It’s a Round Table

After much work, the Games and Gaming Member interest group in the American Library Association has become a Round Table. http://connect.ala.org/gamert

I am thrilled to be a part of the steering committee that will be helping to set up the new round table. I will be working with many other talented and leading librarians exploring the role that games have in all library types and how we want to represent and support these ideas and programs. We hope to work on things leading up to and into Midwinter ALA and I will be sure to keep things up to date here. So if you can, be sure to join the Gaming Round Table !

Also, don’t forget that National Gaming Day @Your Library is coming up. Don’t forget to register and participate in what is a wonderful way to show the value and fun that gaming brings as a library program. http://ngd.ala.org/

 

Why Games Belong in Libraries

Games are drawing attention in libraries as successful outreach tools for tweens, teens and seniors. They are also gaining ground in schools as valuable resources that introduce and reinforce a variety of curricular, social and life skills.

The inclusion of gaming in a library collection is not unexpected if you take some perspective. Libraries hit a turning point when they made the decision to start including popular media in their collections. By doing so, they shifted their collection development practices to be more inclusive of what their patrons want, embracing the desires of the community. They also opened the door to more non-traditional resources. And by continuing to develop a more inclusionary collection development policy, libraries are laying the foundation for building a collection of ideas.

Now, as librarians who grew up playing games are coming into the profession, they are bringing with them a respect and understanding of gaming. And the games themselves are drawing attention with a depth of storyline, once available mainly in RPG’s, which can now be found in nearly every genre of electronic gaming. The story quality in video games has drawn in such Hollywood talent as Samuel L. Jackson, Patrick Stewart and Michael Ironside.

Add to this, the maturation of board games over the last twenty years and you can start to see the value that games hold as community resources. They have grown into another avenue of creative expression that, like a good book or song, can capture and share ideas with those who invest the time.

 

Downloadable AASL Game Alignment Document

I wanted to make available the finished AASL Standards & Board Games alignment document. It was well received at ALA Annual in Anaheim and I am in the process of reworking a abbreviated copy for ALA’s “I Love Libraries” booth at the upcoming Gen-Con conference.

If you are unsure where to start your collection, you can head over to the School Library System’s Game Library to see the games in ours. There, you can browse through the collection and narrow down games according to New York State educational standards or the new AASL standards.

Also, look forward to new reviews coming soon, including: SNORTA!, Railroad Tycoon, Age of Empires III and more.

 

Gaming at Computers in Libraries 2008

My colleagues Christopher Harris, Andy Austin and I are hitting the road ala Hope, Crosby & Lamour and heading to Computers in Libraries and Internet@Schools East this Sunday.

We will be talking about open source alternatives to the current fare of Integrated Library Systems and highlighting Fish4Info, a social library experience which brings reviews, tags, ratings and more to the catalog.

Before that, we will be enjoying the Sunday “Gaming and Gadgets” night taking place in the Jefferson Room from 5:30 – 8:00pm. There will be board games, Guitar Hero, Rock Band and DDR with rumor of prizes for a tournament. For more information visit Aaron Schmidt’s Blog.

If you are going to be attending CIL08 stop down. We will be bringing the following board games from our game library for everyone to play:

• Shadows Over Camelot
• Thebes
• Settlers of Catan
• Puerto Rico
• Coloretto
• Lord of the Rings
• Ticket to Ride
• Citadels