the library of the future
collection development
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.
*************************************************************************************************
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.
Joystiq
Aug 4th
Another resource for us gamin’ librarians: Joystiq
- Gaming news, Reviews of games
Walkthroughs to play games
Podcasts
Videos
Screenshots
From Joystiq’s About page: But don’t think that lighthearted jabs and an irreverent tone signals the end of serious business: Joystiq strives to maintain accuracy, to dig deeper, to do away with meaningless PR prattle, to gracefully decline luxury popcorn machines (like in the movie theater!), and to ask the awkward questions, all for you.
The Joystiq Network also includes:
Big Download: A fast and free downloads engine coupled with PC gaming news
Massively: Your best source for all the latest news on what’s happening in MMOs
WoW.com: Extensive coverage of the most popular online role-playing game ever, World of Warcraft
QR Codes and Libraries
Jun 29th
If you’ve come to this page from the ALA Annual Conference QR Code Scavenger Hunt, WELCOME! & congratulations! Email me [jp@porcaro.info] the full “path” you took, from Cognotes to now, and we’ll be sure to send you a prize!
So let’s talk QR Codes in libraries. I’d love to hear what you’re doing with QR Codes in your libraries, so leave us a comment and we can discuss!
So it seems the buzz around QR codes in libraries takes a few forms. Some libraries are using codes that leads users to the OPAC data on a book or shelving area, depending on the physical location of the code. In the case of our ALA Conference hunt, we had the codes lead participants to physical locations, presentations, and digital destinations. Since the codes embed a tremendous among of text in a small box, the sky is the limit to what libraries can use these codes for. How about placing them around your community announcing a event (there’s a certain amount of excitement and mystery surrounding these codes!). Libraries can connect users to who interested in certain topics to different places in the library and beyond with these codes.
This is a new topic in libraries. We all need to work together on how far we go with this topic, so let’s the convo started right here in the comment box! Look to the right of the page, and you can even login using your facebook account to post comments here.
Go forth! – JP
Digital Distribution for Libraries
May 20th
This post was originally going to be a review of the Rock Band Network/Rock Band Music Store for Xbox 360. Since the start of 8bitlibrary.com, JustinLibrarian and I have sweated over the answer to this question: how can libraries develop a successful video game collection when so many new games are reliant on DLC (which Nintendo, Sony, AND Microsoft have all set up as closed distribution systems completely controlled by them). How can a library, which has a goal of circulating media, circulate content so closed and controlled that it is impossible to use by anyone except the person who purchased it?
File this under “We don’t have all the answers.”
And, of course, librarians across the country are wrestling with this same question, albeit for other forms of media. How can we distribute digital music when iTunes (& to a lesser extent, Amazon and the like) have already taken away our ability to do that? While there are some very expensive (and, in my opinion, very clunky and not-iTunes-like) vendor-controlled options such as Overdrive, Naxos Music, & Freegal, this is just a “patch” that we have while we, as a library community, decide to either get serious about digital distribution or continue to tread water.
A current trending topic of concern in libraries is eBook distribution. How can we loan an eBook on an eBook reader if that content is closed and controlled by a large corporation?
Along that “we don’t have all the answers” line, I decided to go to an expert on the topic, Mr. Libraryman Michael Porter. He has wrestled with the larger distribution issue, just as we are on the smaller (albiet still gigantic) issue of game content distribution. So I asked him,
- How do you feel libraries will be distributing digital media in 2015?
He gave this well-reasoned response:
I imagine two most likely scenarios with little gray in between the potential outcomes. For both, the lynchpin is either succeeding or failing to develop a new electronic content access and distribution infrastructure via libraries. If we can develop that new infrastructure and make it a truly effective, competitive, well used and well liked place for people to get what they want, when they want it, in the format they want it *through the library*, then our future will be more secure and on-target than ever before. If we fail to do this though, libraries will fade in use, funding and relevance. This would eventually lead to the demise of the library as the hub of content access and community engagement and turn many of those functions over to for profit business and institutions that have mission statement tied to profit rather than the health and wisdom of the community and country they serve.
This is a call to action for all of us. We shouldn’t just wait for a vendor to develop a platform for us. We shouldn’t let something as simple as a library’s ability to loan a book be taken away by corporations in the digital age. We need to raise this issue. If we want libraries to continue to exist, we need to let go of our comfort and get on the front lines of this issue.
So there is no confusion, I am not anti-corporation, per se. Corporations can be our partners in it the future. And, so my last words will be positive, we can do it.
Thanks go out to Michael Porter from us at 8bitlibrary.com. Check out his Library 101 project, if you haven’t yet.
Playing (with your) Music
May 13th
When we think of music games, we usually think of the Dance Dance Revolution, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero franchises. These games have been staples of library gaming programs for almost as long as there have been library gaming programs. They all have tremendous social benefits: DDR was getting gamers off the couch long before Nintendo ever put the Balance Board under our feet, and the Rock Band and Guitar Hero series’ have brought music, gaming, and even role-play together while promoting both classic and indie rock.
There’s a problem with these games, however. They’ve gone stale. DDR all but died out after Guitar Hero caught fire, and neither Guitar Hero nor Rock Band have offered much of anything new in their most recent incarnations. True, both Activision and EA have offered new music for download that gamers can use with their respective franchises, but that’s about it. This is great for casual gamers who just want to hang out and enjoy some music while experiencing some degree of interaction, but hardcore gamers (such as myself) have moved on.
True, with a library gaming program, you’ll always have patrons who have never played a music game before; there will always be an audience for anything. But what about your most enthusiastic gamers? What do you do when the teenage boys who crash the doors get tired of Rock Band?
Why, you expand, of course! There are some music games out there that offer the same boons as the more familiar series’ but serve up some fresh game play.
DJ Hero
DJ Hero was released late last year. It received generous reviews,but was something of a commercial flop. This has led to Activision, the game’s publisher, being less than supportive when it comes to downloadable content. It’s a shame, really, that this game didn’t get set any sales records; that means there are a good number of gamers missing out on a great experience. Instead of a guitar or drum kit, gamers get a controller shaped as a DJ turntable. The basic game play is the same: press the colored buttons in time with the on-screen display. However, the techniques that DJs use–scratching, sampling, crossfading, and rewinding–are thrown in to spice things up and encourage gamers to get creative. Noticeably more difficult, but also packed with much more personality, than any previous music games, DJ Hero makes incredible demands on a gamer’s dexterity and situational awareness, requiring almost as much raw skill as the 
most intense shooters. Of course, there are multiple difficulty levels and game play modes (including one that uses a guitar controller for some DJ/guitarist duets), so there’s no need for novice gamers to be intimidated. One thing I really like about this game is its music selection: the soundtrack is comprised of mash-ups of popular songs spanning numerous decades and genres. It’s available for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Playstation 2. It might be a bit pricey, but imagine a DJ battle at your next library gaming event.
Audiosurf
This is a game that is just plain fun no matter how you look at it. Like the great video games of the past, it is inherently simple, rewards success while allowing for massive failure, has a clearly-defined goal, and–despite its repetitive nature–never gets old.
Developed independently by Dylan Fitterer, Audiosurf uses your music collection to render its levels. You select the song from your hard drive or external storage device (it supports any non-DRM protected format), and from that song the game engine will create an obstacle course. You then pilot a ship down that obstacle course, avoiding gray blocks while picking up colored ones. As the music intensifies, so does the obstacle course: gray blocks are more frequent, while colored blocks are worth more points. There are multiple ships to choose from over three different difficulty levels, and the game comes with some tracks, should you find your digital music collection lacking.
Audiosurf is available for PC either through the Steam online marketplace. If you want it on multiple computers, you’ll need multiple Steam accounts (which are themselves free) and buy a copy for each account.
Beat Hazard
If Audiosurf is inherently simple and approachable, Beat Hazard is one for the hardcore crowd. An intense experience in both difficulty and presentation, Beat Hazard shares many of the same features as Audiosurft–including using the music from your digital collection to render its levels–and thus many of the same social benefits. Except where Audiosurft is a delightful experience in discovering music, Beat Hazard is a brutal test of skill, timing, and coordination.
As with Audiosurf, the more intense the music, the more intense the difficulty. Norwegian black metal will generate a more difficult game play experience than easy listening. However, the difficulty seems to revved up all over the board in this game; you would think The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love” wouldn’t be that intense of a song, but it produced a tricky level in Beat Hazard.
Beat Hazard’s main differentiation from Audiosurf is that it’s not a racing game, but a twin-stick shooter (also called an arena shooter). I highly recommend a wired Xbox 360 controller for this game (you can hook it up via USB to your PC) as it’s built for this kind of game play. You use one joystick to move a spaceship through the 2D space while you shoot with the other stick, the ship shooting in whatever direction you aim. This makes it possible to move and shoot in two different directions–handy when you’re weaving in and out through waves of enemies. If an enemy touches you, you lose a life; lose all of your lives, and it’s game over. You’re given two screen-clearing bombs to help even the odds, and you can earn additional lives and bombs.
Also different in Audiosurf is an XP (experience points) system. You earn XP for shooting down enemy spacecraft and pulling off high-risk moves; you earn bonus points for surviving for an entire song. Accumulating enough XP will unlock rewards to help you accumulate even more XP.
Beat Hazard is presented with incredibly good graphics; strobe effects, huge explosions, and starships that fill the screen couple with your own music to create some truly memorable gaming moments. A recent update to the game gives gamers the option of removing the strobe effects so that people sensitive to such can still play and enjoy this game. It’s available through Steam, so the same DRM apply to it as do Audiosurf.
So what now?
You’ve downloaded Audiosurf and Beat Hazard to a few gaming PCs in your library, and you’re all set for a DJ battle in your multipurpose room. Use this opportunity to reach out to your teens. Set up a display of books on music, famous musicians, careers in the music industry, and fiction relating to DJ and rock star culture. Load some classical music onto the PCs that have Audiosurf and Beat Hazard to show the participants just how intense (and how much like popular music) classical music is. And don’t forget the opportunities for social interaction and inter-generational gaming. It’s easy to imagine teens trying to outdo each other with this game, playing the same songs and trying to rack up higher scores–or challenging each other to their own favorite music. Allow adults to bring in the music they enjoyed as youth and compare the kind of stages the oldies and classic rock render compared to today’s pop hits.
These games, especially Audiosurf and Beat Hazard, are a great way to demonstrate how gaming helps us interact with our favorite works of art on a more personal level: I really liked the Black Crowes, DragonForce, Metallica, the Smashing Pumpkins, Slipknot, and Dinosaur Jr. before, but I really like them now, as they are tied to my favorite hobby, and I’ve visualized their music in a real, interactive way. I can’t help but listen to a new song without imagining what its Audiosurf or Beat Hazard level would be like. The chance to experience music in an interactive way, and thus discover a new appreciation for it, was one of the things gamers praised about Rock Band and Guitar Hero, except for now they’re not limited to what EA or Activision is able to get a licensing deal with; any music they own can be used in the game. It’s mind-blowing at just how much musical education and appreciation can be launched with these games.
Of course, you’ll want to be careful with ripping music to the computer for in-game use; it’s easy to break copyright law, so delete any songs from your hard drive that are not taken from CDs owned by the library after your program to stay on the safe side of the law.
And by the way, don’t get rid of your DDR, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero collections. You can never have too many games, and you can never have too much music.
What’s in your collection?
May 4th
has got me thinking…
What’s in your video game collection?
I’m an avid retro video game collector. The problem? I don’t know too many folks like me. So I’m gonna take a moment and highlight some of my personal favorites in my collection. And if you have a moment as well, I’d like to hear what you’ve got stashed away.
CLASH AT DEMONHEAD: NES
Horrible cover art, but a gem of a game lies inside…which is sort of confusing. You’re Billy “Big Bang” Blitz and you’re doing…something. Levels take the guise of routes which you can go back over and over again until you complete your mission. This gives the game a sort of weird action puzzle type feel and while it can be frustrating, the game has stuck in my head.
KICKLE CUBICLE: NES
As Kickle, it is your job to solve puzzles on Fantasy Land using ice blocks and your deep freeze breath. Sounds sort of lame, but there’s a good challenge lying within this game. They sure don’t make games like this anymore and I wish they would.
ODYSSEY 3000
It plays Pong. Four variations of Pong. And one, if I remember correctly, was practice Pong which had you hitting a ball against a wall. Not much fun, but damn it looks retro. And it plays retro. And it’s sort of fun.
I have to apply this to libraries in some way:
A great programming opportunity would be to open up a section of your video gaming program to collectors. Allow them to bring in parts of their collection and share it with younger gamers. Have a weekly “museum” at your game night program for these people. We are out there and we need to connect. Librarians can help bring together that community.
I did a display at the Cape May County Library in November 2009 titled “A Brief History of Video Games”. Check out the photos here.
(PS: Yes, while I do love video games oh so much, I do read books as well. Check out my LibraryThing profile here)
Video Game Collection Development 101 PART II
Apr 2nd
Talking to your patrons is probably THE MOST IMPORTANT part of video game collection development.
Gaming and Advocacy
Mar 22nd
Advocacy is a word thrown around so often in libraries that we can forget what it means. Advocacy, to me, means advocating for meaningful library services and public support of libraries.
Gaming can be an effective tool for libraries to use in their advocacy efforts. Gaming is a literary endeavor. Gaming connects people. Gaming connects different media collections together. Gaming can be used to teach. Gaming can be used for fun. But what is really important is that everyone is gaming. In that sense, libraries can reach some of the widest audiences of users by including games both in their collections and program offerings.
And when the time comes for libraries to need support from public (in times of budget cuts, etc.), libraries with users who really vocally love the place will have strong advocates. When we are building our core of users who will support us, can libraries afford not to be incorporating game programs & collections?
We don’t have all the answers (Part 2)
Mar 19th
Are you lending out games for handheld systems? Are you lending out handheld systems?
PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORIES WITH US!
This is my next step with circulating video game collections in the library. It never really donned on me to include handheld games in the mix when I was pushing for a circulating video game collection. I wish I didn’t overlook that. I see lots of kids and teens (mostly ages 6-18) in the library with the DS or PSP glued to their hands. They’re a population that is dying to be served by libraries.
Can’t wait to hear your stories. From myself and the rest of the 8bitlibrary.com crew, have a good weekend.
(I’m seeing a lot of this in my library these days. Are you?)
Review: Wii Fit Plus
Mar 10th
WHAT? The first update in the Wii Fit series, this title adds more games and exercises to the Wii Fit experience while tweaking the overall experience to make it more friendly to users.
WHY? While the update does provide the user with more games and exercises to play, the title feels a bit like a minor update of the original game. At $19.99, the game is rather inexpensive but it all feels like the content should’ve been offered by Nintendo as a cheaper download. I’m thinking five to ten bucks, tops.
WHO? If you love the original Wii Fit, you’ll appreciate the update. However, if you (like me) were just sort of curious about Wii Fit when it came out and were not a hardcore fan, you’ll want to pass on this. The title is PERFECT for libraries. WHY? It’s not worth buying, but it is worth giving a shot. Your patrons will appreciate that you’re lending out the title so they don’t have to spend $20 on it.
DEAR NINTENDO: This title is a good example of why downloadable games and content work really well. I love the Wii Shop and the Wii Ware titles. You’re doing a great job there. Let’s take the Wii Fit series to the next level and offer us some cheap downloadable add ons.
