“A child is the father of the man”
Video Game Collection Development 101
I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about how to start up a circulating video game collection that I thought it was time to really dive into the topic here on 8BitLibrary. What I’d really like is for this post to develop and be a collaborative document. Please, share your stories with us! We’ll use your comments, suggestions, fails, etc in a future blog post.
1. Start small
You don’t have to go for broke with your new collection. I recommend starting small. Focus on one branch (preferably the main library in your system) and go from there. By keeping things small at the start, you will understand how your collection is going to be used and how it can grow on a larger scale.
2. Know your audience
The best way to get in touch with the people you will be buying these games for is to have a gaming program at your library for a few months. Over those few months, you’ll get an idea of what types of games will work at your library. Feel free to ask the people attending these programs what they think. Chances are, they’ll be your best resource for creating a unique and well used video game library.
3. Develop a plan for each system
Once you know your audience, the next step is to plan out where you want to take each collection. While they’re all share the name video games, each system has its own audience. The XBox360 is known as the system for more hardcore gamers who really want to dive into the world their games offer. The Nintendo Wii has more casual gamers and laid back games. I myself am still confused as to who has a Playstation 3, and I think everyone pretty much has a Playstation 2 somewhere. Can you rely on these “audience types” all the time. No. But they sure do help when you’re starting out.
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Thanks!
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One think we implemented early on that helped us to better know our patrons and what games/systems to buy for was to provide request forms.
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Soon enough we had quite a few of these forms, and had more of an idea of what systems were more prevalent in our community and what styles of games our patrons were playing. While this in no way was a substitute for talking with our patrons (which we did a lot of, and continue to do). It was just another way for us gather data and get a sense of the coll dev direction we should take for our community.
about 6 months ago
Doug: Thanks for sharing your input!
about 5 months ago
Cost is the biggest hurdle in building a collection of video games. On average, they are the most expensive media out there. I would heartily recommend offering up a donation drive: spend $100 (just over the price of one brand-new game) on a really sweet prize (like one of those Batman Black and White Statues) and offer it up to your patrons in a raffle. You get one ticket for every game you donate. You can also hit up the the used market; Amazon has a near-infinite stream of used games in great condition, often for much less than the current MSRP.
about 5 months ago
It’s hard getting a feel for who the PS3 audience is because so many more people have a 360 or Wii. I’d say this audience is the VERY hardcore gaming audience. These are the people who live for videogames. They’re also such a small minority that I can’t imagine justifying a large amount of support for this audience. At least not yet.
With the recent price drop to the PS3, a lot more people are getting into it. That’s an audience to watch for the future, maybe, as trends could be changing.