Gaming and Libraries

The 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known simply as E3, took place this past week. E3 2010 is the largest video game conference and press event in the US, and is the stage from which nearly all revolutionary new products and games are announced. So what was the major announcement this year that libraries and librarians should be aware of?
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When a new trend emerges and grows as quickly as gaming in libraries has, those of us who weren't involved at an early stage can sometimes feel like they've been left behind. In all likelihood, there are librarians all over the country who have heard about the growing role that gaming is playing in many libraries and would like to expand its role in their own libraries as well, but just don't know how to get started.

ALA has created a fantastic new resource for just that type of librarian.The Librarian's Guide to Gaming: An Online Toolkit for Building Gaming @ Your Libraryis now available online. If you are looking to get gaming off the ground at your library, this is a one-stop-shop that will get you going in a hurry. Read More »

The economy may not be growing, but Amazon certainly is. Amazon's reach now extends to the gaming world, as they launched a new retail site aimed at "casual" gamers that will allow users to download games at less than ten dollars each. According to CNET:

The service--currently PC-only--is sure to put Amazon in competition with retailers and renters of physical games. At this point, particularly given the current economic conditions, it doesn't seem likely that Amazon will be taking patrons who use their libraries for gaming and gaming resources away from us. Still, Amazon has changed the equation yet again with this new site. Read More »

There's been some discussion on the web about whether or not employers should be discriminating against gamers, given some claims that people who use their computers to play games will inevitably do so at the office and thus be less productive employees.

A vigorous discussion on has broken out here.

Is this a vicious stereotype? Is there some truth to it? It seems like there's a lot of mixed messages about gaming going on in our society. I can't say I'm shocked by this, but I'm also saddened given how much librarians have tried to advocate the idea that gaming is a useful educational tool
 that can be used to help children learn and gain valuable problem-solving skills. Read More »

In a Techsource post a couple of months ago, I talked about the hot video games for the Fall and holiday season. This time around, I want to introduce readers to a type of game that they might not be aware of: the Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. ARG's are becoming more and more popular, and libraries need to be aware of them and ready to embrace them. Read More »

Strike!
Originally uploaded by cindiann

Saturday was National Gaming Day, and the kids and I braved the cold, wet weather to check out the Wii games at the Village Branch of the Lexington Public Library. The staff report that the crowd was smaller than other, weeknight gaming events, but they were no less enthusiastic! The kids were playing Wii Bowling when we first arrived; here is the group's reaction to the final score.

Guitar Hero
Originally uploaded by cindiann

Next up was Guitar Hero (also Wii). This one was so popular that the kids had to draw numbers to see who would go first. The rocking party was still going strong when we left. The newly-expanded Village branch is located in the Village shopping plaza, on the west side of Lexington. Gaming events are held in the Teen Center; the library also includes a small collection of materials, easily-accessible "airport" restrooms, and a newly-expanded meeting room and computer lab. The four-year-old library, one of six branches in the medium-sized Central Kentucky city, also boasts bilingual (Spanish/English) staff.

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Saturday, November 15, is National Gaming Day @ Your Library, and gamers are gearing up for major events around the country. Hasbro donated their game Pictureka to hundreds of libraries nationwide, an effort coordinated by ALA. Our goal is to get a mind-blowing number of people to play the same game on the same day. Wizards of the Coast offered 1,000 libraries a choice of their games Dungeon and Dragons or Magic: the Gathering. ALA Editions author Eli Neiburger and his colleagues at the Ann Arbor District Library will be running a national videogame tournament on their GT System.

At ALA TechSource, we recently heard from an old friend who is busy promoting gaming in libraries once again. Former ALA TechSource editor Teresa Koltzenburg launched this blog, recruiting Jenny Levine, Michael Stephens, and Karen Schneider. It was Teresa and Jenny who initiated the Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium.

Teresa quietly left ALA in March 2007. At best, our career paths take us on switchbacks where skill and knowledge gained is expressed in new ways. Here's what Teresa is up to now.

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Our friends at AL Focus have once again provided some great video coverage, this time from last week's Gaming, Learning and Libraries Symposium.

To relive your fantastic memories, or to find out how much fun you missed, check out this post by Greg Landgraf.

Greg Landgraf at American Libraries has some outstanding coverage of the symposium over at AL Inside Scoop. You can read his detailed and comprehensive coverage symposium events here, here, here and here. Read More »

My parents never bought me a Nintendo when I was a kid. They had this crazy idea that reading was the best way for me to learn and entertain myself, so I had to go over to my neighbors house when I wanted to play The Legend of Zelda or Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out. I’d go back home after playing and describe how cool these new games were to my parents, who inevitably rolled their eyes, frustrated at this trendy, expensive new toy their son was dying to have.

As I write this from the 2008 ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning and Libraries Symposium, I can’t help but think how far gaming technology has come since the days of 8-but graphics and cheap midi sound effects. At this symposium, gaming is hardly a game—it’s a rapidly evolving and increasingly important part of our profession. More and more, librarians are using gaming to help students of all ages learn, to help adults improve and hone their skills, and to draw young people into a lifetime of library use.
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