Earlier this year I highlighted the School Library System of Genesee Valley BOCES’ work mapping boardgames to the American Association of School Librarians’ (AASL) Standards for the 21st Century Learner. The BOCES guys have kept pushing forward with this work, and I really appreciate how they make it available for everyone.

In preparation for this week’s GenCon (a really big gaming convention for the public), Brian Mayer has adapted the original document mapping the AASL standards into a one-page handout for the public (PDF). Take a look at his handiwork, as it makes a great conversation starter about gaming in public and school libraries.

Brian also has a great post explaining Why Games Belong in Libraries.

“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….

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.” [Library Gamer]