I’ll be interested to see this game from the Orange County Library System (FL) when it becomes available on May 15.

Citricon: Library Defender

Watch for more in a couple of days at http://www.ocls.info/citricon/.

Libraries Lure with Video Games

“‘Bellevue’s library, near Bellevue East High School, hosts a game night twice a month. About two dozen teens take turns thwacking virtual tennis balls or throwing super punches on Nintendo games. Some do their homework as they wait. Others browse the library for comic books and novels.

A.J. Score, a shy 15-year-old, aspired to join the high school’s football or golf teams. But he was afraid he wouldn’t fit in. Gaming was his thing.

At the library’s game nights, he immediately became a star. And gaming gave him something to talk about. He talks smack and teases gamers about their weapon selection. It’s all harmless fun, he said.

‘I’m not so much quiet anymore,’ A.J. said.

Any parent who has struggled to tear a child away from a video game may cringe at the notion that libraries, of all places, are promoting them.

But the games are age-appropriate and can help to interest kids in books, Wyant said. Library game nights typically are open only to those ages 10 to 18 and require a parental permission slip.

Some nights, A.J. does homework or checks out murder mystery books until his mom picks him up.

‘Every week he has a new book. It’s great to see a teenager reading at the library and not in trouble,’ said his mom, Tam Score.

Circulation of young adult literature has increased at some libraries with game nights.

Last year, teens borrowed 20 to 30 books a month at the Chadron Public Library. Now it’s well over 300 each month. The reason: video games….

The Loren Corey Eiseley Branch, which sits a block from a middle school, gets 50 to 80 kid gamers each day. The Arnold Heights Branch held a game day that attracted more than 80 kids during spring break.

Since Lincoln libraries have added game nights, teens don’t cause as many disruptions. They used to run up and down book aisles and talk loudly.

‘They were just being teens,’ said Greg Mickells, Lincoln’s library director. ‘They’re probably still a lot louder than our regular patrons, but they know if they’re misbehaving they’ll be asked to leave.’

The Council Bluffs Public Library hopes to offer game nights or tournaments this summer.

At Plattsmouth’s library, teens have formed a gaming council. The council plans tournaments and develops rules (such as no cussing).

The library has restricted gaming hours to between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. because parents complained that their children were spending too much time at the library and not focusing on their studies.

Library director Hunt said video games bring back a sense of community in libraries.

‘We have kids who come in that have never been to the library before,’ Hunt said. ‘We’re getting a section of readers we don’t normally have because of gaming.’ ” [Omaha World-Herald]

Just a quick note that I’ll be giving a presentation in Second Life tomorrow (Friday, April 18) at 11:00 a.m. CDT on ALA Island to celebrate gaming @ your library day. It’s free, it’s in-world, it’ll be a fun time. Then afterwards, I get to play games at work, as ALA staff celebrate gaming by taking a break to play board, video, and social games.

To celebrate gaming in libraries, you can also listen to the first episode of the new Games in Libraries Podcast. It’s a monthly podcast where experts in different aspects of gaming and libraries present segments about different programs, gaming products, and other news from the gaming industry relevant to libraries. I hope to contribute to future episodes, but Scott Nicholson is the driving force behind it, and with names like Eli Neiburger, Beth Gallaway, Chris Harris, and Kelly Czarnecki involved, you know it’s going to be good.

Addendum: The slides from my talk are now available on my presentations wiki. This was fun - thank you to everyone that came!

Once again I had a great time at the Computers in Libraries conference, even though I didn’t get to stay for the whole thing. I did a preconference with Aaron Schmidt on gaming that was our best one yet, and I got some great feedback about the “Hi Tech, Hi Touch” presentation I was asked to give. I want to give a special thank you to everyone who joined in the fun and made gaming night such a huge success that we’ve already been asked to do it again at Internet Librarian.

Slides from my talks are up on my presentations wiki. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about them. As always, the best thing about these conferences is the people. Spending time with old friends is always special, and I love getting to meet online friends in person. A big thank you to everyone who was so supportive and encouraging - I really appreciated all of your comments.

What: Gaming (& Gadgets!) Night
Where: CIL 2008, Jefferson Room
When: Sunday, April 6th, 5:30-8:00 pm
How much: FREE
Who: You and other people interested in gaming

Aaron Schmidt and I have given a few gaming workshops at past Computers in Libraries and Internet Librarian conferences. After the sessions we’ve opened up the room to anyone interested in playing some games and/or learning about gaming. It’s proven to be a popular and really fun time, so this year Information Today has turned the post-workshop gameplay into a featured event. With refreshments even!

We’ve assembled an impressive array of games!

Systems: Nintendo Wii, Playstation 2, and Xbox 360. We’ll also have two Nintendo DS handhelds.

Games: Wii Sports, DDR, Hotel Dusk, Guitar Hero III, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Wario Smooth Moves, whatever you bring, and Rock Band.

Since we’ll have three systems going at once, we’re opening up the option of an honest to goodness tournament with prizes. You probably want to know which game, huh? Well, it’s up to you. Sign up in the comments on Aaron’s post or at a page we’ve created on the CIL08 wiki titled CIL08 Gaming Night to play Rock Band, Guitar Hero, or DDR. We’ll play whichever game gets the most signups!

In addition, Chris Harris is bringing some modern board games for some casual play (I may bring a couple, too). Bring your own games, bring your latest shiny, new gadgets, and we’ll see you Sunday night!

Shout out to Gaylordg for helping get this project off the ground.

Professor receives grant to bring gaming to libraries, other campuses

“[Scott] Nicholson, an associate professor in the School of Information Studies, recently received a $5,000 grant from Gaylord Brothers, a library supply company located in Syracuse, to begin building a portable library game lab. Money from the grant will specifically go toward purchasing projectors, consoles, screens, accessories and games, Nicholson said.

‘This was a great way for Gaylord to support Syracuse University, the community and gaming libraries in general,; said Henry Orr, director of business development at Gaylord. He also noted that the credit for the grant should go to Gaylord’s President and CEO Guy Marhewka….

Nicholson’s goal is to explore the implications of offering gaming as a library service. Additionally, he hopes to study the entire gaming experience and how gaming will change the attitudes of students toward the library.

‘Gaming activities are like the new coffee shop in Bird Library; it’s not about the coffee so much as the social atmosphere it creates,’ Nicholson said….

‘Gaming is currently the wild, wild west of libraries,’ Orr said….

The Library Game Lab project will occur in three main phases, depending on the availability of outside funding. Nicholson has been working on the first phase of the project for the past year, working with students to survey libraries and how they view gaming….

The project’s current phase, to create a portable library game lab, will be followed by the next phase, to increase awareness about the project.

‘With this project, I will travel to library conferences and expose librarians to the spectrum of games, talk about what types of games are best for certain demographic groups with libraries and collect more data about what is happening,’ Nicholson said.

The third and final phase of the project will be to set up research projects, which will explore how the different types of games relate to different types of people.

‘This will be the ongoing life of the lab - to analyze new games and game types, to recommend the best games for different goals and demographic groups and to work with industry to help them create gaming experiences more suited for a library/school setting,’ Nicholson said.

Nicholson said as soon as he is able to secure more funding to build the program, he hopes to start aggressively drawing in students to help with the project. So far he has relied heavily on volunteers to help with research and promoting the program. In addition, Nicholson is teaching a graduate-level iSchool class in May on gaming in libraries, and it has already received considerable student interest.

There has been both support and criticism from the Syracuse community at large regarding the Library Game Lab, but Nicholson said the key is getting people to understand that this is not about ‘first person shooters,’ but rather about ‘understanding how gaming works as a service and how libraries and schools can be engaged.’ ” [The Daily Orange]

Putting for Dollars: Library Raises More than $10,000 with Golf Fundraiser

“Winter winds and swirling snow failed to dampen the enthusiasm that greeted the inaugural miniature golf championship held at the Southworth Library on Dartmouth Street on Sunday afternoon.

‘We were a bit worried when we saw the snow, but we had a great turnout in spite of the weather,’ said Dolly Sharek, treasurer of the library foundation. ‘We had 274 golfers sign up, and we raised just over $10,000.’

As attendance reached its peak at around 2 p.m., all of the 100 putters borrowed for the occasion were in use on the 18-hole course that wound its way around the stacks on both floors, and a line had formed at the registration table.

Golfers of all ages were challenged by the unique aspect of the library course, which explored all corners of the building with a 10th hole that teed off on the second floor and finished on the first.

Some of those taking on the newly installed circuit were evidently more practiced than others.

The seventh hole brought library trustee Paul Pereira to his knees — and it was not to line up a putt. He was trying to retrieve his ball from beneath one of the stacks.” [SouthCoastToday.com]

The “Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Spotlight” area at ALA’s Midwinter Meeting was very successful. We had a pretty steady stream of folks watching and playing videogames. I’d be a rich woman if I sold gaming equipment on commission at these things (hint, Nintendo, hint).

This year, the setup was in the registration hall, rather than in a booth on the exhibit floor, so we got a couple of members to help cover the area. Big thanks to Chad Haefele and Matt Roach for doing such a great job.

So great, in fact, that Chad scored a starring role in Philly.com’s coverage of the Meeting on their website (although they did spell his last name incorrectly - sorry, Chad).

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the spotlight and helped us have so much fun. We’ll see you at Annual in Anaheim when we do it again (along with the big game!).

Bonus: The paper also included an editorial about videogames in libraries by ALA President Loriene Roy.

Judi is a student in Dominican University’s GSLIS program who is graduating in January (yay, Judi!). She’s writing her final research paper on gaming in public libraries, and she’s asking library staff offering said programs to fill out a brief survey. If you can help her, please do.

It’s been quiet around here because I was lucky enough to be invited to speak to some fantastic librarians at the Hawaii Library Association Conference, so I was able to sneak in one of the most amazing vacations I’ve ever had (the pictures from which you can see here, although I’m still uploading them). Big thank yous to Dave Brier, Becky, and Vicky for inviting me and all of the help they provided for my sessions. My “talk with slides” is available on my presentations wiki as a PDF.

Hawaiian librarians rock, especially Amy, who had my favorite quote of the conference. While talking about allowing her high school students to game in the computer lab during recess, she said, “I refused to say no,” and it’s paid off big time for her. She’s made connections with the kids that she wouldn’t have otherwise made, and now some of them confide in her because of this.

Other travelers are also home now, including our Dutch friends, who have posted the final video of the Shanachie Tour. Well, of this year’s Tour, anyway. We all miss you guys very much - I sure do - but you did an amazing thing and inspired a lot of librarians here.