I love that my friend, the newly minted Dr. Stephens, devoted one of his LIS class nights to gaming. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to help out, but it sounds like the students did quite well on their own. I would love to see more LIS courses playing and exploring like this, helping the students form their own opinions. Games…Games…Games…
“How do you make your college-age son jealous? Tell him you played Guitar Hero… in school…for a class…while the teacher was there. Hey, I thought it was great fun at our Wednesday game night. I’m not totally convinced of all the educational values of these games, but in terms of building community, gaming really show teens that libraries are willing to invest in their interests. I love the idea that gaming allows teens to get to know their librarians on a more casual basis. We might not seem so ‘scary’ when they need us for informational purposes. I’m undecided about the concept of making kids check out books before they can play games. That might be a little like having to eat your lima beans before you can have your chocolate cake. In the end, does anyone learn to like lima beans?” [Sharonlis768’s Weblog]
“I definitely think there’s a place for games in libraries, including board games. From my own experience with strategy games, I know that some games require a great deal of thought and attention, as well as critical thinking and a lot of decision-making. At my old job, the president and I would often discuss corporate strategy in terms of strategy games, since we were both avid gamers at the time. He was the ‘conquer and pillage’ type while I was the ‘research and develop’ type, so we complemented each other well. The problem with some strategy games, though, is that you can sometimes learn what it takes to beat an AI without necessarily learning fundamental strategy. I don’t mention this as a criticism of the notion of gaming in libraries or to say that good skills can’t be learned, but I’ve always been disappointed by games that turn out to be puzzles. I guess that’s a bit tangential…” [Nat’s Weblog]
“My new assistant is an 18-year-old ‘millennial,’ as I guess we’re calling them now. He’s a young computer Borg who could hack before he could walk. In a probably vain attempt to keep him from quitting before I get in at least one decent vacation, I’m constantly looking for ways to keep him engaged. ‘What IS all this crap??’ He guffaws at the cascade of emails that greets us every morning. ‘Do you really READ all of this??’ You don’t read it, I tell him, you PROCESS it. It’ll take months before he learns to fish the actions out from the dozens and dozens of messages clogging his in-box all day long. But once he learns to manage the broadcast, he’ll also get a front-row seat for the epic drama of fear and heartbreak that passes through our mail server every day. Our company’s high reliance on email creates such a dense barrage that it creates a perfect means through which things fall through the cracks…. In effect, I’ve started an ongoing email clinic. Some people respond to the competition: they want a lower number than Lumpy in the next desk over. Others will just add me to their pile of unread messages. But folks are also coming forward who are genuinely interested in freeing themselves. I’m sure my approach won’t work on everyone. After all, no one gets up at the crack of dawn and tries to cram 60-plus hours of work into 40-hour work week, just so they can satisfy the arbitrary impositions of some guy from another department that they hardly know. But I keep the offer out there, and eventually I’ll rescue the ones worth saving. To be honest though, I’m really just trying to save myself. It’s these modest checks in the win column that help me make it through the work day.” [43 Folders]
I totally get the whole “What is all this crap?” sentiment. :-p I would have implemented this as a carrot, rather than a stick, but I love that attitude of helping others who are ready to be helped. It’s where many of us have to put our energies in order to be effective. Who can you help? See also: Five Tips for Implementing Social Software in Your Library from Rob Coers, via Michael Stephens. I love Rob’s slide (and attitude), and I love Michael’s addition of “focus on the positive.” Life is too short to spend it being negative, folks. Again, I ask, who can you help?
Soon I will be heading to beautiful Monterey for this year’s Internet Librarian conference. This year I’m doing a preconference on gaming with Aaron Schmidt, moderating the public library track with Michael Stephens, and presenting a session on gaming Wednesday morning. As a good friend of mine always says, possibly the best thing about conferences is getting face time with friends, so I’m looking forward to seeing everyone. If you see me there, please don’t hesitate to say hi. Alternatively, you can come to the open gaming that Aaron Schmidt, Michael Porter, and I will be hosting after the Sunday preconference. It’s an informal ALA/WebJunction thing, courtesy of Information Today. Starting around 4:30 p.m. in the Colton I room, we’ll have Guitar Hero (PS2), Dance Dance Revolution (PS2), and Wii Sports going for open play. This is your chance to beat your favorite blogger at any one of these games. Aaron won’t be able to stay long, so if he’s the one you want to take on (and you have my sympathies if you do, especially in Guitar Hero), be sure to come early. I’m pretty sure LibraryMan has been practicing GH, too. In fact, it’s too bad Rock Band isn’t out yet. Next year. We’ve got the room until 7:00 p.m., so I can pretty much guarantee a lot of laughter, finger wagging, trash talking, and general merriment. Oh, and Flickring, too, since we’re also counting this as a Flickr and Twitter meetup. Might as well throw in video, too, since I believe Mr. Video is coming. So come one, come all, but come with your game face on, even if just for the pictures. Bragging rights apply until the next open play!
I know a lot of folks (staff and members included) have been screaming from the rooftops for this, waiting impatiently. But today it finally happened. We’re trying to turn the cruise ship – come join me on the ledo deck! Senior Usability Officer
“Responsibilities: The American Library Association (ALA), a large, information-based professional organization seeks a Senior Usability Officer (SUO). This position in its key role will support 65,000 members and non-member in the organizations’ initiative to recast its growing Website with user-centered web design principles. The potential candidate will have extensive first hand experience designing and running usability tests, accessibility reviews/audits, and determining website trends. In addition, must have experience with other methodologies such as expert walkthroughs, defining stakeholder requirements, task analysis, wireframing, prototyping and card sorting. Excellent communication and people skills with the ability to communicate with non-technical individuals are a must in this highly visible position. The SUO must be flexible and able to incorporate user-centered design principles to online interfaces while remaining responsive and open to the diverse and shifting needs of a complex organization. The ability to work in a team environment and between two universes of Information Technology and Librarianship is essential in order to maintain an outcome-oriented, global vision. Requirements: Master’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) or a related field with a minimum of five years experience in designing and conducting usability tests and making recommendations to effect changes. Must have knowledge of web site design, web-based usability standards, web-based accessibility standards and industry-acknowledged best practices. This individual must be able to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple projects simultaneously. Salary is negotiable from $75,000. ALA has an excellent medical/dental package, vacation and retirement annuity. Closing Date: Review of applications will begin December 1, 2007 and continue until the position is filled. For consideration send a letter of application and resume to the American Library Association, Human Resources Department, SUO/IT, 50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611; fax: 312.280-5270, email: cvivian@ala.org. Salary Range: Negotiable from $75,000 Exempt/Non-Exempt: Exempt”
“I’m a professor at Syracuse University, and we just got 5 IMLS grants for librarians interested in becoming LIS faculty members. Why is this relevant in LibGaming? Because if you come to Syracuse, you’d be welcome to work with me on research about gaming in libraries! Of course, you could also work with many other folks, as we’ve got a lot of interesting things going on.”
In 1996, I took a job as the “technology coordinator” at the Grande Prairie Public Library in Hazel Crest, Illinois (one of Chicago’s south suburbs). It was my first real technology-related position, and Susan was the director who hired me. Although I was there for less than a year (moving on to the Suburban Library System), we accomplished a lot in that short time. GPPL became the first public library in Chicago’s south suburbs to have a web page, offer [dial-up] internet access for the public, and teach patrons about email (using free PrairieNet accounts). I even started a group to teach patrons about the web, and we started showing users how to find jobs online. I had a vision for bringing internet access and web-based information to the community, and Susan made it happen. She was committed to the values of equity of access for everyone, so she found the money for the computers and the monthly dial-up fee because she understood that the emerging web of information would help level the playing field for her patrons. She never stopped fighting for libraries and their users, which is something I’ve always admired about her. I don’t think I’d be where I am today if she hadn’t hired me for that job. Sadly, Susan died yesterday morning. Megan Heligas has written a blog post where anyone can leave a comment In Memory of Susan Roberts. I left sympathies there, but I wanted to link to the site for those who may not yet have heard this news, and I want to extend my deepest sympathies to Susan’s family.
“The practice of using a social network to establish and enhance relationships based on some common ground—shared interests, related skills, or a common geographic location—is as old as human societies, but social networking has flourished due to the ease of connecting on the Web. This OCLC membership report explores this web of social participation and cooperation on the Internet and how it may impact the library’s role, including:
The use of social networking, social media, commercial and library services on the Web
How and what users and librarians share on the Web and their attitudes toward related privacy issues
Opinions on privacy online
Libraries’ current and future roles in social networking
The report is based on a survey (by Harris Interactive on behalf of OCLC) of the general public from six countries—Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States—and of library directors from the U.S. The research provides insights into the values and social-networking habits of library users.”
“In the 18 months since the publication of the Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources report, the use of search engines and e-mail has grown by more than 20% over what were already enormous participation levels. User participation in basic Internet services, such as searching and e-mailing, is approaching total participation. More than twice as many respondents are using blogs now as then…. Internet use has not simply increased, it has infiltrated our lives, offering more and more services at more and more service points. Use has grown for almost every Internet service we measured in this survey—well, almost every service. The percentage of Internet users that have used a library Web site has decreased. Library Web site use declined from 30% of respondents in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. in 2005 to 20% of the general public in these same countries in 2007, a 33% decrease…. The more intriguing question is—what are the services and incentives that online libraries could offer users to entice them to come back or to visit more often or even devote some of their own time to help create a social library site?… If convenience does trump quality, then it is the librarians’ job to make quality convenient. If sharing will trump privacy on the social Web, it is the librarians’ On the social Web, the library brand must go from institutional to personal…. The social Web is not being built by augmenting traditional Web sites with new tools. And a social library will not be created by implementing a list of social software features on our current sites. The social Web is being created by opening the doors to the production of the Web, dismantling the current structures and inviting users in to create their content and establish new rules. Open the library doors, invite mass participation by users and relax the rules of privacy. It will be messy. The rules of the new social Web are messy. The rules of the new social library will be equally messy. But mass participation and a little chaos often create the most exciting venues for collaboration, creativity, community building—and transformation. It is right on mission…. The new Web is a very different thing. Libraries need to be very different, too.”
Now, I give full credit to OCLC for running, analyzing, and publishing (especially freely) this report (I so wish MPOW published this kind of wonderful data this freely), but I have to dock them points for the way they invite feedback on this report. On social networking. And sharing online. And privacy concerns.
Where do the points come off? The only way to submit feedback is via a form that has your name and email address as required fields and which sends the message off into the ether instead of posting it online. No discussion at all on the report’s site. Given the social efforts OCLC is making elsewhere (WorldCat, WebJunction, etc.), I have to believe they have something in the works that just wasn’t ready yet, but this certainly does fill the belly of the irony beast. Update: And indeed, the online community is now live via open comments on what appears to be a blog. Discuss away.
There were many reasons I hosted the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium this past July, not the least of which was to share with others the breadth of gaming services libraries can offer. The fact that I got to meet some of my heroes (like Henry Jenkins and James Paul Gee), as well as meet new people doing interesting things around gaming, was rich and tasty gravy. Two of those people were Mark Engelbrecht and Martin House from the Public Library of Charlotte Mecklenburg County, who received a $69,000 LSTA grant to study gaming for adults last year. There’s a reason we talk so much about the kids and the teenagers when it comes to gaming in libraries, but we can’t forget that there are valid gaming services for 20somethings, 30somethings, families, parents, boomers, seniors, and pretty much everyone else who enjoys games. So their session at the Symposium was high on my list to hear but as it turns out, when you host an event like this, it’s highly unlikely that you’ll actually get to see much of the presentations. So I missed almost all of their talk, and unfortunately we didn’t have video of it. There is audio, which you can grab to listen to here, and I highly recommend you do that. But now, you can also read (and subscribe) to Martin House’s new blog Technaeum, where he will be posting excerpts of their research and data from the grant. I’m thrilled about this, because it solidifies 2007 as the first year we started getting actual numbers of any kind surrounding gaming in libraries, and just like Scott Nicholson’s data, PLCMC’s numbers are fascinating. Gaming and Libraries: Reference Ain’t Dead
“As an indication that reference really ‘ain’t’ dead, I would like to share some research with you from an LSTA Innovations Grant. The library received $69,000 to create gaming programs for adults and study the impact of these events in terms of their library use. What we found is that the single biggest reason patrons cited for coming to the library was reference, or an informational need…. …libraries today are still faced with the age old charge, being ‘The People’s University.’ If my research is any indication of this, libraries are more needed than ever due to people’s needs to have knowledgeable professionals guide them through the world of information overload – oh and bad information too boot. There is also a very good indication that patron who attended the gaming programs frequented the library more in subsequent months.”
Be sure to read the rest of Martin’s post and to check back or subscribe to his blog, because he will be posting about their research regularly. Thanks, Martin – this is a huge contribution to the profession.
I’ve been waiting for Michael Wesch, the Kansas State professor who created the viral The Machine Is Us/ing Us and A Vision of Students Today videos, to do one that more directly addresses libraries. Last week he did just that. Hopefully it will help spread David Weinberger’s message from Everything Is Miscellaneous (which you need to read if you haven’t already). Is your library part of this new r/evolution, or are you still facing the future with only a 20th century service orientation?
“Any discussion of the future of libraries must consider the impact of the technological advances and innovations that are inextricably wound up with library operations and user expectations. According to Rachel Singer Gordon, librarians remain relevant and useful by confronting technological challenges head-on and finding ways to integrate the best and most appropriate innovations into library services and operations. In Information Tomorrow, Gordon brings together 20 of today’s leading thinkers on the intersections between libraries and technology. They address various ways in which new technologies influence librarians’ actions and goals and offer ideas for using technology to meet patrons where they are. The result is an engaging, wide-ranging, and sometimes provocative discussion for systems librarians, library IT workers, library managers and administrators, and anyone working with or interested in technology in libraries.”
I’m honored to have authored one of the chapters in this book, both because of Rachel’s vision and because of the quality of my fellow authors. Learn more (and order a copy) here.
