American Library Association to Study Gaming

The American Library Association (ALA) will launch an innovative project to track and measure the impact of gaming on literacy skills and build a model for library gaming that can be deployed nationally. Funding for the project will be provided by a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation.

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We don’t normally comment on press releases but this one is interesting enough to warrant some discussion. Are libraries going to become gaming centers? Talk about an odd convergence.

I think it's a pretty worthy cause. RPGs give a lot of good material for kids in an interesting way.

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Nice to see someone taking a positive approach,instead of blaming gaming for all of society's woes.If they can get kids to read more,more power to them.

I don't think this will have much success nationally. Libraries do not have the funding or the staff knowledge (or the funding to buy the staff knowledge) to equip with PCs or consoles plus a current collection of good games. Consider the quality and performance of computers that are normally found in libraries, and the ability of the staff to quickly fix a problem when there is one. I can just see half the Xbox360s sitting around red-lighted for 6 months.

Why would anyone go for that when they could be gaming at home or a friend's house?

Not everybody can afford a 360.

i think its worth looking into. the only gripe i would have is if they censored what games would be available. if its a library, it should be a reference to all available knowledge so hopefully gta4 will be there but of course don't let the under 14 crowd play...

Shark-MegaByte said:

I don't think this will have much success nationally. Libraries do not have the funding or the staff knowledge (or the funding to buy the staff knowledge) to equip with PCs or consoles plus a current collection of good games. Consider the quality and performance of computers that are normally found in libraries, and the ability of the staff to quickly fix a problem when there is one. I can just see half the Xbox360s sitting around red-lighted for 6 months.

Why would anyone go for that when they could be gaming at home or a friend's house?

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Actually, that is incorrect. There are hundreds of libraries across the country that have successfully implemented gaming nights at the library. It is more of a social tool right now, and the evidence is lacking any causal relationship between gaming and increased educational skills (reading comprehension, math etc) but that doesn't mean there isn't any. It just means there are few clinical studies (hence the ALA's initiative) to prove (or disprove) that there is one. We do know there is a social relationship involved. Mostly anecdotal, but teens tend to behave more at the library gaming events, they tend to hang around more and pick up a book more often, and use the library's databases, in house and at home. These are trends that we're trying to rope in exploit to a certain demographic (which is notoriously undermined), teens and seniors, in conjunction with the local schools. Insofar, the high schools have had similar programs with success.
As to your statement about kids not bothering to show up at a library because they can go to a friends house, this was a concern. It is entirely possible, depending on population served; most affluent communities may have a lower turnout simply because they have consoles at their home. But most communities stimulated by this trend are those who can't afford consoles, but the library can easily budget for. Most libraries already have audio-visual equipment installed (large screen TV - probably bigger than yours at home ) and room for one or more consoles to be available at any given time. Those who are waiting there is food and drink, and other non video games that can be taken advantage of while waiting. Gaming titles may not include Halo for the younger kids but for the high schoolers, they certainly do, and even have had successful tournaments, even against other teams from other libraries.

And if you haven't guessed already, I am a systems librarian in Long Beach NY, and have already successfully implemented a gaming night here

I hope other libraries follow suit, even if they "prove" that it doesn't help much with reading scores. At least its a way to get more kids to use a vital resource that you (and of course your parents) are already paying for.

Philip