Gaming in the Library

Much is happening in the world of gaming right now, and it's not just a lot of teenage boys sitting in the basement staring at a screen for hours on end. No, gaming has tremendous potential for libraries to reach out to new users, offer new services, and help complement efforts in community-building, information literacy, and other areas. - Don't know much about gaming but you want to know how it can benefit libraries? - Not sure what kinds of services your library could offer (especially on a limited budget)? - Are you an avid gamer who would like to offer services but you need help convincing others? - Just want to hear what other libraries are doing? We'll cover all of these topics and more in just one hour. Get the scoop that helps you clarify your thinking about gaming and libraries.

Get the archive of the Sirsi Dynix Institutes presentation by Jenny Levine —Internet Development Specialist and Strategy Guide, ALA:

Gaming in the Library

...or go right to the good stuff:

Listen Now (mp3)

Podcast (php)

View Now (wmv)

Supplemental Material (pdf)

Get a (Second) Life!

There's been a great deal of talk about the virtual world, Second Life and how it could be used for instruction and for meeting library customers online.

Educause has put together a fact sheet about Second Life - "7 Things You Should Know About Second Life" (PDF) answering your burning questions like:

-What is it?
-Who’s doing it?
-How does it work?
-Why is it significant?
-What are the downsides?
-Where is it going?
-What are the implications for teaching and learning?

I'm a Believer!

There has been a lot of hype concerning libraries and gaming, with professional publications touting incredible benefits. THPL started down the road to gaming over a year ago as one of many options for Out of School (OST) programming, proving to be enjoyable for our customers and beneficial to our staff.

I became a TRUE believer of gaming in libraries as a result of my interactions with customers during the Teen Tech Week gaming tournament and qualifying events. It was a marketing event made to order! I mingled in the crowds and took advantage of every opportunity to converse with teens and parents, promoting library services and learning more about their perceptions of the library, the services of interest to them, and amazingly, their preferences on how they wish to learn about upcoming events.

There are many documented benefits to gaming, but I believe one of the strongest arguments is that it can help libraries become involved in teen social networking and provide opportunities to promote other relevant library services to this demographic.

Gaming is good for you

Here is a detailed list of New York State education standards that are met by gaming in the library. Plenty of food for thought.
And take a look at the normally staid lobby at the main research library in New York.
Libraries all over the country are realizing the benefits of gaming and we are too. We have more teen programs, and more teen participation, than ever before!

Gaming and Libraries

Here is an interesting presentation by Jenny Levine, The Shifted Librarian and gaming librarian extraordinaire. There's a ton of information here but a quick browse will give you lots of facts on the value of gaming in libraries.

Learning Library Skills Through Gaming

Carnegie Mellon University Library now offers students the opportunity to learn about the library through games in the Library Arcade. The Library Arcade features flash-based games designed to help students develop research skills through entertaining and easy-to-repeat activities.

Graduate students from their Entertainment Technology Center have teamed up with the University Libraries to create educational games to help students develop library research skills. They have two games so far - “I’ll Get It” in which players must help fellow students find library resources, and “Within Range”, a library re-shelving game using the LC classification system. They are still in the testing phase, but have made the games available to the public.

Two learning games are now offered:
(1) I'll Get It! - helps students identify research materials.

(2) Within Range - for students to learn the correct order of items on the shelves.

This information was found in a posting from the library technology blog - iLibrarian.

Gaming Gone Wild

gaming presentation01
Originally uploaded by ALA staff

I've been saving lots of good stuff to post during our gaming weeks, but then I saw this post on The Shifted Librarian and it's full of interesting links on the value of gaming in libraries.

There's Jenny Levine's presentation on gaming in libraries that she gave in Second Life on the right.

Teens @ the Library

Our discussions of blogs would be incomplete without pointing to our very own HCPLC teen blog. It was created a year ago and published in time to celebrate the first Teen Tech Week. Updated faithfully by a dedicated team of librarians and LTAs, it provides comments on just about everything that might interest teens in our community including the results of the Gaming Tournament Qualifier Events.

You can make a living gaming online!

OK, so maybe this would only happen in China, and this is really weird, but yes, young men are making a living of sorts playing World of Warcraft. Here's a short vodcast from the New York Times Magazine, June 17, 2007.

Aerobics for the mind and body too

Schools around the country have figured out how to get screen addicted kids to get back in shape. Now XRKade is at USF and Hillsborough County schools just might see the light. If you didn't get a chance to try DDR at NTA, SEM, or SST, give PCI a call and get a gaming program to come to your library soon!
Here are some other gaming articles from this week's Creative Loafing.

Gaming is good for you!

Last Friday we had our first gaming afternoon at three of our branches, NTA, SEM, SST. For the last few hours of the afternoon kids could play various games (I was at NTA and the boys chose a basketball game, the girls chose a skateboarding game but mostly spent their time creating their characters). My favorite is Dance Dance Revolution, and I tried it (yes, the boys were actually willing to dance against librarians; the girls didn't offer, but we could never have kept up with them), and it is true, DDR is like taking an aerobics class, especially if you take it beyond beginner level. And now, schools all over the country are figuring out how to get kids to get up and moving! From the April 30, 2007 New York Times, P.E. Classes Turn to Video Game That Works Legs.

49% - Young Adults Love Video Games

Are you surprised?

"Today's youth play a lot of video games. Nearly half (49%) say they play games that can be hooked up to a television such as PlayStation, Xbox or GameCube. Roughly one-third of Gen Xers (35%) play these types of games. Very few Boomers and Seniors spend time playing video games (12% and 3%, respectively). Just over one-third of Nexters (36%) say they played video games in the past seven days. The gender gap on this measure is substantial. Fully half of young men (51%) played video games in the past week compared with 21% of women." Read more

From Pew Research Center