Andrew Clark – Staff Writer

The fourth annual Library March Madness is currently taking place. This year’s theme is books that have been turned into TV shows. There are 32 of the latest, best, and most popular TV shows — all started off as books — that are being put in a bracket-style tournament to see which show is superior. After each week of voting, points are tallied, and at the end, the person with the most points will receive a prize.

This year’s competition includes big titles such as Queen’s Gambit, Bridgerton, Game of Thrones, and so many more. Physical copies of the brackets can be found underneath the Library March Madness display by the e-classroom on the second (main) floor of the library. Or if you would prefer to fill out an online bracket, they are available on the Gustavus website as well as through a link in the daily Gustavus-L emails. Brackets must be submitted by Friday, March 10 in order to be eligible to win prizes. Everyone in the Gustavus community is welcome and encouraged to participate, including faculty and staff!

There will be six rounds of voting that will take place online. Links to the google form can be found online on the Gustavus website. Each voting round will be open from 8 a.m. Monday mornings to 4:30 p.m. on Fridays. At the end of each round, the television show with the most votes will move on. All voting is completely anonymous and everyone can vote as many times as they would like.

Each participant will be scored according to how many correct television shows they guessed per round. Each correct answer will earn the participant one point, and double points will be awarded to any participant that guesses the final television show winner correctly.  “Scoring will take place on March 30th once the voting window has closed, and the winner will be announced on March 31st,” Information Desk and Assets Specialist Leah Zacate said.

Stay up to date with the winners of each round by following the library on Instagram, @gustavuslibrary. Winners of each round will be announced on the library’s Instagram page as well as what television show they are going to be head-to-head with next.

While the main focus of Library March Madness is on the big tournament, there are also other events happening throughout the month at the library. There is a month-long reading challenge as well as a reading party to celebrate all things reading. All are encouraged to participate in these events as well as in the reading party. Events are open to all members of the Gustavus community.

The month-long reading challenge consists of four different rounds each lasting one week and includes tasks such as “Visit the Archives” and “Work on a puzzle in the Library”, amongst other fun and engaging activities. Each activity that a contestant completes correlates to a different amount of points ranging from five points to 15 points. To claim points, there is a google form with all of the available challenges where participants can tick off the ones that they have completed. Contestants can submit points once per week and there will be one winner per week as well as a grand-prize winner at the end.

“We’re encouraging people to accumulate as many points per week as possible so that we end up with an overall points leader who will win the ‘grand prize’ [of choosing a new book to add to the library’s collection],” Acquisitions Manager Kate Sonsteby said.

Information about the reading challenges and links to the online form to submit points can be found via a QR code on posters around the school, as well as among resources that can be picked up from the library help desk.

There is also one more event that will be happening later this month. On March 26, there will be a reading party that all are welcome to attend. 

“We’ll be advertising more about the reading party soon, but the basic idea is to bring people together in the library for a cozy evening of food and reading–a way to build community without having a formal program or a requirement to mingle. Attendees will be encouraged to come and enjoy both the food and the company of other bibliophiles while finding something new or bringing an old favorite to read,” Sonsteby said. 

If you like reading, then this is definitely the month for you! There are tons of different book-related opportunities, and events to indulge your bibliophile urges with. Don’t forget, it’s not too late to fill out your brackets for the tournament, but make sure you do it soon. May the best television show win!