               Games, Gamers, & Gaming
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
Most Commented On
Archives
Blog
Link This | Email this | Blog This | Comments (1)
A Closer Look at the Winning LibrariesApril 30, 2009 I thought a closer look at what the ALA/Verizon winning libraries are doing would be of interest to the readers here.These descriptions come courtesy of Beth Gallaway, who was one of the key figures in the whole process. (She is the one who read through the entire set of 390 submitted applications, even before the rest of us got a gander at the most promising of them!) She also runs a Google group called LibGaming which anyone interested in games and libraries should sign up with; it is there that she posted this list, to give credit where credit is due. I'm going to interleave a few observations of my own, too. [If it's bracketed like this, that's me.] * * *
Anderson Public Library, Anderson, IN“Techie Tuesdays” emphasizes technology and information literacy through gaming. Held over a period of six months, the program is divided into three, six-week courses engaging students by making a video game, a board game, and a book trailer. Brewster Ladies Library, Brewster, MA Geocaching: YOU are the Search Engine: The library will use GPS technology to create an adventure game that requires reading, research, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and aligns closely with technology standards established by the International Society for Technology in Education. Geocaching, “Hi-Tech Hide and Seek,” provides the perfect blend of simplicity and complexity needed to design a successful gaming and literacy project. The library will create themed gaming events by devising a search promoting an understanding and appreciation for  Brewster’s historic places and regional history and utilizing a book featured on the summer reading list (such as The Graveyard Book) as source material for a hunt could require students to do genealogical research at the library and visit a local cemetery to locate a cache.[This is such an innovative project, it leaves me speechless. It offers so much more than just setting up a RockBand console and a Wii -- not that there's anything wrong with that! Geocaching, much Alternative Reality "Big Game" potential, and local history, all integrated together -- this just delights me.] Cascade Middle School, Cascade, WA CMS Gaming Zone: The library’s Gaming Zone initiative will develop two afterschool programs a week, encompassing board and video game creation workshops, tournaments, developing a gaming council, hint book/cheat sheet development and more. Henshaw Middle School Library, Anchorage School District, Anchorage, AK Game on in Alaska!: With purchase of additional equipment, the library will make Dance Dance Revolution available to all middle schools in the district, host a lunchtime gaming group using PC games such as Spore & Civilization, offer gaming as an incentive to specific classes, host family game nights, and extend gaming year during a summer Internet Camp. Indian Trails Public Library, Wheeling, IL  Operation Game Creation: Participants will learn about four categories of gaming from gaming experts: computer animation games, card games, board games, and role-playing games, then work in teams to create games. Then, they will participate in a Game Fair using the Science Fair model, and compete in the Chicago Toy and Game Fair Young Inventor Challenge.[Chitag, as the Chicago Toy and Game Fair is called, is one of the most interesting gatherings to have come on the scene in recent years. While Origins and GenCon retain the crowns for being the hardcore hobbyist gaming events, Chitag is unabashedly populist and assertively family-friendly.] Manhattanville College Library, Purchase, NY At Manhattanville College, a small liberal arts college dedicated to educating its students to become ethically and socially responsible leaders for the global community, students will design games for middle school students on how to use the library to find a book, use a general database, ask for reference help, navigate the library website, and develop a time management plan. San Pablo Library, San Pablo, CA Make Music at the San Pablo Library: Youth will track their participation in a variety of music-literacy related activities via a 'Musical Scavenger Hunt' big game. Activities include: music enrichment assemblies, creative writing workshop featuring a song writing contest, musical Jeopardy, performances by local teen musicians, music composition workshop featuring hands on experimentation with music composition software, music video games like Wii Music and Rock Band, an "Iron Musician" competition, a build your own musical instrument contest, and more. [The idea of musical literacy is one answer to the "literacy only equals books" complaints. I am glad to see this library's proposal rise to the top, particularly in a time when the arts are being cut out of many other curricula.] Sewickley Public Library, Sewickley, PA Teen Gaming Initiative: This afterschool gaming partnership with the local school districtst sresses programs & projects “based on constituents' interest.” Middle school youth will plan and facilitate gaming events for younger students, which will then be held at the public library. Participants will document their efforts by producing a video of the steps they followed, to be showcased at the local school and serve as a marketing device for the next program session. Wayne County Public Library, Goldsboro, NC Play Me a Story: This narrative focused experience includes a variety of creative and competitive events to give the youth in the community a place of their own that caters to their interests while fulfilling their needs for intellectual growth. The current gaming program will be expanded to include an ongoing Dungeons and Dragons game wherein participants will develop back stories for their characters and create detailed synopses of the adventures they encounter, tabletop games such as Warhammer or Settlers of Catan, and created content will be made available for public viewing, a fan-fiction contest where young people will write original stories about their favorite video game characters and create stories incorporating characters they create in games, a workshop where young people create their own board game and/or concept for a video game, with emphasis on character and narrative development, LiveJournal groups dedicated to role-playing and world-building, creation and publication of machinima and a group project where several authors contribute to an ongoing narrative. * * *
The recurring theme I see among the winners is the desire to take a natural and common joy in games and gaming into the inspiration for creative endeavors, into hands-on projects that inspire and teach and engage. I think this will be the fingerpost to what gaming in libraries can be, at its best. One of the primary reasons I wanted to post this, ultimately, is inspiration for you -- to get your brains sparking about what you might do, a brain jolt "Hey could we do that?" launched by what others are doing. Unless you're at one of the 10 libraries listed above, you probably aren't getting a $5000 windfall with which to implement a program like these, lock stock and barrel. But maybe you'll see something that strikes your fancy, something you never considered, something that might apply just perfectly in your own library -- ultimately, something that you and your co-workers can do for your customers. And thus, you can spread the word a little further about what a great service today's libraries can offer that's new and special and fun and relevant to today's and tomorrow's worlds. Game on! Posted by Liz Danforth on April 30, 2009 | Comments (1)
June 6, 2009
In response to: A Closer Look at the Winning Libraries Mary Couzin commented: Thanks, Liz and Beth, for mentioning our Chicago Toy and Game Fair as well as our Young Inventor Challenge! We very much look forward to working with the Indian Trails Public Library.
Advertisement
|
Advertisements
|
|
|
|
