Gaming in the Library? You Bet!

Up until this week, I hadn’t thought much about gaming at the library, other than Magic Card tournaments, Yu-Gi-Oh and Chess.  But after reading the chapter in the Farkas text, and listening to the Sirsi Dynix Institute podcast by Jenny Levine, I realize that the library is the perfect place for gaming.

Gaming in the Public Libraries
When I think of video games, I think of my kids – especially my boys.  Yes we have a Wii and a Playstation 2.  We’ve had Guitar Hero, Dance Dance Revolution and countless other games where hours of efforts have gone into beating the boss and moving onto the next level.  As my boys get older, especially the teenagers, this is what they do a lot of.  What they are NOT doing a lot of, is going to the library.  What they also do a lot of is “hanging out downtown”.  Wouldn’t it be great if the library were the place they choose to hang out in?  In reading and listening this week, I realize that this is precisely the age group that we should be trying to attract to libraries.

In looking at what the Ann Arbor Public Library has done with their gaming program, it appears that they have struck a chord with the youth of their community.  They have attracted a large number of patrons into the library with their gaming programs.  Just the sheer volume of comments on their gaming page blog shows me that they are providing services to the community that fills a need.  The library as a place of community is working here.  These young users, the patrons that will hopefully be using the library in the future, are seeing the library as something vital to the community.

In Eli Neiburger’s book, Gamers… in the Library? as discussed by Jenny Levine in her SirsiDynix podcast, the content of the video games adds value to the library.  On top of reading and critical thinking that goes along with playing a video game, there is desire for these games to be available at the library, and as radical as adding video games to the makeup of a libraries collection and programming may appear to be, one need not look back far to find similar controversy with the addition of romance novels and fiction to the library. There are those who say gaming does not have a place in libraries. The same was said about fiction, romance novels and even graphic novels, but can you imagine a public library without fiction? Neiburger points out, it is not up to librarians to make judgments about content.

As Jenny Levine points out in her Sirsi Dynix podcast , kids react differently to libraries when you offer gaming.  It creates a safe place for teens in the community and helps to build a community that probably doesn’t exist right now.  And it’s not just about the play aspect of the games; there is literacy involved in these games.  There is reading, processing and visualization, all within an environment that has kids problem solving and working with data patterns that they will most likely experience in their future work, as computers and computer data are a large part of the future.

ALA this past month as came out with the Librarians Guide to Gaming Toolkit. This toolkit is a big boost to libraries looking for justification for starting gaming programs in their libraries.

The introductory video on the ALA gaming page
, is a helpful guide to how best to use the tools provided.

As Beth Galloway points out in this video, gaming addresses “critical thinking, problem solving and a constant learning cycle” all-important to literacy.

Gaming in Schools and Academic Libraries
In Social Software in Libraries, Meredith Farkas points out that as the original gamer generation becomes older, those who become teachers or game developers are developing and using online games to promote learning and literacy.

Jenny Levine points out in her Sirsi Dynix presentation that according to a Pew Institute survey, in 2003, 100% of all college students had played videos games.  Playing video games to this generation is like watching TV to the baby boomer generation.  It makes sense to offer some instruction in the form of video games, given the amount of students who can relate to video games, and the incoming teachers who can also relate to these games.

There are games that can be played, or accessed by linking on the library webpage.  There is one of my favorites, www.freerice.com that gives help in vocabulary, basic math facts, languages and more – all while helping feed the world. There is also Arcademicskillsbuilder
where elementary school students can practice math facts and grammar rules in single player and multiplayer games.

At a higher level, the University of North Carolina has made information literacy into an online game with the information literacy game
Let’s face it, kids, even college kids, love to play games, why not use it for instruction?

The Fletcher Library at Arizona State University has created a Trivial Pursuit-like game called Information Pursuit that teaches information literacy.  It’s a bit of a gimmick, but it works.

At Penn State, there is an Educational Gaming Commons . “The PSU Educational Gaming Commons is creating a community of users who will support both physical and virtual infrastructure to promote the broad impact of gaming within the teaching, learning, and research environment”.  This is not necessarily gaming in the library, but it shows gaming being used in an educational way in an academic environment.

And college kids enjoy playing computer games to let off steam.  Levine mentions that there are some libraries where students can come in during finals and play some games to let off some of the stress of finals week.

Will there be gaming at the Soon to be Finished Lafayette Library and Learning Center?

There’s no definite answer here.  While the county has put out an email to the branch libraries that discusses a press release that will go out to solicit game donations (with specific criteria) in “an effort to enhance teen programs countywide”, the decision was made to not promote this request in Lafayette.  According to Youth Services Librarian Donna Lenhard, nothing has been set in stone for any gaming programs in Lafayette for the new library.  This is a shame, given that the new library will have over 6500 square feet with a separate teen area, a perfect time and place to start a teen gaming program.

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