Gaming in Libraries New Trends

What We Are Going to Cover Brief Recap of Why Games are Important Examples of the Marketing Potential of Games in Libraries Examples of Things You Can Do in Your Library

Why Should I Care About Games? What’s the average game player’s age? 33 What percentage of people over the age of 50 play video games? 24% Who is a bigger part of the game playing population – women over 18 or boys between 6 and 17? Women over 18 (31%) Boys are 20% Numbers from the Entertainment Software Association's 2007 Sale, Usage and Data Survey

What Does This Mean? Many adults and teens equate games as a medium with movies, books and music. Games appeal to all ages and both genders

What is Happening Now How many libraries have some form of in- house game activity? 40% What percentage of the librarians surveyed reported that attendees returned to the library for non-game related activities? 76% Go Back to Start: Gathering Baseline Information about Gaming in LibrariesGo Back to Start: Gathering Baseline Information about Gaming in Libraries by Scott Nicholson, Associate Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies.

What Does It All Mean? Games Have Become Common in Libraries Libraries Are Using Games to Reach New Customers Games Have Educational Value

Educational Value of Games Many games are intellectually rich environments Games aren’t in place of literary activities – they are a reading and writing activity Promotes a variety of career skills Modding Teaching Positive social interaction

Using Games to Teach Customers and Staff Let’s them work at their own pace Makes learning more fun Students with certain learning styles will retain the information better Advertises services and teaches concepts to patrons who use the library website

University of Waterloo

More Waterloo

Even More Waterloo

Carnegie Mellon University Teach students how to shelve Avoids using valuable staff time for teaching the same thing over and over Easy to evaluate student pages’ understanding of Library of Congress Teach reference Shows what is actually involved with working at a reference desk

Orange County Library Using a Game to Advertise Services Traditional arcade style shooting game with anthropomorphic orange Shows the player the different types of materials available at the library At the end of the game, the player sees the gaming programs and books about designing video games at the library

I Don’t Know How to Program and I Want a Game PMOG Doesn’t require technical knowledge Fun Can only be used to teach online Learn How to Do It Gamemaker Outsource Have someone else build a game for you

What Makes a Good Game Have a Point to Your Game Remember It Should Still Be Fun! Be Open to Feedback and Use It

For More Information games-in-libraries.htm games-in-libraries.htm Video Games in Libraries Further Reading: Gazer, S. (2006, November 10). Video games. CQ Researcher, 16, Retrieved July 14, 2008, from CQ Researcher Online, Kathy: