2007-05-14

SIRC - Canada’s Sport Information Resource Centre

Alexandra Yarrow, Librarian at the OPL Rideau Branch, attended this tour organized by LANCR.

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On Tuesday, May 1st 2007, LANCR members and guests were treated to a tour of SIRC, Canada's sport information research centre. Led by Brandie Adams, a reference librarian with SIRC, and Diane O'Dwyer, the Sport Information Manager for SIRC, the tour introduced us to SIRC's library and offices on the 14th floor of the Barrister Building (great view!) at 180 Elgin.

SIRC has been the world's leading sport resource centre since 1973, and contains over 6.5 million pages of sport related research dating as far back as the 1700's and encompassing over 62 different languages. SIRC only recently moved to its new home on Elgin and now has a portion of its extensive collection available to the public in its on-site library, staffed by a reference librarian during opening hours. Anyone can come in and consult SIRC's extensive print resources, search the databases, or receive reference help from librarians who specialise in the areas of sport, physical fitness, sport science and sport medicine.

Many of us have heard of SIRC because of the sport information database, SportDiscus. In 2005, SportDiscus was acquired by Ebsco; however, the database is still maintained by SIRC and articles are indexed by real people working for SIRC!

SIRC provides many services to the sporting community including research services, document delivery, newsletters, e-mail distribution services, literature review and focus aisles. Interested individuals can become members of SIRC for $249/year or $24.95/month. For more information on becoming a member of SIRC or it's services you can check it out at www.sirc.ca.

Sample questions answered by SIRC's reference librarians:
"Our school is looking for the resource Zany Activities with a Rubber Chicken, do you know where to find if?"
"I am looking for evaluations of sexual harassment/violence prevention policies/procedures in Canadian sport."
"I am looking for participation statistics of youth in Canadian sport"
"I'm looking for an answer to a clue to try to win a trip for my mom and dad who will be married for 17 years and have never even gone on a honeymoon. Can you help me?
" ... I would like to know about the three energy systems, how and when I use these systems. What is most important to me and how I train for them."

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