnerships between sports and library system," of which I was unaware. Examples include support of the Penn State library system by Joe Paterno, head coach of the Nittany Lions; renovation of Ohio State main library building, paid for by Ohio State athletics; and the ongoing support of the library system by the Notre Dame football team (donation whenever the team plays in a bowl game).