Comments on: Top Trends in Colorado Libraries – 2008

By: Stephen Maxedon

Stephen Maxedon — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:19:21 +0000

very prime to read it ;p

By: Pat Campbell

Pat Campbell — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:26:38 +0000

I have two teenage kids. We have always limited their access to movies, television and video-games, and guess what – they read! My feeling is that all this electronic entertainment is directly responsible for the decline in reading. Libraries, of all institutions, shouldn’t encourage it.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:58:37 +0000

Critiques, rants, conversation — it’s all good at ColoradoLibraries.org!

Just wanted to provide a quick follow-up reference on the topic of gaming in libraries. You may be interested in the Gaming Program Pack that research fellows from Library Research Service (LRS) assembled for the State Library’s booth at the CAL 2008 conference. http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/download/pdf/GamingProgramPack_CALConference.pdf If you’re of the mind that it’s all “fun and games” when it comes to the game-related activity in libraries, consider the links to literacy and learning. Pages 3-4 in the Gaming Program Pack highlight some aspects of why (aside from engaging patrons), it may be worthwhile for libraries to consider gaming-related program offerings.

In my opinion–like *any* service, success depends on the type of library and the makeup of the community. This all must be proceeded by a strategic decision as to whether or not gaming-related activities are a worthwhile investment of staff energy and library resources. One size does not fit all.

By: Kieran Hixon

Kieran Hixon — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 22:44:51 +0000

Hey Pat – Yeah, a circus would have drawn a crowd. Of course a century ago the debate on allowing fiction into a library was just wrapping up. Fiction wasn’t seen as worthy of a library. I personally find no redeeming value in mystery books with old ladies and cats in them, but hey, it is a popular form of, dare I say, literature. Honestly, I don’t care for quite a few genres that hold huge circulation statistics in my library. Not to mention that a century ago in some libraries children under 14 were not allowed in the doors. “Between 1881 and 1917, Andrew Carnegie underwrote the construction of more than sixteen hundred public libraries in the United States, buildings from which children were routinely turned away, because they needed to be protected from morally corrupting books, especially novels. In 1894, at the annual meeting of the American Library Association, the Milwaukee Public Library’s Lutie Stearns read a ‘Report on the Reading of the Young.’ What if libraries were to set aside special books for children, Stearns wondered, shelved in separate rooms for children, staffed by librarians who actually liked children?” – The New Yorker (excerpt)found at http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/archives/2008/07/17/corrupting-young-minds-with-books-in-the-library.html)
So, what do video games do that change libraries from being libraries? “Game playing is universal, diverse, often involves social interaction, and can cultivate teen civic engagement. Not only do many teens help others or learn about a problem in society during their game playing, they also encounter other social and civic experiences: 52% of gamers report playing games where they think about moral and ethical issues. 43% report playing games where they help make decisions about how a community, city or nation should be run. 40% report playing games where they learn about a social issue.” – PEW internet study (http://www.pewinternet.org/press_release.asp?r=307) Encouraging youth to use the library and encouraging civic engagement, that is a big thing in a country like ours. A democracy needs engaged citizens for it to work well.
But probably it is the format you don’t like, no written words, and there is a mentality that wants libraries to be about books and the edification of the mind. A feeling that we shouldn’t corrupt young minds with games, and that we shouldn’t just use games to get kids in the door, like a cheap marketing ploy. But libraries are vibrant places where quite a wide range of other things happen besides just books, and I think it’s sad when patrons or librarians portray us as just warehouses. Any building can be a book warehouse – that’s not what makes us “libraries” and community centers. And, librarians certainly aren’t store clerks just sitting behind a desk waiting to hand over a book in return for seeing a library card. That would be the waste of the MLS if that was all librarians did. Heck, we could just give Barnes and Noble the keys to our libraries and walk away. Libraries and good librarians need to be more than a free version of a bookstore, let alone a free version of a dvd and video game rental store. That’s why holding gaming tournaments is an important addition to circing video games. I am not trying to convince you that games & gaming are things you have to do in your library, but I would like to to explain that gaming isn’t some sort of wild sell out of librarianship. Sometimes innovation requires a push, not away from all traditional modes of service, but toward the enhancement of previous services. Gaming may be an innovation that helps libraries and the youth establish a partnership.

By: Pat Campbell

Pat Campbell — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:04:52 +0000

Not sure if we’re invited to critique the trends themselves in this forum, but this is the chaotic Web after all. So here’s a rant on #9, the issue of “gaming” in Libraries:

The slow transformation of libraries into free video stores seemed bad enough, but if taxpayers wake up and find they’re financing a video store / arcade they may finally decide to pull the plug. I’m sure gaming would be popular, as bringing in a circus would have been a century ago. Presumably people back then decided for the time being to keep libraries libraries.

Thanks for listening.

By: Victoria A. Petersen

Victoria A. Petersen — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:11:52 +0000

Sharon, you are absolutely correct about all the Green building going on in libraries in Colorado, and across the States! Libraries are leaders in many areas, and the green building movement is no exception!

I was recently interviewed about the Mancos Public Library Building Project by Tom Peters of the ALA Tech Source blog. You can read the article here: Mancos PL Builds Green, http://www.alatechsource.org/blog/2008/11/mancos-pl-builds-green.html

And for anyone interested in the Second Life green library, you can view more information on our blog: http://sustainablelivinglibrary.blogspot.com

All of these projects are very exciting, and it’s great to see these and other Colorado libraries at the forefront of the Green Library Movement!