Database Comp - ERIC: Pearl Growing

I found this lovely article about a computer club in a library.

Imagine, Invent, Program, Share: A Library-Hosted Computer Club Promotes 21st Century SkillsFull Text Available . By: Myers, Brian. Computers in Libraries, v29 n3 p6-9, 38-40 Mar 2009. (EJ831235)
Database: ERIC

It is about a group of young people, game designers, programmers and people with interest who all gather at the library to discuss media projects and related events. The library also has consoles and games for play and hosts tournaments. All in all, its an excellent example of the kind of information on video games in libraries I'm looking for. Some of the descriptors are: Video Games, Clubs, Computers, Public Libraries, Programming, Computer Literacy, Adolescents, Access to Computers, Library Services, Workshops

I pick out the ones I like: video games, public libraries, adolescents

A search for video games and public libraries results in 2 hits. The original article and an article on video game circulation. An excellent resource, but I'm going to try an get a few more results. A search for video game and adolescent gets 115 results, which is a few too many. A search for video game, adolescent and library gets 5 results, most of which look very helpful and would more than likely be another good leaping point for a new search.

Comp 10: Internet

Gaming Initiative

The Gaming Inititative website is a facet of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library. They have a large and very well kept collection of modern as well as vintage video games, consoles and materials. All of which can be checked out. The University has a number of classes that use video games as a major portion of their syllabus and there are gaming groups and events that go on all the time. This is a wonderful example of an organization that has got the video game usage down to an art and is well received by its members and community.
Found via Google.

Database Comp - Academic Search Complete: Successive Fraction

For Academic Search Complete, I began by doing simple searches on the planned terms.

librar? - 486151
video gam? - 8247
gaming - 8141
gamer? - 1300

The largest output is from librar? so I start with that and add video gam?. This results in 195 articles. We're almost at a manageable level. A quick look at the results shows that the vast majority are relevant to the general question of video games in libraries, but obviously we have to narrow it down some more for a more specific question.

I add tournament as my last search term and get 16 results, all of which look to be good resources for many aspects of video game tournaments in libraries.

Comp 9: Image

Celano, L. (New York Times Photographer). [Photograph] Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/arts/30seni.html.

This photo is actually not in a library, but the article it illustrates talks a bit about them. It describes the increasing number of seniors who are getting into video games. Especially with the introduction of the Nintendo Wii, video games are no longer a very complicated and difficult to begin amusement. Some libraries have realized this and started senior Wii bowling leagues and the like. It is not only the young generation that can be drawn to the library by a couple of electronic devices.

Comp 8: Research Visual

I did a Google search on gaming in libraries education, that eventually led me to the above YouTube video. Syracuse University has sponsored a course on gaming in libraries, and the video is one example of one of their lessons. (The entire series is posted. I'm working my way through them.) This is a particularly useful one for those who don't know why anyone would want to support gaming in libraries, as well as people who support it themselves, but need a bit of help on convincing others they aren't off their rocker.

Nicholson, S. (2009, November 4).Gaming in Libraries Class Session 21 - Answering the Critics [video file]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coeAwZhITDg

Database Comp - JSTOR: Specific Facet

I began with a search of the terms I planned on using.

video game* - 9280
librar* - 118403
gamer* - 5080

Best results were from gamer*, which I think is the least likely to have a bunch of irrelevant articles show up on the search.

Combining video game* and gamer* gets a result count of 130, which looks much more relevant but is still a bit much to be digging through. Most of the results have to do with video games(except for one about the mating habits of tropical bats...what?), but I'm not seeing any focus on libraries or similar (for the obvious reason of it not being in the search yet)

Adding in the librar* search term cuts it down to 23 results, which is much better.

Database Comp - Dialog: Building Block

I did an ERIC search for my adventure in Dialog. I am looking for information on all aspects of video games in libraries.

My first step was a simple search for 'video games', 'gamers' and 'tournaments'. I got 406 results for video games, 27 for gamers and 316 for tournaments. I then went on as a sort of experiment to check my methods, to search for video games OR gamers OR tournaments, which gave me 725 results. More than the separate searches for each term gave.

I tried to get more specific search terms, since 735 results is a bit too many to search through. There were no results for 'video games in libraries' or 'educational video games'. I then combined the search for libraries and the search for video games or gamers, which resulted in a very manageable 40 results.

This was supposed to be using the building block strategy, but I didn't take it as far as I should have in that focus. I will attempt to return and give it another try and hopefully replace this posting.

Searching Databases: Part 2

And here is the blog post on my second round of searching the databases with better searching skills. We begin with LibraryLit.

search term with extra knowledge: (video and game) and librar*
limit: last 12 months
99 results
But none at 100%, unfortunately. Did find a really interesting article that is pretty much exactly what I'm searching for, so obviously my search methods are still not quite perfect.

Gritten, T. Providing Community Outreach through the Nintendo Wii. Indiana Libraries v. 27 no. 2 (2008) p. 10-15


ERIC
search term with extra knowledge: (video and game) and librar*
79 results

Found this little gem, makes me wish I could design video games like so many of my friends do. :(

Using Video Games to Teach Game Design: A Gaming Collection for LibrariesFull Text Available . By: Mastel, Kristen; Huston, Dave. Computers in Libraries, v29 n3 p41-44 Mar 2009. (EJ831241)
Database: ERIC


WorldCat
Same search terms. For some reason, I got some really strange results from WorldCat using the same terms as the other databases. Things like the Matilda movie and the Mahabharata. Both of which are lovely, but nothing to do with what I was searching for.

Did find some things relevant. Limited the search to books, articles and serials and most of the strange stuff disappeared. Probably the 'video' term.

Book Second life : the official guide /
Author: Rymaszewski, Michael. Publication: [San Francisco, Calif. : Sybex] ; Chichester ; Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley [distributor], 2007
Document: English : Book

BIP/Library Lit Comp

Database: Wilson-LibrayLit
Topic: video games in libraries
Search term: video gam* librar* (kw) - 88
Limited to within last 12 months and full text articles - 9

Laskowski, M., et. al., Building next generation video game collections in academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship v. 35 no. 3 (May 2009) p. 267-73



Database: BIP
Topic: video games in libraries
Search term: video gam* librar* (kw)-2719
Status: In Print
Publication Year:2005-2009
Country: US
Format: Book
results - 1298
Hardcover/softcover
English Language
Nonfiction
Publication Year: 2008-2009
results-365

Learning with Digital Games: A Practical Guide to Engaging Students in Higher Education
Author: Whitton, Nicola Publisher: Routledge ISBN or UPC: 0-415-99774-7 (Active Record)
Format: Trade Cloth Date: Sep 2009 Price: $140.00 Market: United States
Availability: Available for Order
LC Class #: LB2395.7.W55 2009 Dewey#: 378.1/7370285 ISBN 13: 978-0-415-99774-4

LibraryThing - Comp 5: Tagging/Cataloging

add2silo(1) adult services(1) bibliothèques(1) carnegie library of pittsburgh(1) children's services(1) computer games(3) E&O(1) gamers(1) gaming(6) Gaming and libraries(1) internet(1) jeux vidéo(1) libraries(5) libraries and gaming(1) libraries and teenagers(1) libraries and teens(1) library(1) library science(1) LS(1) non-fiction(2) North Shore(1) OCL(1) pbotw(1) professional(1) programming(1) read(1) teen(3) teen services(2) USF(1) video games(3) YA(1) youth services

http://www.librarything.com/work/3551696

I found a book on LibraryThing called Gamers . in the Library?!: The Why, What, and How of Videogame Tournaments for All Ages by Eli Neiburger.

It is a a guide to planning, setting up, and running video game tournaments in a public library in order to attract gamers, young people, parents and the general public to the library.

Comp 4: RSS Feed

I added the RSS feed for Games in Libraries, a blog/podcast devoted to talking about video games, gamers and the like in libraries. As my interest is in exactly those subjects, it seems only obvious that it is a good choice of feeds for my blog.

Database Search

Topic: video games in libraries
Search term: video gam* librar* (kw) - 62
I then limited to dates after 2005 and got 20 results.

Using Video Games to Teach Game Design: A Gaming Collection for Libraries
Author: Mastel, Kristen; Huston, Dave Source: Computers in Libraries v29 n3 p41-44 Mar 2009 (4 pages) Doc. Type: Article (EJ) Accession No: EJ831241 Libraries Worldwide: 2394 In your library TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIV LIBR.

Then I switched to WorldCat.

video gam* librar* (kw) - 1458

After limited to dates after 2005, 492 results.

Then I limited to dates after 2005, books in English and got 85 results, including this one.

Gamers-- in the library?! : the why, what, and how of videogame tournaments for all ages /
Author: Neiburger, Eli. Publication: Chicago : American Library Association, 2007
Document: English : Book
Libraries Worldwide: 687 In your library TEXAS WOMAN'S UNIV LIBR

Games in Libraries Podcast - Comp 3: Podcast

I found a podcast from a wonderful series of podcasts called Games in Libraries. I found it via a regular ol' Google search and a bit of rifling through the results. The most interesting part I found was the beginning of the podcast, where they talk about aspects of video games and virtual worlds in an academic library.

Blog Posting a - Comp 2: Related Blog

I went on a search for a blog relevant to my interests and was very worried I wouldn't be able to find anything I really liked. It took a fair bit of searching, either way. I used Google for the result I finally was satisfied with. I was trying very hard to find a connection on a blog between a library and video games or something of the sort. I found a few, but none of them have been updated in at least a year, and one (and actual library video game blog that I was terribly excited about) in over 4. Instead, I found Library Garden. Its a very nice and quite ongoing group blog from a group of Librarians in New Jersey. And on of the entries was from a young librarian talking about video games, and having them available in his library. I was intrigues and excited, because it was exactly what I was looking for. There's even a 'gaming' tag and a bunch of other relevant entries that I'm in the process of reading through. And here's the original entry I found in all its glory.

5 Reasons why you should be gaming in your Library


This past month, my library (Cape May County Library) was named the first place winner of the New Jersey State Library’s video contest “Solving Life’s Problems.” The video follows a timid young boy named Trevor whose family cannot afford to buy him the latest video game system. Instead, his family takes him to his local library where he quickly becomes a fan of the weekly game night program. In turn, Trevor and his family become regulars at the library. (So regular that Trevor now gets high fives from the librarians!)

Needless to say, I’m super proud of our staff (Lisa Alderfer, Technology Librarian and Mike Trout, Technology Assistant) for putting this video together. It clearly shows the many ways a library can be there for its patrons if we just take that extra step. But video games…in the library? I always get quizzed about how odd this idea seems by friends, family, and library patrons. I tell them that the answer is simple…we’re a public library and the public wants video games so…we give them video games! In 2008, video games sales topped $21 billion dollars(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28682836). Now I’m no expert with money, but that seems like a lot. Enough that we librarians should take notice.

If you’re on the fence about video game programs or circulating video game collections in your library, here are five reasons why you should just go for it.

1. Welcome to the 21st Century!
Video games are part of the new media. Corporations are using video games for product placement. Movie stars are starring in their own video games. That old cliche of video games making kids lazy and unsocial can be thrown out in the trash. Video games help people learn how to solve problems, develop hand/eye coordination, and now with games such as Wii Fit, provide exercise. Please check out all of your excuses at the door thank you very much.

Welcome to the 21st Century, where video games are a relevant source of information and media. If you choose not to have any kind of video games in your library, you’re living in the past.

2. Gaming builds community.
Since my library (Cape May County Library) initiated our Game Night program in January 2008, we have seen around 20-30 teens attending our weekly Game Night program. Looking at this crowd, you see a wide range of personalities; the hardcore gamers, the metalheads, the anime teens, and many more. Over the past year, I’ve watched all these personalities mix, mingle, and become good friends. Teens have told me that because of our Game Night program they now have more friends at school. This is what the 21st century library is all about…building community. The public library of the 21st century should bring together all sorts of people and provide them with the stuff they want.

3. You will see all sorts of new people in your library.
My desk is situated about 30 feet from our entrance. I get to see a number of folks stopping in the library on a daily basis. They’re usually the same people, but since we got our circulating video game collection things have changed. I see a lot of new faces coming in every few days to get a new game. Once they find out I’m the one buying the games, I become sort of a pseudo celebrity. The cool thing about this story? These are people I’ve NEVER seen in the library before. Just think of all the patrons that are out there that are not interested in books. This is one way to reach them.

4. You couldn’t ask for an easier way to get teens interested in the library.
I call video games the “gateway drug for getting reluctant teens interested in the library.” It almost seems too easy. Have video games and they will come. That’s it. As I said in #2 above, every week I see a wide range of personalities mixing it up for two hours over Rock Band. These teens started out just coming to our game nights. I casually introduced them to our other teen programs and all the teen books and graphic novels we had. I didn’t beat them over the head with this other stuff…instead I just said “Hey, take a look at this other cool stuff.” Slowly but surely the teens were coming into the library on non game nights. They were checking out books. They were coming up to my desk and requesting new books. As a matter a fact, they helped initiate a new collection of video game strategy guides in our teen room.

Now, our teen circulation is through the roof. All of our teen programs are very well attended. And it all started with video games in the library.

5. The initial cost may be high, but the return investment is priceless.
Wow. That was such a cliche line. I’m sort of proud of myself for writing it. Anyway, video games cost a lot of money. Playstation 3 games regularly go for $59.99. Ouch. Especially in a time when so many libraries are getting budget cuts. Here’s something to think about though; You’re not plopping down all this money for nothing. You are creating life long library users. These patrons will see that and they’ll become supporters for your library. They’ll be the ones to fight for you in the future if you face budget cuts.

Are you also gaming in your library? If so, comment below and share what is working best for your library.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/justinlibrarian
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/justinhoenke

Hoenke, Justin. "5 Reasons why you should be gaming in your Library." Library Garden. August 27, 2009. September 15, 2009. (http://librarygarden.net/2009/08/27/5-reasons-why-you-should-be-gaming-in-your-library/)

Introductory Post - Comp 1: Blog Creation

Hello fellow students. Here we have one more blog to add onto the growing list for the Information Storage and Retrieval class at TWU. Blogs in general are personal places on the web to share information. Whether that information be funny pictures, recipes, reviews, social commentary, a personal diary of sorts or any number of other things, each blog's purpose is to share information with the masses.
I have my own personal blog and follow a significant number of other personal blogs as well as what might be termed 'group blogs' on LiveJournal, another blogging site. This particular blog will be limited to items focused on the ISAR class and other Library Science subjects.
Because I am a first semester student at TWU, I'm not entirely sure what my area of focus will be in the Library Science school. At the moment, I'm aiming to get into an academic library, preferably a religion library. My dream library would be Perkins at SMU in Dallas.