What happens to an old library newspaper? Donated copies get second life as CU basketball tradition
Photo by University of Colorado Athletics
After the first basket is scored at CU basketball games, fans take newspapers placed on the back of their seats, rip them up and toss them in the air as confetti. This has been a CU tradition for over 15 years and this year, fans are tearing up donated newspapers provided by the University Libraries.
“The tradition dates back to 2009 and the early days of C-Unit becoming the official name of the student section,” said Matan Coll, marketing and fan experience intern with CU Athletics and majoring in operations management and minoring in sports media at CU Boulder.
Before the start of the season, Coll reached out to Claire Hoag, head of Materials Management Section at the Libraries, about using back issues of Boulder Daily Camera and The Denver Post newspapers for the tradition.
“In past seasons we would print custom C-Unit newspaper copies, fitted with miscellaneous information about the basketball team. However, the price of these has nearly tripled in the past two seasons so we had to find a more cost-effective solution, especially since the custom papers were going to be torn up anyway,” said Coll. “With the current scarcity of print media, finding sources for unwanted papers has become increasingly difficult. As a result, I turned to seek out creative sources for finding papers and after lots of digging came across a web page about the library's newspaper collections.”
The Libraries receive copies of these newspapers daily for patrons to read and can accumulate quite a stack before either being donated to classes for projects when requested or—more often—are recycled.
“It is exciting to be able to put our previously recycled newspapers to a fun use,” said Hoag. “This partnership is a great opportunity to explore how the Libraries can continue to grow connections to support all aspects of our campus community.”
In addition to the cost-savings, using library newspapers contributes to CU Athletics' zero waste initiatives. In 2008, CU Athletics became the first NCAA athletics program to become net zero waste.
So next time you tear up that newspaper at the CU basketball game, think of the library.
Enjoy reading Daily Camera and The Denver Post, but can't make it to Norlin Library? These newspapers are now available directly for online reading. Back issues of the Daily Camera and The Denver Post are accessible online through our databases. Physical copies are purged on a rolling basis as part of the Libraries’ retention policy. Those interested in using back issues can reach out to libraries@colorado.edu.