shelfless

This is kind of a sad, but exciting post… This marks the end of my time as part of the class for LIS 768. The experience has been an incredible one, so much so that I’m a bit lost for a way to approach a reflection for the class.

From the get-go I had a real excitement for the material we were going to be working with. Even though I found I had very little experience with the tools in particular (RSS feeds, Blogs, Twitter). I was eager. The class was engaged. Michael’s enthusiasm  was the catalyst between the two that created the perfect storm.

I have had great classes before, but the way this class (a 3 weekend nonetheless) managed to remain engaged with each other on so many levels, academic and other, has been unparalleled. It is the product of how the class has been built upon the very tools we’re learning and how energized we were about the topics. We wanted to learn. And we were learning from one another… In the midst we were able to make connections with each other that would never have happened in other classes. It’s a testament to the power of these tools when used in combination with our engaged interest. It is a lesson that, to me, hammers home the importance of this very class. This is awesome.

I work in a library and I’ve always brought that experience to every class I’ve had. I always try and bring my class experiences back to my work, creating projects and papers around those interests. Over the course of this class I was able to get involved with a movement around the library’s presence in social networking, providing a solid voice to what works, why it works, and what we can be doing. It’s sad to see that project on hold, but I have high hopes for it and my involvement.

It’s exciting to see others as enthusiastic about these things as I am, wanting to learn, wanting to incorporate them into our work. I’ve already been approached by a co-workers to teach them about a number of these tools and since seen them grow into active users and members of the community. It’s terribly fulfilling… I’ve been approached about doing a general session in the library about Library 2.0.

I imagine that I’ll keep in regular contact with many of my #LIS768′ers if only through Twitter. There’s certainly excellent possibilities to see this class, LIS768, evolve into a dynamic community that grows and grows, and those that have taken it connect with those who are taking it.

And so the future is bright, and even though my time with this class ends, it really doesn’t. And that is exciting.

Video games in some form have been around for over thirty years now (Newman 29). The medium has come a long way since those early days in the 70’s with two rectangle paddles bouncing a circle back and forth in Pong, growing into a complex medium with a massive culture attached to it. Libraries have been slow to recognizing the value and opportunity that video games provide their collections, their users, and their institution (Levine, The Shifted Librarian).

There’s a shift in motion as we near the sunset of the Baby Boomer generation. Their influence on our culture is increasingly being relinquished to the generation born after 1970 who grew up playing video games: Gamers. “Organizations that don’t understand or acknowledge them run the risk of becoming increasingly isolated and irrelevant” (Storey). If we are here to serve the public’s entertainment and educational needs (Rubin 382), then the placement of video games in a public library’s collection is something that needs to be examined and recognized. Gamers working in the library need to be making the push to bring this tribe together for their library.

The popularity of video games cannot be ignored. 2005 saw $365 million in video game sales alone, and 2006 saw that number increase to $446 million. Total revenue of the industry is well into the billions (Glazer 954). In 2002 research showed that 60% of people in the United States over the age of 6 played video games (Jones 5). By the 1990’s Nintendo’s Mario, of Super Mario Brothers fame, had become more recognizable among children then Disney’s Mickey. By 2004 the gaming industry overtook the film industry in sales. While the film industry’s revenues continue to slump, the gaming industries continue to rise (Squire and Steinkuehler 38; Sutton and Womack).

The increasing sales in gaming despite growing costs further emphasize the importance of gaming to this generation. It’s also cutting out an important user group. Not unlike, perhaps even tied to, the ‘digital divide’ that technology has created between the poor and middle class, there is an equity gap in the gaming industry. “Gaming is a part of growing up in the U.S.” (Jones 7). For these lower income households with limited access to high-tech hardware Libraries building a collection may be their only access to the medium (Glazer 950-951).

Gaming is a far from solitary activity. It is inherently social (Newman 147). A Pew study of gaming found that games helped students both make friends and improve existing friendships (Jones 2). Beyond the multiplayer aspects of games, a culture has been built around gaming that encompasses both passionate and casual gamers. Gamers debate aspects of game play, create fan-fiction, and write walkthroughs of games to help other players through problems (Newman 153; Squire and Steinkuehler 40). Taking advantage of this social aspect of gaming can really support both the users and the libraries themselves. One of the ways some libraries are doing this is through game nights.

When thinking about why libraries should consider doing game nights, an excellent analogy can be made to story time. Kids or parents can still check out books, but we still have story time at a library. The target audience is different, but “tournaments are to video games what story times are to picture books” (Levine 50).

While some institutions were initially skeptical of these events, an overwhelmingly positive, even enthusiastic response from kids as well as parents has assuaged any fear (Levine 46, 49). At Ann Arbor District Library, which has started regular game nights as tournaments, they have found that as many as 30% of people attending their tournaments had never been to the library prior. This drawing in of new patrons is a common theme in other libraries that have also taken attempted game nights (Levine 45, 50, 52)
Dan Braun, who runs gaming events for Worth Public Library in Illinois, has found that providing gaming helps engage atypical users in other library services (Levine 47). One gamer in Ann Arbor, Ian Melcher, proves Braun, “If it wasn’t for gaming stuff dragging me in that first time, I would have gone maybe once in the past two years… I realized the library was pretty cool and had other things I was interested in” (Glazer 939). At the time of being quoted, Melcher had just checked out two books from the library.

Glazer, Sarah. “Video Games: Do they have Educational Value.” CQ Researcher 16.40 (2006): 937-59.

Jones, Steve. Let the Games Begin: Gaming Technology and Entertainment among College Students. Pew Internet & American Life Project, 2006.

Levine, Jenny. “Case Studies: Public Libraries.” Library Technology Reports 42.5 (2006): 45-55.
—. Gaming @ Your Library Sessions Blogged!., 2005. http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2005/05/26/gaming_your_library_sessions_blogged.html
—. “Why Gaming?” Library Technology Reports 42.5 (2006): 10-18.

Newman, James. Videogames. London: Routledge, 2004-00-00 2004.

Rubin, Richard. Foundations of Library and Information Science. 2nd ed. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2004.

Squire, Kurt, and Constance Steinkuehler. Library Journal; Meet the Gamers: They Research, Teach, Learn, and Collaborate. so Far, without Libraries.(Cover Story). Vol. 130. Reed Business Information, 2005.

Storey, Tom. “The Big Bang.” OCLC Newsletter.267 (2005) http://www.oclc.org/news/publications/newsletters/oclc/2005/267/thebigbang.htm.

Sutton, Lynn, and H. David Womack. “Got Game? Hosting Game Night in an Academic Library.” College and Research Libraries News 67.3 (2006) http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/crlnews/backissues2006/march06/gotgame.cfm.

With a such an active and energetic base for comics (or Graphic Novels in the more academically accepted term) and video games, I really see an open road where we appeal to meeting these users and empower them as their own community in a way that is part of the library’s. In doing so, I’d like to also focus on the local community by partnering in this endeavor with local shop (or shops).

With the right people involved, together I think the two can accomplish a great deal because they are excited and passionate about this group and what this group is passionate about. As Godin might say, that’s what makes a Tribe strong. This Tribe is already there, waiting to be pulled together, they just need the leadership to do so. Our goal is to take that initiative and provide that leadership.

After all the business in Nebraska I find it rather timely to perhaps focus a little more on gaming then I had originally planned. It’s important for Libraries to recognize the value and importance of gaming to their users and how that can be used as incredible outreach tool.

When looking at the literature to examine the merits of this endeavor, Seth Godin’s Tribes is going to be a huge influence. After all, it was the inspiration for the whole thing. Outside of that we’ll be looking at other pieces that examine virtual communities, comics, and gaming.

In examining the community and Virtual Community front, we’ll be looking at Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach’s post “The Art of Building Virtual Communities“, “Beyond the Library’s Walls: Using Library 2.0 Tools to Reach Out to all Users” by Jill Sodt and Terry Pendersen Summey, “Web, Library, and Teen Services 2.0.” by Kimberly Bolan, Meg Canada, and Rob Cullin, “Real and the Virtual Intersecting Communities at the Library”  by Kelly Czarnecki, and “Building Teen Communities Online: Listen, Listen, and Listen” by C.D. McLean, “Building an Online Community: Just add water” by Matt Haugey and “Building a Community: Create Your Own Social Network” by Michael Stephens and Rachel Singer Gordon. Through this literature we’ll explore the pluses and some of the struggles with building the virtual community, which we’ll be using Ning to structure. Some of these deal with virtual communities in general but a few deal directly with youth, teens and young adults, which is going to be most of our target demographic.

For the other points, gaming and comics we’ll be examining the merits of these as part of the library experience. There’s The Librarian’s guide to Gaming. Jenny Levine has a couple of really good pieces, a blog post “Gaming @ Your Library Sessions Blogged“, as well as a couple pieces in ALA Technology Reports: “Gaming and Libraries: Intersection of Services”, and “Gaming and Libraries Update: Broadening the Intersections”. Eli Neilburger wrote a piece for School Library Journal, “Games … in the Library? Video Games Support the Curriculum and Develop a New Form of Literacy.”

I’m still exploring the graphic novel side. In recent years libraries really have embraced comics. There are a number of great resources regarding the medium and Libraries which we’ll use, Graphic Novels: Resources for Teachers and Librarians, and sections of both the Library Journal and School Library Journal.

We’ll also look at some efforts by others, AADL-GT and a comic program presented to YALSA by Kimberly Bolan.

As librarians, our tribe extends far beyond the walls of our library. ALA alone holds conferences for us to meet up, mingle, and share our ideas. We’ve always been a community that thrived on our interactions with one another.

More Than Books offers the opportunity for Librarians in the midwest to continue to make those connections instantly and whenever needed, instead of when the next conference is held. A point of need virtual community for librarians! Interested in gaming? Instruction? Archiving? Come by and create the community you need.

MTB is still a young community, raring to go, but we believe it’s got the potential to become a valued resource. All it needs is you.