Slideshow from the panel at Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) Australia, Sunday 3:30 pm in the Skippy Theatre.
Title: The Playful Library: Games, Libraries, and Sharing Geek Culture.
Organiser: Philip Minchin, Euchronic Games - games & interactivity consultant specialising in advice to libraries.
Panellists:
Leonee Derr, Youth Services Librarian, Melbourne Library Service;
Burke Standen, Admin & Facilities Officer, Melbourne Library Service;
Kim Tairi, Acting Director, Information Resources Group, Swinburne University of Technology;
Hamish Curry, Education Manager - Learning Services, State Library of Victoria.
Discussion of the many ways that libraries are incorporating games into their collections, programs, and facilities, what more they could (and should) be doing in future, and what the possibilities are for getting your game on in the library in the near-to-medium term.
5. PanelPanel
We’re here to discuss, not just present.
Give us a few minutes’ data dump each.
Then ask us questions, and share your
stories, ideas, crazy schemes that just
might work, etc.
6. We ♥ Research
Who are you? Gamers, library staff,
library lovers, other? Where are you
from?
What are you most interested in?
◦ What’s already happening in games in
libraries
◦ How to get more of it happening
◦ How to engage with libraries
◦ How to engage with gamers
7. Libraries: always evolving
Libraries are places which gather and
share information & culture (esp.
books) for a particular community’s
self-directed learning and recreation.
All those nouns are changing so
libraries are changing too: both our
collections and our spaces
Regardless of planned use, grassroots
geekery in libraries has been constant
8. Libraries are geek culture
First librarian: the Ur-geek (possible
pun intended)
Gathering information, organising it,
sharing it – all geeky
Collecting, organising and sharing
culture – WAY geeky
9. Games are culture
Huizinga, Homo ludens: play is a
necessary but not sufficient
precondition for culture
Play is basic, early culture – like
singing, dancing, telling stories
Games’ uniqueness as culture:
“poetry of system”, systems literacy
Most games are shared culture – which
makes them a logical fit for libraries
10. Making is culture, uses info
Writing – obviously
Crafting – already have the books,
and have space
Cosplay – making stuff linked to
fictional worlds probably represented
in the collection
Makerspaces – libraries have IT,
printing, scanning etc… logical next
step, fits self-directed learning & tech
access goals
11. Two-way libraries?
Libraries as places that store and
publish local content to the world as
well as vice versa
Libraries as portals to the world of
self-publishing
Libraries as places to meet people
who share interests
12. Future possibilities
Libraries as venues
Already available for the public to use,
provided it doesn’t interfere with other users
Many have bookable rooms
I’m investigating tools to help people flag their
interest/meet/make times to geek together
Library games/gamification?
Some experimentation, e.g. Game of Books.
Both gamers and library folk wary. Want to
hear your views!
13. Program questions
Lending electronic games like e-
books?
Working on it – some interest from vendors,
lots from libraries
Lending role-playing game books?
Many have a few, Port Phillip Library Service
has lots. Recommending trial use of RPGs for
teen/adult literacy programs
14. Program questions
Book-club-style game clubs?
Recommended program, looking for someone
to fund
Game design workshops?
Run by a few libraries around the world,
recommending more, both electronic and
tabletop
15. Program questions
Consoles in the library?
Has been happening for years!
Ouya is an interesting development – do
library folks know about it?
International gaming events hosted in
the library?
Has been happening annually for the past 6
years!
16. International Games Day
@ your library
Saturday November 16, 2013
Global day of gaming, has been
running since 2008
Includes Nordic Game Day
Includes online games tournaments
Includes Global Gossip Game
17. International Games Day
@ your library
Saturday November 16, 2013
Public: ilovelibraries.org/gaming
facebook.com/internationalgamesday
Library: igd.ala.org
Registration: bit.ly/igd13reg
18. Gaming and the Public Library
“Because Play Matters”
Leonee Derr and Burke Standen
Melbourne Library Service
19. ∗ Gaming in libraries goes as far back as the late 19th
century in the UK
∗ Toy and game libraries opened in the US specifically to support the
community during the Great Depression
∗ Competitive puzzle gaming saw an increase in research done in
libraries
∗ Research shows in the 20s and then again in the 60s, 70s and 80s a
strong relationship between story telling, research and gaming as all
part of learning/participating in libraries
∗ Digital gaming has a decades long history of being integral to
encouraging people in using the library
∗ Also a history of libraries banning gaming (in the 90s a case where a
person was arrested for not desisting at playing Chess)
HISTORY:
GAMING IS NOT NEW IN LIBRARIES!
20. ∗ Once upon a time libraries were just nonfiction….
∗ Games are just another medium through which story, a
narrative, an idea or plot is expressed
∗ To provide a service which includes everyone’s
preferred style of interacting with narrative/story means
offering games alongside movies, graphic
novels/comics, text-based books, talking books, ebooks,
etc
∗ It’s also the books and other supporting material on the
who/what/why of games and gaming (be it D&D or
Magic or Playstation Magazine)
Gaming as a collection
21. ∗ The library as a location for people to come and pick
up a chess or checker board, go online on a public pc
and game via the internet, pick up a Playstation, Wii,
or XBOX controller and ‘game.’
∗ Limitation of this aspect of libraries and
games/gaming is it is quite a solitary activity or one
which may require personal organisation with
another person
Gaming at will
22. ∗ Organised, group events put on by the library
∗ Social inclusion
∗ Sharing of story
∗ Connecting with
community
∗ Inter-generational
∗ Global
∗ Cross-interest mixing
∗(Minecraft as a way to develop new library spaces)
Gaming as programming
23. Why games and public libraries?
“BECAUSE PLAY MATTERS!”-Scott Nicholson
38. International Games Day
@ your library
Saturday November 16, 2013
Public: ilovelibraries.org/gaming
Library: igd.ala.org
Registration: bit.ly/igd13reg
39. Making the case for games
See IGD blog – igd.ala.org
“Talking points” series (starts May 22)
Games are culture, as old as any other
type of culture (and older than most)
(also: popular & not going anywhere)
Have to be shared, therefore they
foster community & inclusion
Develop “theory of mind”
Can be good or bad art (like books)
Foster traditional and systems literacy
40. Reaching out to libraries
Game quietly in the library for a bit,
get to know staff
Borrow and request books relating to
games, talk to staff as you borrow
them
Use points on “making the case” slide
Offer to help run basic games events
Feel free to contact us for advice
41. Reaching out to gamers
Look on Meetup, Facebook,
BoardGameGeek for gamers in your
area. (Shout out to Café Games!)
Contact local game stores
Especially for roleplaying games, talk
to Organised Play groups
Bio: Kim Tairi is a sometimes gamer (Talisman/Candy Crush) and avid mobile photographer with a love of street art and gadgets. She is the Associate Director of Information Management at Swinburne University. She is going to give us overview of what academic libraries are doing in the gaming space…
Thanks Philip… believe or not this is quiet a tricky one… can I just say… I would like our library to be doing more. We have some consoles in the library but the rationale for having them in our collection is because we teach “youth” at one of our campuses. We also have computer games but no tabletop games. We don’t have recreational collections except a small recreational reading collection. We collect according to the courses we offer. This photo sums up what it is like for gamers. No chess set so they made their own pieces. It ’ s a bit sad really.
So if our courses relate to gaming we will have games. It’s how the money is allocated. But where academic libraries are doing some great stuff is around getting students to engage with library services by have making our library orientations and training more fun and game like. This is from UTS in Sydney it is a game based on a zombie apocalypse where students have to do basic research to win the game and survive the apocalypse. On campus we have student clubs and societies this is where the real gaming action is; trading cards game club; roleplay; costume (cosplay) and Swinburne student amenities association caters for their space needs etc..
We are at capacity with not enough space for student to study let alone game but we have plans for a new building in 2014. I would like to have a space in our new building for a gamer/hacker/maker space so that there is a space available for student to create, make, hack, play – our aim is to support teaching and learning at the university and I know that I would be mostly preaching to the converted here but in gaming you learn stuff… valuable stuff… We have whole labs for building lego robots on campus. I would like similar space in our library. Thanks.
