“I guess I should’ve known by the way U parked your car sideways that it wouldn’t last”
adult
Simple & Easy Shared Library Ideas (via Infolink)
Aug 18th
Mary Martin, director of the Long Hill Public Library in NJ recently did a poll on the listserv for Infolink, one of our regional library cooperatives in NJ, and the results were so good I had to share them with you 8bitlibrary.com readers! Hope you can pass these ideas on as well!
NJ has a truly great library community.
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Simple & easy shared library ideas – August 2010
Ways to Engage Patrons
Front Desk Raffle
Run a fun contest at the circ desk every few months (e.g. get a quote from a book, display it and have patrons guess origin of quote. Those who guess correctly are entered into a drawing to win something simple (a gift card to Starbucks, DD, etc)
Raffle Ticket Inside Book
Variation of above, but put a “raffle” ticket inside books so people will be surprised when they find the ticket. (Bestsellers, hot movers, etc). The raffle ticket could even ask people for their opinion of the book.
Summer storytime
Does your town have a pool or a lake? There’s no law that says storytime must always be offered at the library. One library does a special storytime at the pool during the summer.
Book Bingo for the Whole Family
“Join us to play Bingo and win a book! All ages welcome, parents and grandparents too! No registration required.” All you need is some refreshments and some books as prizes (they use donated books so there is no cost aside from the refreshments). This has been very popular – the library who ran this had over 70 people in July.
Adult Summer Reading Program
A librarian writes: Based on this year’s water theme, we expended to the elements in general. We asked people to read a book or watch a DVD concerning the elements. We provided a list of suggestions to get them going. For each title, they fill out an entry slip for a drawing. We’ll do a drawing for some mugs at the end of August.
Teen summer reading program
At Long Hill we run both a teen and an adult summer reading program. For each book the patron reads or listens to, they fill out a raffle ticket. We draw winners weekly, and they win either a mug or a book (we use donated books as prizes). At the end of the summer we have one grand prize teen winner and one grand prize adult winner, each win a $25 gift card to Borders. We also offer the option for the patron to review the book, and we post their reviews on our library blog.
Storytime for Grownups
Because why should kids have all the fun?
Blind Date with a Book
In late January/early February, wrap up some books in brown paper, decorate with Valentine’s Day theme and encourage patrons to choose one to take home. Long Hill did this last year, it was fun and patrons enjoyed the opportunity to check out a book they might not otherwise have chosen.
Happy Holidays from the Library Staff!
Engage the staff by asking them to recommend holiday or winter themed books or DVDs. Then create a bookmark with their recommendations and give it out to library patrons.
Sharing Our Knowledge w/ Patrons
Staff Picks/May We Recommend?
Display backlist titles or staff picks that people may not have had a chance to read, at the front desk. You’d be surprised at how the staff picks fly off the desk. One caveat: pick books that are in good shape with interesting cover art. They are more likely to catch patrons’ interest.
If You Like cards in the stacks near popular authors
“If you like James Patterson you might also like….” these have been very popular at our library, I am happy to share the cards with anyone who wants to use and/or modify them.
Help patrons find their way around Nonfiction with shelf end cards that include not only the Dewey numbers but the subject patrons will find within that Dewey range – e.g 910.202 – 940.54 Geography, Travel, Ancient History or 600 – 618.24 Nutrition & diets, health & medicine
Recent Returns cart
In front of the circ desk, we have a cart where we put recently returned new books. We deliberately put the cart next to the book drop at the desk, because right after people drop off their old set of books is when they’re looking for new stuff to read. It cuts down on shelving, gives people a smaller section of books to browse.
“Bestsellers You Haven’t Read Yet”
Create a new section right next to New Fiction (or even use a folding bookcase or cart in front of the circ desk) with colorful books by big authors (Grisham, Roberts, Patterson, Picoult etc). You could even do a variation on the theme and do a “Best Books You Haven’t Heard Of” or a “Staff Picks” section. Assign someone to keep the display fresh and replenish it when necessary.
Get those oversized books circulating!
A librarian writes: “One thing we do is combine our browsing shelf with two lower shelves, and we choose a selection of oversized books there. Our oversized books tend not to go out as much as the other books, mainly because they are shelved separately. By showcasing them, not only do they go out, but people will go to the oversize shelves more than before.”
Oversized art books
One library I visited has a special set of shelving near the circ desk where they display oversized art books. As soon as they created this special section, the circulation of this type of book skyrocketed.
Summer Reading Lists
Make sure you have printouts of the local schools’ summer reading lists (both required, and recommended), and put them in binders. It may also be nice to post links to the reading lists on your library’s web site. We didn’t have the K – grade 5 recommended reading lists printed out until one of our staff members mentioned that she was getting a lot of requests for them. So I talked to the elementary school librarian and got the lists, then printed them & posted on our website.
Creative use of volunteers
Reading Buddies (teen volunteers)
Teen volunteers come in to read to little kids. Great all year round but especially during the summer when you have all those teens who want to volunteer
Computer Tutors (adult volunteers with computer skills)
Adult volunteers who have computer skills come to the library once a week at a set time, and help whoever comes in with their questions. It’s been very successful at Westwood Library and they’ve gotten great feedback from their patrons.
Another library described a similar program, PC Tutoring. They offer one-on-one computer tutoring to patrons twice a month, on several PC basics.
Better Communication with Patrons
Ask patrons for help in maintaining your collection
Patrons complaining about DVDs, audio CDs not working properly? You can create a simple slip asking patrons “Help us keep our collection in good repair” and including checkmarks where they can indicate what is wrong with the item. Then train staff to look for those checkmarks when an item is returned. And clean/repair item before it is reshelved.
Ask for what you need in your answering machine message
At Long Hill, we noticed that when people left messages for us at the front desk they usually failed to give us the info we needed (e.g. if it was a renewal) or they would be crystal clear in their message up until they told us their last name, which always ended up sounding like “Blarfengar.” So we changed our answering message to say “We’re sorry we missed your call. Please leave a message with your name, and please spell out your last name for us. Provide your phone number and your request. We’ll return your call as soon as we can.” This friendly message that clearly tells them what info we needed from them. It has cut down on the head-scratching we were doing when we checked our messages.
“You don’t have enough mysteries.”
One librarian writes: I met an elderly gentleman at a community event. He told me he stopped using our library because we didn’t have many mysteries. When I asked him for more details I learned that he thought the only mysteries we owned were on the New Book shelves. So now we have a sign on our New Mysteries shelves that says “We have over 7,500 mystery novels and many others available from other libraries at no charge…”
Cheap Advertising/Marketing
Use printable business cards to advertise services. For instance, if you want to promote Reference USA you can print business cards and hand them out to business patrons for them to file in their wallet, where they might actually have a chance of finding it when they need it.
Contact your local newspaper and find out if they have “community blogs.” Long Hill’s local newspaper encouraged us to start a blog with them. We use it to promote library events and what is interesting is that the newspaper staff read our blog, so occasionally they will print an article in the paper about the library even though we didn’t send them a press release – they just take the info from our blog.
At Long Hill we get BookPage book review magazine (for patrons) and we subscribe to the NextReads database (providing 21+ book related email newsletters people can sign up for.) When BookPage comes we put a sticker on it saying “Like what you read here? Sign up for NextReads for even more great recommendations.” To increase use of NextReads newsletters we also created easy sign up sheets and put them all around the library (including in our New Book binder) to encourage people to sign up. (We also use NextReads for our monthly children’s events email newsletter.)
Tax Forms
As you know the State of New Jersey stopped providing tax forms and instructional booklets this year. One of Long Hill’s staff members suggested we print out a couple copies of the instructional booklet, put them in binders and allow patrons to check them out for 7 days. This was a great way for us to serve the patrons
Easy Technology Tools
A librarian writes “We are a small library and only have 4 public Internet computers. We also have a large number of latchkey kids. This summer we decided to implement separate adult and juvenile usage times. Adults get their time on the computers from 10:30 to 12:30 and kids get their time from 2 to 4. Now we don’t have adults complaining about the noisy kids at the computers with them, and can guarantee that kids won’t be bothered by adults during their designated time period.”
Digital frame
You can get a cheap digital frame and put pictures from library events on it. Long Hill has this at our front desk. The kids especially are mesmerized by this – they look for themselves and their friends in the pictures.
Mario Learns a Lesson
Jun 4th
“bit and run” — Mario’s Ladder from Cory Godbey on Vimeo.
I saw this on Topless Robot today. Corey Godbey, if you don’t know, is an amazing artist who curated a collection of Where the Wild Things Are inspired art entitled “Terrible Yellow Eyes.” He’s also illustrated many folk and fairy tales. His work and interests are a lovely intersection of gaming, art, and storytelling, which is a wonderful model for libraries to follow.
But is it ART??
Apr 30th
So there’s been some press recently on the concept of video games as a form of “art”.
This debate was inspired by recent comments made by film critic Roger Ebert, who claims that not only are video games not art, but that by their very nature they cannot be art. Ebert cites a TED talk given by the lovely lovely Kellee Santiago, who inverts the film critic’s argument by saying that not only will video games one day become art, but that they already are … art.
Roger Ebert’s comments have ignited many responses from people in the game community, including such luminaries as Yahtzee Croshaw and Gabe and Tycho of Penny Arcade. (see below)
At the heels of this online debate, comes the news that the US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case this Fall involving the First Amendment protections of violent video games.
This is not the first time that video games have come under scrutiny for issues relating to free speech. It seems like only yesterday that the ultra-violent video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas came under fire for a secret modification that incorporated a fully nude sex scene into the game. The double standard did not go unnoticed by the media. Here was a game that allowed your character to steal cars, murder cops, and beat prostitutes with a baseball bat. But one scene of completely consensual sex was enough to get the moral guardians in a tizzy. More recently, the game: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 became the target of controversy for the inclusion of a mission that allows the player to commit an act of international terrorism on some unsuspecting Russian civilians. (warning, contains really disturbing imagery)
Whether or not video games should be considered “art” is only part of the question. The broader questions are: “Where do video games fall with regard to First Amendment protections?”, and: “Why does it seem that people automatically assume that the only people who play video games are 4 – 12 years old?”. Recent (and even not so recent) studies have already shown us that the average gamer is actually between the ages of 25 – 30, yet public opinion still seems to link “video games” with “kid stuff”. This is why violence in video games has become such a First Amendment issue. Not because they are more violent than your basic Tarantino flick, or that they are more sexually explicit than a Friday-late-night Cinemax movie, but because they’re games; and most people still parse “games” as: “child’s play”.
So where do libraries make the distinction? As self-proclaimed First Amendment warriors, we as librarians have an obligation to preserve the availability of certain materials that others may find objectionable. Yet if we’re hosting game nights for young teens, we might not necessarily want them to orchestrate a terrorist attack on Russian civilians in our children’s section. So how do we reconcile these issues? We can start by recognizing that the medium of video games does not necessarily define the audience; and that not everything with a health bar is family friendly kid stuff. Librarians will defend to the death our right to provide the public with Mapplethorpe, Salinger, and Anne Frank, but that doesn’t mean that we intershelve them with the Doctor Seuss books. ;)
Personally, I would defend video games, even violent ones, as an art form, but only under a very broad definition. Ordinarily, I think of art as something to be enjoyed passively, rather than interactively. In video games, the observer guides the action, and becomes an accomplice in the creation of the art. This does not make video games any less valid than the more discrete forms of art. A masterfully executed level of Tomb Raider can be every bit as beautiful as a perfect game of chess, a Baryshnikov fouetté jeté, a Salvador Dali painting, or a Hendrix solo. But I feel that the interactivity of video games places them into a different sphere of aesthetic appreciation. It is a hybrid of visual art and performance art that defines the participant as collaborator. For this reason, I feel that video games as art form deserve every protection that our Constitution provides. I eagerly wait the foundation of entire galleries devoted to the art of the video game.
Maybe we can get some eccentric billionaire to give us a grant. :)
Grown up gaming w/ DSi XL
Apr 8th
The new Nintendo DSi XL dropped on Sunday, March 28.
- Larger screen size than the DSi, 93% larger than the DS lite
- Two locking viewing angles
- Speakers are louder and clearer
- Longer stylus comes with system, also includes pen type stylus
- DSIware games included, Brain Age Express Arts & Letters; Math
- Top is glossy with a matte bottom
- Larger size, weight seems same
- Buttons all identical to DSi
Nintendo is hoping to gain an older gaming market with this system. The larger screen size makes it easier to see, and the look and pen makes it seem less juvenile. Sharing gaming experience could be better with this larger model.
Libraries could potentially have gaming with DSi XLs, perhaps attracting a different age crowd. E-books are rumored to be released by DSIware– could be a player in the ebook market for libraries to be aware of.
Price point is $20 more than the DSi. Comes in either Bronze or Burgundy color
If you have a DSi, you might wanna wait for the upgrades in the next version (DS2)…
Open “Gaming Stations” in the Library
Mar 30th
Hey all,
Justin has really been killing it on here with his great posts on gaming programs, and I felt inspired to share an experience of my own.
In 2005, in my previous job as head of a public library children’s department, I had the opportunity to try out something that I suggest every public library at least try for a month, if not implement permanently. If you own a console, take out/open your TV, turn on the TV&console, and let your library users play the games all day. Whenever you are open.
A pretty diverse group, chillen at the Gaming Station
The concept is simple: you allow books to be read and checked out all day. You allow your computers to be used all day. Same goes with other media; newspapers, magazines, etc… Your library spent a small but good amount of money on the console and the games, let your library users play with them! It doesn’t only have to be for programs. Similarly, open gaming doesn’t mean that you still won’t get a chance to run programs!
My experiences were very positive. I had multiple age groups constantly collaborating and sharing information in a way that is unique to the gaming medium. Users who would have in other circumstances had no reason to even speak to each other at the library are now sharing tips and becoming friends (oh, and hopefully talking trash on each other, :-p).
Open gaming also fosters a new way for libraries to include multiple age groups in activities. Public libraries traditionally segregate people based on age (“Children’s Room”, “Teen Room”, “Adult/Reference room”, in NJ we have a growing amount of libraries with “Senior Rooms” thanks to the work of Allen Kleiman et al.). I don’t think that there is anything wrong with age segregation in libraries; it HAS worked and CONTINUES to work for libraries. But there’s also nothing wrong with mixing everyone together, and in my experience with open gaming, this is THE BEST WAY to get every age group engaging / sharing information & experiences together.
In an open gaming situation (vs a set-times-for-gaming situation), I’ve found that parents/teens/seniors who otherwise wouldn’t have picked up a game are now having fun “playing” with kids/teens/parents/grandparents/babies. It’s really an amazing, unique-to-libraries experience to see a two-year-old kid playing video games with their grandparent and an 8-year-old kid they’ve never met. Where else could you see that same 8-year-old become friends with a 15-year-old? Or a 20-something couple walk in the library for a book and end up sharing a really good time with a bunch of teenagers they’ve never met before? And in a school library situation, you’ll see teachers and students engaging in a way they’ve probably never engaged before, and students will build friendships with students they may have never even met before.
Libraries aren’t only about information, they are also about valuable human experiences, and gaming is the best of both worlds: a modern information media as well as an all-ages platform for fun interaction.
You’ll notice I didn’t go over any “problems” you may run in to. It’s 2010 now and the idea of open gaming probably isn’t as “new” as it was in 2005, so I think it’ll probably be easier for you to try something like this in your library. There’s always 1,000,000 reasons not to do something; don’t let those reasons stop you from trying this. Let me know your experiences if you do this in your school / library!
Review: Halo 3
Mar 25th
[JP's note: Let's welcome 8bitlibrary.com's newest contributor, Brandon, who's reviewing one of the best games of the modern gaming era.]
WHAT? Arguably the flagship game of the Xbox 360, Halo 3 is the conclusion of the much-loved Halo trilogy that began on the original Xbox and is one of the most-played online multiplayer games in existence. In the single-player campaign, gamers take on the role of Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, a Spartan super soldier born and bred to combat the theocratic Covenant, an army of alien races who believe they are on a holy mission to eliminate humanity. The real draw for this series, however, is the highly-competitive, fast-paced multiplayer, which pits players against each other in armed combat on some of the most well-designed maps ever seen in a video game. Gamers who aren’t very competitive need not worry about being left out; up to four players can work together to finish the game’s campaign mode.
WHY? The Halo universe is one of the richest, most engaging fictional universes out there, rivaling that of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Even gamers who aren’t fans know the story of Master Chief and his unending fight against the Covenant. The multiplayer mode sees over a million unique players a day. Unless your library has a definitive hard-line policy against M-rated games, not having Halo 3 on the shelf is akin to not having the Twilight series, the Harry Potter series, or anything by Stephen King in your fiction collection. As for programming possibilities, you could spend an entire gaming festival around Halo 3; there are so many game modes for both “lone wolf” and team play, you’ll never run out of ideas.
WHO? The elephant in the room is the M rating; the ESRB has determined that this game is inappropriate for anyone under the age of 17. You’ll want to keep that in mind as you circulate this game and plan programs around it. Also, this is definitely a hardcore gamer’s game: you’ll probably not want to set this up beside Wii Sports and Guitar Hero, games which are more relaxed and tend to draw new gamers in, not scare them away. Halo 3 gamers are competitive and dedicated, so be prepared to possibly entertain a bit less of a laid-back social crowd than you are accustomed to. It’s not all about the pwnage with Halo 3, however. The rich fiction in the game has spawned numerous books, comics, and even an anthology of short animated films; it’s an exercise in multimedia advisory all by itself.
3,2,1…Mario Kart tourney!
Mar 18th
Eli Neuberger, Ann Arbor District librarian and author of Gamers? In the Library?, suggested using GT System for the hardest part of running gaming tournaments, the ‘heavy lifting’ of creating brackets, points, matches. You create brackets online without the frantic scribbling on paper or on an spreadsheet. There hasn’t been a 2010 announcement of events, but contact information is found on the wiki to find out more.
GT System is a framework and a set of web tools for producing videogame tournaments of any size for players of any age or experience level. It gives you everything you need to promote and run a videogame tournament at your institution, and it allows all GT system players to see where how they stack up on local, regional and national leaderboards!
Patrons drop and add on-site to tournaments, so all the pre-game work can get blasted by surprises.
One experience:
I ran a Mario Kart tournament without this system – our library had an Under 12 years and Over 12 tournament. The children’s librarians did not fully get across to some kids/parents that they were wait listed, so all showed! Had to work quick on my blank ppt to change the brackets and matches I worked on.
Also, there were going to be 4 adults working the tourney, and two couldn’t come. Left a lot of work setting up controllers, announcing brackets for one while the other worked the room, helped sign in kids, talked with parents, took photos…
I was fielding calls from college students about using cheats and their own controllers. Having played Mario Kart, I was familiar…but not the endless hours these kids had! You might just have to make decisions on the spot– just stick to them!
Eli told us that if you have elementary kids, someone will cry. I think at least three kids cried. It’s hard when their parents are there, and you want them to have fun. But competition is a fact of life, and not everyone gets the blue ribbon.
Siblings bring their own twist; I had a set of triplet boys, and two made it to the finals of 3. The great thing was the parent who told me the triplet who won was not athletic or academic, so it was a win on a big stage for him, a first.
I created certificates for the top three winners, and a gave a gift card for GameStop to the winners in each age group.
The library I’m at now has weekly teen gaming, monthly elem. level gaming, and many tournaments. I’ve offered to try a MK tourney again- loved the cheering and laughing a whole room of parents and siblings made.
Video Games at the Library on Tour
Mar 12th
One way to get the word out about gaming in libraries is to take your program out on the road. Hearing about gaming is one thing, but users will start to see just how important gaming can be in literacy and libraries once they get their hands on the games themselves.
I saw some kind of magic happen when I took my game night program out on the road in the Summer of 2008. Sure, we had the hardcore gamers that just wanted to play coming to the program. But something else happened as well. I saw older folks getting really excited about sharing the experience. I had never seen this before. I thought the cut off age for anyone to like video games was 30. Boy I was wrong.
While it may not be the most exciting video in the world, I really think this video sums up what I was trying to accomplish with this program. Gaming is for all ages to share and enjoy. The experience is what counts. Getting people together to have a positive experience like this does two thing. It gets them understand that gaming is a good thing and it also shows the value of the library.
Here’s how I approached the program: Think of yourself as a traveling rock band. Pack up the van with your gear, gather some bandmates, and head out onto the road for an exciting (yet tiring) week of gaming with your library patrons. At the end of the week, not only will you have more library users interested in gaming but you’ll finally understand exactly what Bob Seger was talking about in “Turn The Page“.
(a brief glimpse into Game Night on Tour from the Cape May County Library)
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Boing Boing: Introducing our ‘Games To Get’ Page
Jan 29th
The gang over at Boing Boing have started up a “Games to Get” page that I highly suggest you check out.
I LOVE following Boing Boing when it comes to gaming because they seem to find all the interesting games that happen to slip under the radar (Spelunky and Every Day The Same Dream come to mind). The excellent games on their lists focus on wonderful game play and problem solving, two elements that are KEY to gaming.
(via Boing Boing 01/292010)
No whammies!
Jan 26th
Come on down! You are the next contestant…
Press your luck
You can have a big dose of 80′s nostalgia for the game show Press Your Luck. Yes, the “Big bucks, big bucks, no whammies!” show that in its heydey featured whammy characters dressed as Boy George, Michael Jackson.
Gamefly sent this and we took to the family Thanksgiving gathering, knowing the siblings would remember and enjoy. What surprised us was how long they played it– hours! The questions can be absurdly easy “What number follows 1,2,3?” Uh, 4? So much family laughter passing and spinning to win. In a library setting, at least a few rounds for 3 players can be done in an hour.
Press your luck 2010 edition Wii, DS, and PC/Mac
The Price is Right 2008 and 2010
My mother loves the Price is Right, and even likes Drew Carey replacing Bob Barker to our surprise. We gameflied (Game Fly, the Netflix of games) this to play with her, then just picked up a $10 copy of the 2008 version. Yes, you bid to get on stage, play classic games like Plinko and Cliffhanger, spin the wheel, and have the Showcase Showdown. There are small videos inserted so when a prize is shown (A brandddd newww carrr!) it feels more interactive. The actual PiR girls show you the item you are bidding on, along with the delightfully horrible puns for the Showcases.
Price is Right 2010, Wii and DS
The Price is Right CNET review
More Game Show Games include -Family Feud, Trivial Pursuit-
Gamespots Top Wii Games
These may not be the games for the hardest core gamers playing Xbox360, but fun for small groups and definately when playing with older adults. There’s more than just Wii Bowling for seniors out there for libraries!
