LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Imagine, the entire archive of an industry's storied history all under one roof.
Well, mostly.
The bulk of horse racing, past and present, resides on Keeneland's grounds in their namesake library.
A hallowed space Roda Ferraro resides over as library director.
"I’ve been in this position for about a year but I started with the library back in 2014," Ferraro said.
"Really from that first week, I knew I was completely hooked. The collections were just so niche and so broad and so varied. The challenge of growing them within our scope. It was such a huge draw.”
Roughly 30,000 books and 25 million articles adorn the shelves and cabinets of the library.
What truly makes this space standout is that is the sole spot you can find a lot of this information.
In a world where a quick Google search gets us what we want, the Keeneland Library doesn't fall into that trope.
To get a hold of this history, researchers have to reach out to library directly for Ferraro and her staff to sift through.
“For most of the library’s 85 years of history, the way to access these collections was to come on site. It was freely available to folks since it’s founding but researchers did their work here and librarians would mediate that," Ferraro said.
"Say turf writers or sports writers or broadcasters that we work with a lot. They were at a clear advantage if they lived close by to be able to tap into these resources in a way a turf writer in another part of the country and certainly in other countries would not.”
Ferraro has helped connect roughly 10,000 researchers to the Keeneland Library, an entire world flowing through a desire to learn more about arguably Kentucky's most important industry.
“It’s so gratifying. It’s a unique role for a librarian to play. It’s not unique in that sort of fundamental role of people seeking information or image resources and we’re connecting them to it. It’s just unique in the service delivery model," Ferraro said.
"There aren’t a lot of parallels for what we do out there, other peer institutions, because we’re the only facility in the world doing what we’re doing.”
Education is the goal every day for Ferraro.
From helping researchers to building exhibits on site to opening this history up to the youth, she is dedicated to helping any and everyone learn and appreciate the history Kentuckians hold dear.
“Just the energy and the passion that people bring to what it is that they’re creating here. That’s just so rewarding. It keeps you on your toes, that’s for certain," Ferraro said.
