Games and Gaming #37

1) I read both the New York Times article and the Shifted librarian article.

2) I did the reference game on the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries' website. It was harder than I expected because it took awhile to figure out what I was supposed to do. In the meantime, the patrons were fuming, and some of them stomped out before I could help them. It was fun to play.

3) I do agree that games belong in a library if a library system chooses to go that route. Since so many public libraries have them, I do think it will continue to grow and evolve. It is a good way to bring young people in the library, and perhaps some of them will also discover the joy of reading books.

Games and Gaming #38: Console Gaming

1) I only played PacMan during college and I enjoyed it then. The only advantage I have over someone who never played was that I knew how the game worked.

2) I do not know which of the 3 gaming systems listed would be the best for the library. I would have to research it more.

I think these games can be a boost to learning, but they can also be a detriment to learning if they are used in excess.

I think most of our young people (and many of our adults!) are here for the computers, both for gaming and for social websites like MySpace. When the Internet goes down, the library becomes fairly empty.