http://twitter.com/#!/LibrarianJP/status/45617498598555649
We don’t have all the answers
I’m stumped.
In my never ending quest to provide quality games and gaming to my library users, I have hit a road block.
How in the world can I effectively let users borrow out peripherals at my library?
I’m really stumped on this one, so any input would be great. Let’s use these next few days to share any stories we have with lending out video game peripherals.
This entry was posted by JustinLibrarian on March 5, 2010 at 8:17 am, and is filed under 8BitLibrarian Justin Hoenke, collection development. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0.You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.
-
I’m not sure how to do it without collecting a substantial deposit or putting a pre-authorized credit card on file. The cost to replace these things would quickly become unsustainable if they were damaged or stolen. Back in the day when Blockbuster rented consoles, I believe they pre-charged a refundable deposit AND had your credit card on file with your account. But as far as I know they stopped renting them all together, so it probably didn’t work out so well for them.
-
-
#4 written by Doug 1 year agoGreat question.. we went through this thought process when we began are circing game collection and talked it into circles and really did not come up with a sustainable policy for doing it that I, my director, and our board could feel comfortable with. The closest we have come is that we created a “kit” with our Wii and controllers which we put in a single container and catalogued and circulate. However, there are very strict stipulations on who can borrow; only township organizations can borrow the system and we have them check it out on the card, sign a form and do an invetory before and after they check it out. Not really an answer for you, but just what our experience has been… wish I had something more helpful
-
-
I hate to see library patrons pre-paying to check-out anything. It goes against what a library is all about. However, librarymafia is right: there way you could sustain the replacement costs for these materials. So, the only fair thing to do is to not circulate peripherals OR the games that require them. This means not circulating any music games, I know, but think about it: if you circulate Rock Band but not the instruments, how are patrons going to play it at home? I say keep the peripheral games for programming; if nothing else, it will drive up numbers for your programs.
-
-
I know that there’s a library somewhere in MA that lends out game consoles, although it may only lend them out to other libraries — GSLIS at Simmons borrowed them for an end-of-semester party once; I wasn’t involved in planning that but if you ask LISSA (the umbrella student organization) they may know which library it was.
You might also look into the policies of libraries which lend out Kindles as I imagine the concerns are similar. I know they lend them out at Bryant University; they did a presentation on their lending policies at the ACRL-ITIG social last winter, but I don’t remember the details.
-
- Emerging Leaders present best practices for video game collection development
- Wii 2 on the way? Don’t worry.
- Video Game Collection Development (UPDATE!)
- Guitar Hero: RIP
- What type of media belongs in a library? (or, Who Are We?)
- 8bitlibrary’s Games of the Year
- ALA Comic Book and Graphic Novel Member Initiative Group
- PROJECT BRAND YOURSELF A LIBRARIAN: Rachel Campbell
- 5 Video Games That Should Be On Every Library Holiday Wish List
- PROJECT BRAND YOURSELF A LIBRARIAN: HEIDI GUSTAD IS AWESOME
This is a policy issue that needs to be solved at the institutional level. Each individual library needs to decide what works for them.