GLLS2007: Gaming In Academic Libraries

Lynn Sutton, Giz Womack - Wake Forest University
Lori Critz - Georgia Tech

Sutton:

• most attendees haven't done gaming events {using clicker for audience response. cool!}
• 61% want invisibility as their super power
• wake forest: gaming done for marketing purposes - way to reach out to students
• gaming as complex learning theory - problem solving, media literacy, different paths to success in learning
• want to incorporate into library instruction

Womack: {eeek, he's a wanderer! must levelate}

• get game @ zsr - name of game nights {zsr is name of library}
• 3 open nights/ one tournament {tournament tires giz out]
• advance registration
• needed: staff (lib staff and resident technology team staff (live in dorms and help students w/ tech)/ equipment/ supplies (food, cords, prize)
• stuff you need aren't insurmountable barriers to success
• had students bring their own consoles - giz was "freaking out!"made plan of what went where in room (immediately "went to heck") {this guy is awesome!}
• marketing - word of mouth (giz likes to talk), have to sell in library as well, student newspaper, gave away candy, made a youtube video
• costs leveled out around $175 per event after initial costs
• audience costs of folks doing it mostly 0-100 bucks
• student surveys: like events, not huge # response but give info, wii was huge hit
• how to keep people to stay after they lose in tournament?
• giz loves the wii
• network guys let them plug into network for xbox live {cool}

Critz:

• spent her whole $2,000 budget for events
• why? orientation, staff insight into student culture, branding, humanize the library, strengthen ties with IT people
• "unreal tournament" - gory 1st person shooter LAN game, went along with playing it since students wanted
• vendors very willing to give them copies of LAN games in exchange for promo opportunities
• rented GIANT projection screen (don't do this anymore)
• not many females playing {perhaps due to all the killing} - changed way things are done
  
• out of 100 people playing in tourny, about 8 were left when ended at 2am!
• grand prize= 20 g ipawd
• takes a long time to clean up when over!
• gains? increase coolness, face recognition, lasting goodwill, subtle indoctrination of freshmen to library (signage advertising classes/ databases/ VR help), clubs see library as partner for activities, great image boost for staff
• learned: killing has limited appeal for females and non-gamers, need better tech, way too much staff time!, people like food, need more marketing, expensive!, need volunteer help
• current game night=retro games {coolness!},board games, poker {cool!}, speed dating, ninja tag, DDR - do it during week before school starts to avoid competition w/ frat parties - had 700 freshmen last year
  

GLLS2007: The Payoff - Up Close and Personal

Eli Neiburger, Ann Arbor District Library

presentation

• average gamer isn't "smelly boy in the basement" - average gamer is 33 years old and female
• our kids will be appalled at our lack of gaming skills
• many lib services for teens are pedantic
• "why does everything have to have dave eggers involved in it?"
• eli's sons first camping trip was outside an electronics store the day wii was released!
• seniors wii bowling! activity for seniors is good
• ddr event: had a 78-year old man who got lost on his way to VA ("polock dick") who danced
• gaming is same sort of social interaction in libs that has been going on before - taking personal thing like gaming and making it social
• snork=smurf spinoff
• game tournaments show that "there is still life left in the library"
• big payoff=positive interactions with library staff - have presuppositions about lib staff when they come in, you don't wanna prove them right
• gaming can bring people together across all sorts of groups, including language
• Tournaments not about haves and have nots, breaks across socioeconomic demographics
• library as source of cred
• aadl gaming video rough cut: " i expect the library to have books, a poor selection of cds...", there are kids coming from kalamazoo to ann arbor for gaming {that's 98.6 miles}
• payoff=proving relevance to audience that would never have thought of library in that way
• gtsystem - opening up the AADL online scoring/ blogs/ registration etc for libraries nationwide, in future there will be national and regional tournaments, possibility of synchronized tournament days w/ finals taking place online over the net - potential marketing opportunity nationwide {this will potentially be HUGE!}, will start in july 2008

{aadl is doing some AWESOME stuff. and eli is a great speaker}

GLLS2007: Role of Gaming in Libraries

Scott Nicholson, Syracuse University SIS

• 2nd part of "bearded white guy trilogy"
• lack of basic research in gaming and libraries
• study #1: "role of gaming in libraries: taking the pulse"
• study #2: "gaming census" - not out yet
• {i lost the game. but everyone wins one!}
• supporting gaming in library isn't anything new - had chess club etc back in the day
• almost half of libs surveyed supported board games
• about 75% support gaming/ about 80% let people play online on lib computers
• 44% of libs in survey 2 that supported gaming programs circulated games
• gaming in libs isn't just DDR, it is board games etc too
• 2,473 gaming programs in 2006 described/ 179 unique programs - lots of repeats because popular
• half of gaming competitive, more in academic libraries
  
• most programs console games: half of all programs DDR!
• why? mostly to provide some sort of entertainment, also support current users and attract underserved users/ increase role as community hub
• #1 single goal = bring in new users, entertainment is way down list of single most impt goals
• 77% of game program attendees came back for non-game related library services (more than used other services at time of game program)
  
• 73% improved social connections w/ friends
• 65% improved social connection w/ strangers
• entertainment not main goal, focus was on patrons

{he would ROCK as a teacher!}

GLLS2007: What Librarians Need To Know About Games, Media Literacy and Participatory Culture

Henry Jenkins

{ } = DWF

• let's take a break from reading Harry Potter - why do people want to ruin the ending of the book? people afraid to go to HP parties fri night cuz they might find out how it ends
• iCue - news archives to connect kids to american history {cool new learning project}
• mcarthur study: 83% kids listen to music/ read/ play games 2 hours per day each
• pew study: more than half american teens are media creators, 33% share beyond friends/ family - mostly urban kids doing this, not much race gap, girls more likely than boys to do by hi school (not suburban white boys mainly like stereotype)
• participatory culture: strong support for sharing, more experienced help less experienced (informal mentorship - cross generational) {interesting breaking down of lines}
  
• not just culture created by kids, adults and kids learn from each other
• members feel their connections matter
  
• participation gap: not just digital divide - most kids have network access either at home or thru school or library, what new cultural skills are needed in this environment? kids w/ broadband at home ALWAYS online, kids getting access thru school/ library may be limited in time and what they are "allowed" to access (filtering etc), kids w/ constant access have better skills and comfort level than kids who don't - kids who don't need different kinds of guidance from librarians
• have to open up generation to thinking about how media shapes lives
• ethics problem: more kids involved in live journaling than hi school newspapers - but no adult "oversight" to guide them in how to use ethically/ safely
• students need to know: traditional print literacy (readin n writin, son has tons of online girlfriends because he is good writer)/ research skills (collect and process info, more info in unknown spaces now, need to teach how to read)/ technical skills (code/ compute - beyond keyboarding skills)/ media literacy (how is media created and circulated)
• play: capacity to experiment w/ surroundings are form of problem solving - jump right in and figure out how world of game works, trial and error
• simulation: interpret and construct dynamic models of real world processes
• performance: adopt alternative identities for improv and discovery - role play as way to develop skills through character, game as provocation to bring in info from other sources (like school etc)
  
• appropriation: ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content - remixing has gone on for all time (homer, sistine chapel, shakespeare, melville - took content from other sources and made better thru abilities) {blues artists too} - kids can learn by taking elements of culture and remixing (someplace is using melville in classes a example of remix culture)
• multitasking: scan environment and shift focus on salient details on ad hoc basis - ability to make quick decisions v important, shift in skills that is valuable and impt to understand
• distributed cognition: ability to interact w/ tools that expand mental capacity (MIT well drilling game) {saw that one at ELI2007 i think, was neat example}
• collective intelligence: ability to pool knowledge and compare notes w/ other toward common goal, real world GPS based games {i'm fascinated by real world live games}
• judgment: evaluate reliability and credibility of info sources
• transmedia navigation: ability to deal with flow of stories and info across muiltiple modalities - pokomon etc, complex systems in games
• networking: ability to search for, synthesize and disseminate info - proposed gvt limits to social networking at libraries bad, is it better for kids to do myspace alone or have guidance from teachers and librarians? {amen!}{much clapping}
• negotiation: ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning multiple perspectives and grapsing and following alternate sets of norms - not just minority/ racial, have to value all kinds of diversity in communities
• project nml: whitepaper talk is based on and online documentaries for helping think about learning issues {cool video about big gaming}
• librarians need to think of roles in new ways to help kids not just navigate library, but network too
• facilitate learning thru games, dont shut games out, help and play with them - showcase work that kids have created {Maybe feature lib users' youtube videos on website if appropriate}
• libraries are part of social network, help kids develop collaborative proejcts with others around country, speakers in second life etc

{wow, i took lots of notes! very interesting talk. bad font color choice on contact slide tho!}

The Classroom Will Now Be Podcast (Again) Web Links

Thanks to everyone who attended the ACRL "The Classroom Will Now Be Podcast" webcast today. I had fun talking to you over the internets and hope everyone learned something. Here are the links to podcasts I talked about.

• Georgia College and State University (David Letterman Video I didn't show)
  
• Mansfield University Podcasts
  
• Dowling College Library Omnibus
  
• Allegheny College Podcasts
  
• University of North Carolina, Pembroke Library Minute
  
• University Channel
  
• Arizona State University Library Channel
  
• Purdue University Boilercast
  
• Berkeley On iTunes U
  
• Ohio University Alden Library Audio Tour
  
• WPI Library Audio To Go
  
• Fairfield University Library Podcasts
  
• UCOL Library Podcasts
  
• Library Guide For Nursing (California State University , Fullerton)
  
• Moraine Valley Community College Library
  
• Podcasting @ Hunter
• University of Utah Library Podcasting
  

Links to podcasting resources and tools are available on my wiki, as are links to articles and white papers on podcasting in higher education.

Look for posts responding to some questions and comments I didn't get to during the session in the next week after I get a copy of the chat transcript. There were some interesting links floating around in the chat window and I'll post those as well.

Guest Post: Fairfield University Library Podcasts by Leslie Porter

Podcasters Rock!
Originally uploaded by dwfree1967

{As I promised last week, here is a guest post from Leslie Porter of Fairfield University talking about their library podcasts. Leslie was in the RUSA Pre-Conference I participated in at ALA Annual and thus got picked on. She is a good sport. If you would like to contribute something similar about your library podcasts, just write it up and send it to me.}

We created these podcasts for students in English 11 after consulting with English professor Richard Regan, who is very active with iTunesU. We knew he was going to be teaching his section of EN 11 as an iTunesU class, so we approached him and asked him if the library could offer any podcasts for integration into his class. He asked us to cover the databases that students would use for his class: LION, JSTOR, Google Scholar, and Project Muse. Instead of doing a straightlaced description of the databases, we decided to personify each database based upon its characteristics and then interview it in a short one to two-minute podcast.

We played at least one of the podcasts during the information literacy sessions for EN 11. Students usually laughed - and sometimes even applauded after listening to the podcasts - and it worked out well as a break in the session for students as well as the instructor. It was clear to me that many of the students enjoyed the podcasts and were surprised that the library would be doing something so "different." I think this is a good thing, because it helps humanize the library (and librarians) and perhaps affects in some way students' overall perceptions of the library.

Some of the students' comments can shed light on the effectiveness of the podcasts as an instructional tool. After each class, we ask the students to fill out evaluation forms. We never specifically asked about the podcasts, but students often commented about them in response to the question: "What about the session surprised you most?"

Here are a few sample responses:

1. That the web database could speak, and was a man!
2. The sound bites that introduced LION and Google Scholar and how hard the library is trying to be accessible and relate to students.
3. The LION database interview. It was different.
4. That databases can talk.
5. The audio, I thought it was really funny and will stick with me.
6. The LION talking.


-- Leslie Porter

Farewell Transmission

"I will be gone, but not forever." - Magnolia Electric Co.

Wednesday I'm heading out to Chicago, so this will most likely be my last post of any substance for a little while. Although who knows, the Chicago Public Library seems to have free wifi in all branches, so I might be back sooner. But I will return in at least the next few weeks with the usual mix of random stuff that you have grown accustomed to over the past year or so. With probably a little more publishing and marketing type content thrown into the podcasting and library mix. So don't unsubscribe! But you're gonna have to look elsewhere for your ALA gossip. :)

I have one guest post lined up from a bibliopodcaster, so be on the lookout for that next week. And if you are podcasting at your library and would like to contribute a blog-post-length overview or insight or whatever about what your library is doing, I'll be glad to post it as well. Just send it to dwfree(at)gmail(dot)com.

Happy trails.