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Somewhat horrifyingly, the New York Public Library is using something called "Game On @ the Library!" (the "@" must be so that you know it’s cool) to lure kids with video games:
The library first offered games at a single Midtown branch in 2006. Now the library system offers both organized play sessions and games for circulation at 18 branches across the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. (Brooklyn and Queens operate their own separate, library systems.) The library now owns about 2,500 copies of 92 different games available for circulation in one-week intervals. Overdue fine: $1 a day.
I’m sure those swet overdue fines are part of the progam’s popularity at the NYPL. But some of these other justifications just sound pathetic:
“What we’re seeing is that in addition to simply helping bring kids into the library in the first place, games are having a broader effect on players, and they have the potential to be a great teaching tool,” Mr. Martin said. “If a kid takes a test and fails, that’s it. But in a game, if you fail you get to take what you’ve learned and try again.
“In a lot of these games you have to understand the rules, you have to understand the game’s world, its story. For some games you have to understand its history and the characters in order to play effectively.”
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i am not as horrified as you…my local library offers multmedia options- games,cd’s, dvd’s…these are popular items. The library is well attended and it is inevitable that people will also explore other options.
the “modern” library need to offer more than books- media, today, is more than books.
I have to agree with bert above. I really do not see this as a bad thing. It seems that Young Adult librarians can use video games, as they do DVD’s and graphic novels, to get young people into the library and help teach them how the library works and what other resources are avaible for the them to use.
It is not in the least horrifying. It is fantastic! Public libraries have never been “just books,” nor have they ever been there for “just education.” The arguments against them have been used against DFVD’s, cd’s, romance novels, Nancy Drew, Graphic Novels, and just about anything else that is commonplace in the library today.
And these games are incredible learning tools. They teach skills that are very different from the ones most of us learned….but they are skills that are of greater value in today’s world.
Have a onversation with a young person about their favorite game. They have learned an enormous amount about it…its history, its characters, the strategy involved, how uit compares to other games. they learn an enormous amount of coordination and dexterity. They learn about cause and effect, trial and error. They learn about collaborating and cooperating with people who are very different from themselves.
But perhaps most importantly, the games take them away from reality for a bit. And isn’t that what reading was always about?
Nope. Not horrifying at all. If video games in the library turn teens into public library users, then fantastic! Perhaps they’ll continue to use the library as adults. Maybe they’ll even bring their children to the library years down the road. Good for public libraries!