Teen Gaming Interest Group Meeting Notes

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The YALSA Teen Gaming Interest Group meeting on Monday afternoon welcomed nearly 20 attendees to attendees to discuss teens and gaming in libraries. After a quick review of the mission of the group, announcements followed:

UPCOMING EVENTS
Beyond Gaming Tournaments (Teen Gaming Interest Group)
Sunday June 29th 2008 8:00am to 10am
Discover best practices beyond gaming tournaments in such programs as avatar creation, character worksheets, video game clubs, machinima contests, Cosplay and more. Elizabeth Saxton, Cleveland Public Library; Craig Davis, Youth Digital Arts Cyber School and Amy McNally, Ridgedale Library, Minnetonka, MN, with teens Karina Grimaldi and Brigit Boler, share their successes in delivering high quality engaging programs about and around tabletop and video games – that do NOT involve actual game play! The second half of the program consists of a breakout session to try program activities and exercises yourself.

Go have lunch, then return at 1:30 PM for ALSC presents: Gaming and the Elementary Age Child. It seems we have the makings of an ALA gaming track here!

Teen Tech Week runs March 2-8th, this year’s theme is Tune in @ Your Library. A Gaming Mini-Guide should be posted on the Teen Tech Committee page soon

GAMING RESOURCES
The Teen Gaming Interest Group recently completed an article for YALS on Core Collections of video games for libraries, an annotated list of recommended titles. Look for it in the spring issue, out soon. A poster with titles was available at the YALSA booth. Content is online.

For more info about gaming in libraries, join the LibGaming group.

VERIZON FOUNDATION GRANT
ALA TechSource announced Sunday that they have received a Verizon Foundation Grant for 2008-2009. Part of the project includes a website to foster online community hosted by an expert panel at http://gaming.ala.org, featuring links to incubator sites for gaming and research. The grant will produce a virtual institute in April 208. The focus is to develop gaming literacy.

Watch for a follow -up issue of Library Technology Report on Gaming in Libraries. Other projects include a National Gaming in Libraries Day (April 18) (with national tournament), GT System from the Ann Arbor District Library, a Big Game at ALA annual 2008 in Anaheim, and the 2nd annual ALA TechSource Gaming Learning and Libraries Symposium (Nov 2008) in the Chicago area.

Other Big News! The Games and Gaming MIG at ALA passed on Tuesday.

Beth recommended that someone else champion a Selected Lists of Video Games for Teens, by requesting
YALSA Board action.

DISCUSSION
Part of the discussion involved a question about research needs in regard to gaming.
What is the theft/loss rate of circulating video game collections?
Are teens allowed to check out videos/video games?

Is there a relationship between policies and theft rate: circulation policies, like circ period and fine rate

Q. Money: how do I spend in? Wii or PS2?
A. Get both! ASk your local teens for advice.

Q. How do I get a Wii?
A. Contact Nintendo, go early to game stores, try Nowinstock.net, check eBay. Don’t forget to purchase extra controllers and the proper controllers (for retro gaming)

Q. What games should I buy for programs?
A.Guitar Hero

DDR
Wii Sports
Wii Play
Rayman Raving Rabbids #2
Mario & Sonic Olympics
Naruto II: Ultimate Ninja
DragonBall Z

Q. How do I store my console/prevent theft?
A. Gaming configurations include a locked cabinet or behind the desk

Q. How much will this cost?
A. Starting Budget: $1000 – for 1 system, 3-5 games, & extra controllers

Q. Do people still play D&D?

A. Yes! D&D fosters imagination, teaches storytelling, and develops creativity! And Wizards of the Coast, a Teen Tech Week sponsor, has a free kit D&D available to libraries! They are out of kits, but you can DOWNLOAD all the kit materials.

Q. Does anyone do Yu-gi-oh tournaments – no problems with card theft
A. Yes! Other recommended Card & Tabletop Games
DuelMasters

Hex Hex
Taboo & Gestures (get noisy)
Apples to Apples (Junior edition)
Set Game
Goblet
Scene It? Junior
Carcassone Hunters & Gatherers

Settlers of Kataan
Treehouse! 500 different games around the kit/pieces

Two great board game resources:
Board Games with Scott

Gaming Interest Group list on the YALSA community page (log in with ALA membership # and password):

Q. Help! They won’t come to the library, even to play games!
A. Take the games to them! High school lunch, local game stores/card shops, advertise on Meetup.com

Q. Are there age issues with video games?
A. It’s a two program opportunity! One for kids, one for teens. Start with age 12 (gr 6) – don’t forget that a game rated T for teen are for age 13.

Q. What are the behavior issues associated with gaming programs?
A. Theft and fighting for a turn are not usually an issue. In fact, teens in gaming programs are the best behaved kids in the library, and often self-police to keep their gaming privileges.

Q. Is there a basic list of resources about gaming that I can use to make a case for for gaming at my library?

A. Yes! For your perusal:
Wilson, Heather. Gaming for Librarians. Voice of Youth Advocates. Feb 2005.

Neiburger, Eli and Erin Helmrich. Video Games As a Service.” Voice of Youth Advocates. Feb 2005.

Gallaway, Beth & Alissa Lauzon. “I Can’t Dance Without Arrows: DDR at the Library.” YALS. Summer 2006.

Gallaway, Beth. Get Your Game On: What Makes A Good Game, Anyway?”

Beck, John & Mitchell Wade. The Kids are Alright. Harvard Business School, 2007.

Nicholson, Scott. (2007). The Role of Gaming in Libraries: Taking the Pulse. White paper.

Q. How do you deal with time limits on your Internet computers?
A. Start a program! IE Runescape Club

Q. Other Gaming Ideas?
A. Bronx Library System – poker tournament – tutorials and 5 card stud and 7 card Texas hold’em play with real chips, no money.

Reader’s Advisory – if you like this game, you might like this book
Family Gaming Night with board games – library provides some, patrons bring their own in
Open Gaming once a week, programs twice a month
Newbie Game Day
Teen Choice Free Play (they bring their own games)
Handhelds
Teen Second Life

Global Kids

Q. Do kids bring in their own laptops for gaming programs?
A. Sometimes! And it can add to the program, IE, all playing StepMania.

Q. Are there games for developmentally disabled/delayed?
A. Not that we are aware of, at this time…

Q. How do you handle signups for game programs?

Black crow darts has a great chart
Jeff Wyner, Escondido Public Library, has designed an excel spread sheet with formulas for
Eli Neiburger from Ann Arbor District Library will be unveiling their tournament management software in April 2008.

Q. What is the ESRB?
A. The Entertainment Software Ratings Board! Among other things, they rate video games on a set of 40+ criteria, for ‘age-appropriateness.’
Visit http://www.esrb.org for more info.

Q. Suggestions for ways to clear up teens library cards?
A. Waivers, amnesty day, booksale fundraiser for fine scholarships, pay for fines via Teen Second Life

T-Shirts: Ultimate Fan Fiction!

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I just got back from visiting my dear friend and former YA librarian in FL, and we got to talking about YA lit, as we are wont to do, and of course, Eclipse came up. She hasn’t finished it yet, but knows I am a Jacob/Bella ‘shipper, and she took a moment to show me some awesome t-shirts at Zazzle:

Team Jacob:
http://www.zazzle.com/pd/find?qs=jacob+black

Team Edward:
http://www.zazzle.com/pd/find?qs=edward+cullen

and, of course, Harry Potter:
http://www.zazzle.com/pd/find?qs=harry+potter

I am sure there are others – share your links, below.

Two questions come to mind: what kind of copyright infringement is this? And, is this not content creation at it’s finest?! At the very least, it could be a very creative idea to extend discussion around a book: design the t-shirt! My new friend Sarah tells me that iron-on transfers for your library printer only cost a coupla bucks…

Singshot is Now the Sims Onstage!

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Remember the online karaoke website, SingShot? Your first introduction to it may have been Fame at the Teens & Technology preconference last January in San Antonio.

I’m not clear if the site was originally owned by Maxis’ EA Games, with intent to launch another Sims Expansion pack, but I don’t care if it was a bait & switch, because the tools are really cool, like Movie Mashups – you can make your own machinima music videos with clips and stills from the Sims. You can create an avatar of yourself that looks like a Sims character. Plus, they added 100 new songs at the beginning of month, and this may become a regular thing: over 80 new titles were added at the end of September, with hits from current pop artists like Teddy Gieger, Nickleback and Fallout Boy, plus a nice mix of country, R&B, and Christian artists as well.

I was relieved to see that even though the focus of the site has changed, the songs I recorded last year are still there. I was terribly disappointed I couldn’t get it to work in Firefox on my Mac, but it was fine in Safari.

Recording music and poetry, creating an avatar and making machinima via the free tools provided with Singshot may be a way to provide free cheap and easy programming for teens at your library. Check it out! And stay tuned for details on the Midwinter Meeting Gaming Festival, where you’ll get a chance to learn more about and exchange avatars, machinima, and more.

Book Review: Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer

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I’m a sucker for a good vampire novel and Meyer makes monsters romantic again in this third episode of the Twilight series. The passion colored ribbon snaking across the cover of Eclipse is a harbringer of rift and bloodshed to come. Bella Swan, ordinary high school student, is still madly in love with beautiful vampire Edward Cullen, but it’s complicating her friendship with Jacob Black (the one who was there to pick up the pieces when Edward removed himself from her life). Jacob just happens to be a werewolf, and werewolves and vampires are sworn enemies. In addition to the “which boy will she pick” dilemma, a parallel conflict is created when a series of brutal murders in the northwest indicates a rogue vampire pack is on the move, and the Cullens are going to be facing a major showdown soon. Per usual, Bella is wrapped up in the middle of it, and in mortal danger.

The best parts of the book are a long storytelling session in which Billy Black tells the myth of the Third Wife. The attention to detail and careful styling are excellent. A scene in which the love triangle are forced to spend a night in a tent together reveals more character than the previous 500 pages. The allusions to Wuthering Heights elevate the plot and are a nod to the tradition of gothic literature, and may even inspire some teens to pick up a classic.

Frustratingly, Bella remains little more than a pawn in this book, trying to please everyone but herself. Much of this tome is taken up with her obsessing over the events of the backstory, and looking to her future, and whether or not she wants to be married, deflowered, turned, or all three, and when. Although she is a terrible role model for young women (marry young, girls are possessions, let your mate control your life, there is only One True Love, etc), the palpable (and chaste) longing will keep fans of the series swooning.

Eclipse is a must-have for YA collections, in spite of the fact that I personally wanted to throw the book across the room when I finished it. See, I’m holding out hope that in the next book, Breaking Dawn, slated for release next year, Bella snaps out of it and ends up with the RIGHT guy — for the right reasons. The debate on WHICH guy that will be rages over at Amazon. If you do comment on this post, please note if your comment contains a SPOILER, in case folks may not have finished the book yet.

State of our Nation’s Youth

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The Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics released their 2007 report on America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being. Although youth violence has seen a slight increase (and I’m sure someone will blame it on video games), overall our teens are doing pretty well: more inclined to use a condom, avoid teen pregnancy and stay in school. Check out the full report at http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/index.asp

The Power of Social Networking

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I have a librarian friend new to social networking, but she gamely signed up for Facebook, just to see what it was all about. Last week she sent me this note: “Hey Beth– checking out your Facebook page (thanks for friending me 🙂 –btw) and noticed a message on your wall from KM. He was my son’s best friend in high school! I’m trying to guess your connection to him–perhaps comics? Neat guy!”

She was right on the money: comics, indeed. KM was a senior in high school when we met 5 years ago. When I was a YA librarian, he sent me an unsolicited email, asking me to be an advisor on his senior project on comic books — There was no MySpace or Facebook back then — he found me because I’d posted a webpage about my BWI/YALSA Collection Development Grant that I used to start a graphic novel collection. I learned as much about comics from him as he did from me. We’ve evolved from a mentor/mentee to peer relationship since, and usually go to a comic book spin-off movie once a year.

A couple of points:

  • It’s good to be accessible. I see a LOT of library homepages that don’t include the name or email address of the YA librarian.
  • Teens need adults that care about them to act as mentors and role models.
  • The YALSA/BWI Collection Development Grant is a great opportunity for materials growth and easy to apply for.
  • Applying for grants gets you more than just money.

Along the lines of this age thing, in my Pain in the Brain class, we’ve been having a really interesting discussion about RESPECT. It is assumed, or earned? Are people respected for their age, title, and status, or their experience, expertise, knowledge and skills? Someone mentioned the Internet as a great leveler — you don’t know someone’s age unless they volunteer it (or, you ask). It doesn’t feel strange to me to have friends that range from 24-54 — or to be friends with a mom, and someone who is the age of her child, as well. At ALA, in a session on millennials, I heard “They don’t want us in their space.” Do you agree, or disagree?

How Do I Get On A Committee?

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Someone on my Twitter friends asked, “Question for the folks in ALA – how do you get involved w committees. Help?” My expanded response follow.

Observe. If you can get to Annual or Midwinter conferences, sit in on the committee you want to volunteer with – most are open meetings; juries (award selection committees) are the exception. Go to the board meeting and watch the proceedings (don’t forget to introduce yourself!).

Do your homework. Know the commitment involved. Talk to a current member to inquire about the expectations and workload. The ALA directory you get in the mail lists committmee charges and members.

Go online. The YALSA Governance page is one-stop shopping, with links to committee descriptions and chairs and board members.

Be honest. Think about what you can realistically commit to. If you can’t go to conference, try for a virtual membership on a committee. And, don’t sign up for a selected list or jury if you can’t read at least a book a day.

Join an Interest Group. If you can’t attend conferences, consider an Interest Group. Unlike committee members, members of an interest group are not required to attend the Annual Conference or the Midwinter Meeting, and there is no limit on the number of virtual participants an interest group may have.

Introduce yourself. I’m convinced I got my first appointment by shaking Joel Shoemaker’s hand at a the YALSA member reception–I think I filled out my volunteer form on the spot. You could also write a note or email to whomever makes appointments – AND their replacement (ie, prez & prez-elect).

Contribute. Post frequently on division email lists, blogs or wikis to get your name noticed.

Fill out your paperwork. Every year, in fact, you need to complete a new volunteer form. I just did mine. Be specific, don’t just say, “I’ll do anything.” If you want to be on Best Books, make sure your credentials are reflected on the form.

Pay your dues!. You can’t participate if you aren’t a member! Join today, we’re the fastest growing division of the ALA (#4, w00t!). And, IMHO, the most fun. 🙂

Don’t forget about process committees. Initially, I felt I had to earn a spot on Best Books by sitting on Organization and Bylaws, but it turned out to be a really interesting committee that gave me a wonderful overview of how YALSA works, and I’ve enjoyed all my appointments so much that I haven’t even requested to be on Best Books in years.

Be creative. My first time to ALA was 9 years ago; I was just out of library school. I stayed for free with a friend on the subway line, lived on peanut butter sandwiches, apples, and water for 5 days, walked or took the shuttle bus everywhere, and had a fantastic time. I try to buy a meal — (or at least a round of drinks 😉 — for a student at every conference. Don’t forget that YALSA has a mentoring program, and a mentor may have some great advice, connect you to someone who needs a roommate, or have a transferrable invitation to a publisher luncheon.

If the committee you are interested in requires conference attendance and your library won’t pay for you to attend conference, ask the director to ask the Friends to cover it. Seek scholarships or jobs with stipends to attend conference. Sometimes, work will pay if you are presenting – submit a proposal to a committee to sponsor. Ask for membership dues or airfare vouchers as a holiday or birthday gift. Your conference expenses should be a tax deduction, but I always found I never made enough money (or had enough expenses) to count it.

Other tips? Please comment!

Gaming Interest Group Conveners Needed, please VOTE!

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YALSA members: please take a moment to vote for co-conveners of the YALSA gaming interest group in the poll online at:

http://tinyurl.com/24zhan

You MUST be a YALSA member to vote; have your ALA membership card handy! The two candidates with the most votes will be co-conveners for July 2007-June 2008. Choices and candidate statements follow; you can also write in a candidate.

Polls close at 11 PM EST June 30, 2007.

FYI: The purpose of the YALSA Teen Gaming Interest Group is to discuss
issues relating to teens and gaming and to develop and disseminate best practices in collections, programming, and related topics in the field of gaming (including video, computer, internet, handheld, mobile, board, card, and miniatures) for young adults ages 12-18. The group meets at Midwinter and Annual. Bring a program to share, a game recommendation, or your questions about starter collections or successful gaming events. Check out online discussions in ALA’s Online Communities, and Recommended Games Lists on the YALSA Wiki.

Please choose a convener for the YALSA Teen Gaming Interest Group. The two candidates with the most votes will be co-conveners for July 2007-June 2008. Choices and candidate statements follow; you can also write in a candidate.

Kelly Czarnecki: “Kelly Czarnecki has served as co-convener of the YALSA Gaming Interest Group for 2006-2007 where she helped add content to the YALSA wikiat http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Gaming_Lists_%26_Activities, invited speakers to the meetings at conference, and posted updates to members and attendees. She is active with teens and video gaming programs at her library in Charlotte, NC and writes a column for YAttitudes on a variety of game activities as well as School Library Journal. Kelly would like to see the interest group continue to work toward developing a selection list of games which was started by Beth Gallaway and continue to be a resource for libraries working with teens for gaming programs.”

Beth Gallaway: “As founder of the group, I’d like to see out the first three years of this Interest Group and help shape how YALSA Interest Groups work. I’ve been pleased to work with Kelly to put on three meetings that have had a program element and look forward to coordinating our first program in Anaheim in ’08 on programs related to gaming that aren’t tournaments. I’ve been gaming since I was five and travel around the country doing workshops on how libraries can appeal to gamers with programs, services and collections;my book on Gaming & Libraries comes out at the end of year.”

Jami Schwarzwalder: “Games, like teens, are often misunderstood, and as a leader for the YALSA gaming interest group it would be my honor to help support librarians, defend gaming, foster new initiatives in gaming services, as well as encourage gaming programs to become as common as preschool story time. Since I was young I’ve been involved in the world of gaming. As a child, gaming served as a way to socialize with my mother and friends. As a teen, I interacted in unique worlds available through Role Playing Systems, designed video games, and my own imagination related to tabletop games. In college I studied education, and soon discovered that gaming had many educational elements that also benefits today’s teens and children. While in library school, I evaluated many games and developed a collection policy. Both are now available online at my website www.mbmpl.org. I’ve also worked with individuals from the game industry to promote partnerships with schools and libraries.”

Results will be announced by July 1 2007. Thanks for your participation.

To iPods and Beyond

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I got here a little late, but just have to say that Joseph Wilk, Tanya J. Brown and Christina Roest did a fantastic job at presenting on MP3 collections. It was a really through look at getting into MP3’s at your library. They explained everything, down to defining jargon like widgets and giving step by step instructions on how to connect, shop and download. Joseph covered PC/Mac and iPod/Shuffle differences as well as talked about setting options for purchase, sharing and storage. His examples were a very diverse mix of music, ranging from American Idol albums to Asian R&B Hip Hop. the presenters gave specific library examples, got quotes from librarians, researched the legal end of things. This was one of the best presentations I have ever seen. It was SO much good information in such a short time, though.
The handouts/presentation will be posted soon at: toipodsandbeyond DOT blogspot DOT com.

Did you know you can buy iTunes gift certificates with a purchase order, so you don’t have to purchase by credit card?

Joseph mentioned the importance of a signup sheet and waiver for collection that explains the technical requirements: if a patron plugs in their iPods, it will erase all the data on their iPod when plugged into a new computer. South Huntington has one that is a great example, that will be posted on Joseph’s blog (hopefully, he’ll comment and leave the link for us).

We got a tour of Itunes, including the shopping cart feature, and the usefulness of the newest albums and customer favorites.

Circulating is easy. The patron has to open iTunes, and often plugging the iPod in launches the software.

Shift + Alt + Control is a safeguard about syncing (Shift + Alt + Apple on a Mac)

Social Digital Music

Pandora
FineTune
Mog
Last FM
MySpace
Project Playlist

Brief history of the Music Genome project, now Pandora – example, Fall Out Boy. I like everything is just not true, so Pandora is for new music discovery. The project identified over 400 attributes that allow listeners to find soundalikes. Pandora has a podcast series almost like a mini-seminar that features up and coming music and defines the difference between trance and techno, covers how to record vocals.

Finetunes is the mix tape experience online (one of the things I did at this conference is traded a mix CD with someone I am primarily friends with online).

MOG is like MySpace for Music Lovers – Profile, blogging, and embedded music. You can create a post and share via Facebook or Digg. MOG gives only new recommendations, because it recognizes that you already have music in your library. You can mark users whose music posts you like to a trusted list; also matches you based on musical tastes. There are celebrity MOGgers (musicians). MOG works with your existing tools, like iTunes, and you can create MOG widgets to go on your library MySpace or Facebook.

Last.FM is a download that works with iTunes – the Scrobbler captures info from the music you are playing, then gives recommendations, but also more info about artists, links to news, and more. There is also a groups feature, with a librarian group! (Two really, one appears to be members of the Chatty Librarians email discussion group) Last.FM has a number of widgets too, for playlists and more. Another great feature is you can add your teens as artists if you are making music recordings with them.

MySpace 100 million users “for those of you who know a little bit about outreach, that’s a fine crowd.” Featured artists and videos. The presenters made a page called To iPods and Beyond for the session. You can use MySpace to message and connect with bands and link back to your library by posting a note that the library has the band’s CD. MySpace bulletins are really useful for alerting users about new CDs the library has. Makes it easy to find local artists so you can know about local bands that the teens might be going to hear.

NOT RECOMMENDED:
Project Playlist is a music search engine that looks for music on websites and blogs. They have streaming music features. They are an access point, not a provider – no royalties, no licenses – and no distinguishing between legally and illegally uploaded. Music copyright holders have to request the illegal downloads be removed. They leave it up to the user to make the choice. Piracy is no the kind of thing we want to promote at the library, and the downloads are from unknown sources much of the time. It’s good to be aware of everything that’s out there and options to direct patrons to.

Limewire, another peer to peer music sharing network, is not recommended for libraries.

The program concluded with a fast pop quiz on the top 50 songs for each year of YALSA’s existence. The list got cheers and chuckles as Joseph lead us through the list with great commentary, and still had 20 minutes left for questions.

Questions included how can you avoid bad comments on your MySpace, what is an RSS feed, how staff intensive is this, and are there libraries really doing what you are talking about.

Source for the top songs of the year: This Day in Music

EDIT: Don’t forget about the Teen Music Media Interest Meeting tomorrow from 4:00-5:30 in the Washington Convention Center room: Room 143 C.

Teen Gaming Interest Group Meeting

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A poor time slot and multiple Marriott hotels made for slim attendance at the Teen Gaming Interest Group Meeting Saturday afternoon.

Kelly Czarnecki, co-convener, welcomed the attendees, noting that the Gaming Discussion Group (which has evolved to an Interest Group) is a year old! Our agenda included a visit from Matt Gullett, Imaginon, and Scott Nicholson, Syracuse University, to talk about Game Lab.

We intended to elect conveners, but with only 8 attendees, decided to do it online. Interested candidates should send a short blurb (under 250 words) about why they want to be the convener NO LATER THAN June 26. We’ll elect via a Survey Monkey poll. Polls will close at 11 PM EST on June 230, as YALSA needs to be informed of the names of conveners by July 1 2007.

Currently in the running for the convener position in alphabetical order, are:
* Kelly Czarnecki
* Beth Gallaway
* Beth Saxton
* Jami Schwarzwalder

Our final agenda item was to work on 2008 program. We decided to rename it “Gaming Beyond Tournaments.” The focus is programs that are related to gaming or have appeal to gamers but don’t involve actually playing games. Got a great program to share? Want to speak? Available Sunday June 23 at 8AM in Anaheim CA? I’d love to hear from you: informationgoddess29 AT gmail DOT com

About Game Lab at PLCMC:
Matt, a gamer since age 4. Started doing gaming in 2005, and has started a Game Lab at the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenberg County. Matt wanted to replicate the GameLab at Syracuse with a public library spin. Their Game Lab has three key focuses:
1. Programming
2. Content Creation
3. Collaboration

The GameLab is trying to show that games are an important part of digital literacy. Games and interactive media are a public good. It’s not just a room for people to come in and play games whenever they want t; it’s to develop partnership with local schools, colleges and universities and library oriented LIS programs to develop programming and rationale for gaming and libraries. Partnerships with businesses are also a potential – working with game companies to see product development. Working with The Youth Digital Arts Cyber School is another potential partner, a Las Vegas company that offers online classes in Game Design. It’s not just about playing the games it’s about making them too. Introducing gamers to the tools to enable them to do content creation.

GameLab is not limited to video games! Card, board, miniatures, it’s all good. The space is an office that can be a flexible space; much of the content will be portable, and use will be dictated by projects like beta testing or a board game event.

The Science Museum of Minnesota has instructors who are using the free game design software Scratch (from MIT) to teach a class at the Hennepin County library called be a computer game designer. “The teens didn’t really realize how much math they were using because they were having so much fun with it.” The Museum charged, but a training the trainer program for teens to continue as instructors is under investigation.

Kelly cited that her goal was to start at the beginning, with GameMaker, but kids wanted to start where they were comfortable (a very gamer mentality).

Someone suggested the flash drive option: when you have a restrictive environment and can’t install programs, putting an installed program on a flash drive may be an option. Used web-based game design tools are another alternative. Some resources: http://www.cs.queensu.ca/~dalamb/Games/design/gameDesignSites.html

About GameLab at Syracuse
Scott Nicholson, Associate Professor at Syracuse University, told us that the Information Institute at Syracuse is handling GameLab, thanks to a half-million dollar IMLS grant . Both OCLC and ALA TechSource are partners.

GameLab at Syracuse involves four research projects:
1. Creating a thesaurus for all types of games
2. Using economics as a way of looking at the public good regarding recreational gaming; if appropriate is the library the right place to do it
3. Get a better idea of idea of penetration of games in libraries
4. Create a gaming census

The outcome will be figuring out what type of games are successful in a specific environments for specific populations, with a range of options – like a portable games kit. Different games appeal to different people for different reasons. Scott continued to challenge us to think about goals of your gaming program. “A great game for the wrong crowd leads to a bad user experience. We need a game sommelier, if you will…”

Get on the e-mail list for the Syracuse Library Game Lab. To sign up, send an e-mail to listserv AT listserv DOT syr DOT edu. This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it with the message ‘Subscribe gamelab Your Name.’

Some program sharing ensued: anime prom, Runescape LAN parties, and teen run video game nights were just a few great ideas. We also learned that ALSC’s Children and Technology committee has submitted a to run a technology program in Anaheim which may or may not include gaming – watch for more details to come.

Other questions we discussed:
Where do you get the money? Where do you buy games from? and Who has a Wii?

A reminder about three other upcoming gaming events of interest:
* ALA TechSource Gaming in Libraries Symposium, July 22-24, Chicago O’Hare Marriott

* Gaming in Libraries, a 3 credit class at Syracuse University in spring 2008 over 3 weekends, will focus on the history of games, games as a new media, and experiencing and evaluating a variety of games.

* Wallenberg Hall Summer Institute on Gaming in Education at Stanford University, August 6-10

Thanks to all attendees and contributors!

EDIT: OH! And don’t forget to contribute to our list of 50 recommended games on the YALSA wiki at http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Gaming_Lists_%26_Activities

EDIT: Correct link for The Youth Digital Arts Cyber School is http://www.ydacs.com.