In case you missed it, the January issue of American Libraries featured a cover story on “Gaming @ the Library” by Dale Lipschultz. The article connects games to literacy, updates readers on the $1 million Verizon grant received last June, and features best practices in gaming from experts around the country. In the same issue, Scott Nicholson’s article “Reframing Gaming” discussed the results from the 2007 Gaming census.
Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation game consoles encourage patrons to engage with one another at the Houston (TX) Public Library.
Melinda Wenner addresses “The Serious Need for Play” in the Scientific American, January 2009, citing childhood play as crucial for “social, emotional and cognitive development.”
John Lancaster’s article, “Is It Art?” published in the January 2009 issue of the London Review of Books makes an argument that videogames are a medium whose importance and cultural ubiquity should be equivalent to that of film or television.
In Janaury 2009, the New York Times covered the release of AudiOdyssey, an M.I.T. gamelab videogame designed for visually impaired gamers.
Two new blogs to add to your feed reader
- Jim Peterson, writes about the technological evolution of the Goodnight Library, including the challenges of implementing gaming, at http://jimmythegeek.
livejournal.com/ - Bob Beck, Computer & Network Services at the Central Arkansas Library System, will be chronicling an ongoing World of Warcraft program at the library at http://librarywow.blogspot.com/
Also of interest, though not directly related:
Amazon launches a casual games service, with FREE games to download and play, and others to download and purchase for $10 or less. Is this a service you might take advantage of at your library?