Check it out and join the CIL community. Thanks again Meredith!

Even though it looks like a green Christmas, Google is helping me get into the holidays! Best wishes to all for a wonderful holiday season and a terrific year in 2007!

Information Today’s CIL 2007 takes place at the Crystal City Hyatt, VA from April 16-18 with workshops on the 15th and 19th. With the theme, Beyond Library 2.0, keynote speakers include:
* Lee Rainie, Pew Internet & American Life Project
* Elizabeth Lane Lawley, Associate Professor, Information Technology, & Director, Lab for Social Computing, Rochester Institute of Technology
*John Van Oudenaren, Senior Advisor, World Digital Library, Library of Congress

Just listened to Jenny Levine, TheShiftedLibrarian, and ALA’s Internet Development Specialist and Strategy Guide and author of their new Library Technology Reports, Gaming & Libraries: Intersection of Services.
Jenny talked about definitions:
gaming = vido games, console games and online games, as well as board games
gamer = includes even those who play solitare, tetris, etc. online

She also talked about how big gaming is and why it’s important. The myth is that
gamers are just teen age boys, when in fact women over 40 are one of largest groups of gamers, mostly online, which is 50% more time than men spend each week. There are
90 million gamers worldwide. A PEW study in 2003, found that every one of the university students in their survey had played an online game which shows us that while TV is the touchstone for boomers, gaming is the same for younger generations. In fact the average age of gamers in their 30s.

Jenny talked about some of the characterisitics of gamers:
hero on a quest, willing to keep trying (learn from mistakes and start again), willing to ask for help and give it, like to collaborate and game as a team, fast and multitasking, strong organizational skills, creative problem solveers, ability to deal with lots at one time, and not be satisfied with just one answer.

Jenny discussed how gaming is content; there are stories in gaming. She gave many examples including the Ann Arbor Public Library which has long lines of teen boys waiting to play games at the library — a new way of looking at and using the libary. A way of building “safe” communities for kids.

The MacArthur study on digital learning by Henry Jenkins, MIT, talks about new types of literacies — media, critical thinking, collaboration, etc. — and how schools and education need to change for the digital culture.

Jenny talked about the different types of services libraries can offer:
*collection development — collecting games for specific platforms/consoles
*gaming nights for families, different types of games including traditional board games, ImagineON
*support curriculum with old online games, Stanford University
*readers advisory — “what kinds of games do you like?”; so librarians can recommend types of books that had stories like the games
*playing of games in libraries — many policies say can’t, but those who do provide a safe, collaborative place to play (requires zones for noise; a place for open play
*tournaments — can have leader boards on the website and local cable stations

We really need to understand the needs of gamers as there are many ways to engage kids and students through gaming. Jenny provided many ideas and examples of different types of games for libraries, both public and academic, from Information Pursuit to Dance Dance Revolution (DDR). Gaming will only get bigger and continue to change how people interact with each other and with games and technologies. Great talk!