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"A teen came to the Loft @ ImaginOn at 9am on June 6 and told me that he was here for the Gaming Club. I told him that it wasn't until 4pm. He said, "Yeah, I know. I'm just gonna sit here and read these graphic novels until then. "Staff member, PLCMC | After School Gaming ClubPublic Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg CountyThe Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) serves a population of 850,000 in 24 locations. The After School Gaming Club was held at ImaginOn, the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, for 12-18 year olds from April 2006-August 2008. The goals of the program were to attract an underserved group of users ages 12-18, to increase the library’s role as a community hub, to allow users to improve their skills/knowledge of gaming, to build developmental assets of teens and to provide a service reflecting the media and new literacies of gaming. Running the ProgramThe club met once a month. The event was run primarily by one staff member; videogame free play and tournaments were the activities that made up the club. All games were rated "T for Teen" or "E for Everybody.""M for Mature" games were not allowed. For more about videogame ratings, please visit the Entertainment Software Ratings Board website.
Food was not offered during the event. Teens are able to eat most anywhere in the library facility except when using equipment, such as computers or videogame controllers. One staff member should be present at all times. Depending on the turnout, another staff member might be needed for such things as the distribution of snacks/beverages (if you choose to offer them), to help secure and distribute the different games, and crowd control. Other assistance might be needed if a tournament is being hosted, or if other gaming formats such as board games or computer games are being used, to help out with rules/directions and/or disputes. Registration is recommended for libraries with a small space or desire to serve snacks/beverages.
Marketing
Before the event, the librarian in charge of the event hung promotional and directional signs around the library to make sure the teens knew that was going on and where to find it.
FacilityThe club was held in the community room (capacity 50) in order to block the noise from the speakers and the players reaching the rest of the library.
Literacy ConnectionGaming is an important tool in literacy and it is attractive and fun. The Gaming Club allowed PLCMC to highlight all of our materials in the collection that related to gaming (gaming strategy guides, gaming magazines, programmer guides, careers in gaming, etc.) by putting them out during the club. The club was the foundation for helping contribute to the formation of system-wide gaming tournaments, nation-wide gaming tournaments, and videogame design classes. The club and these programs supported additional literacies skills by requiring players in tournaments to think critically about what information they need to succeed in the game. The players sought out print and visual information and worked with their peers to evaluate the information in order to create new knowledge and new strategies.
ImpactThere averaged about 15 teens per month during the 2 ½ years the program ran. Attendance was approximately 80% male, 20% female. Success was measured through attendance and relationship-building. The librarian that ran the program could be sitting at the desk and see a teen come in every day for two weeks to use the computer and only get in a couple lines of dialogue that didn't really allow a conversation to develop to spark any kind of a connection. Or, the librarian could spend two hours per month in the Gaming Club and that same teen would come in and see a common interest that could spark a videogame conversation, which may lead to a challenge to whom is better at a specific game, which leads to a one-on-one battle. Teens began to let their guard down and open up on topics other than gaming. Many teens were on a first name basis with the librarian and built their relationship with him through gaming... and the librarian doesn’t even consider himself a gamer! After two years of the gaming club, the branch set up a "gaming corner" where videogames for the PS3 and Wii (will grow to other consoles) were available to play whenever the branch was open, which started to cut down on the number of teens attending the monthly session in the board room. The corner is very visible and available to youth that have library cards. After two and a half years, the After School Gaming Club ended, having run its course and served its initial purpose. The club was created a few months after ImaginOn opened and staff were looking for more ways to market the space and programs to nontraditional library users. Staff learned that gaming in our libraries not only tackles multiple literacies but also provides a safe environment for teens to meet like-minded peers, and challenge their skills and knowledge of each particular game with someone new. Parents contacted the librarian that ran the club many times to explain how important it was for their teen to get out and meet new kids instead of sitting in their bedroom playing the videogames alone
FundingFunding came from Friends of the library, the library’s programming budget, and part of the library’s technology budget and part of the library’s teen systemwide budget. The consoles (except the PS2), games, and A/V equipment had not been newly purchased for the gaming club, they were previously purchased by the library’s programming budget. Prices may not reflect current costs. The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) serves a population of 850,000 in 24 locations. The goals of the program were to attract an underserved group of users ages 12-18, to increase the library’s role as a community hub, to allow users to improve their skills/knowledge of gaming, to build developmental assets of teens and to provide a service reflecting the media and new literacies of gaming. The After School Gaming Club was held at ImaginOn, the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, for 12-18 year olds from April 2006-August 2008. The club met once a month. The event was run primarily by one staff member; videogame free play and tournaments were the activities that made up the club. All games were rated "T for Teen" or "E for Everybody.""M for Mature" games were not allowed. For more about videogame ratings, please visit the Entertainment Software Ratings Board website. The librarian set up two XBoxes, a PlayStation2, and a Wii. XBox game titles included BurnOut 3, Madden 06-08, Star Wars, Desert Storm 2, and Soul Calibur II. The PlayStation console was mainly used for Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Wii game titles included Wii Sports and Cooking Mama, but the Wii was mainly used for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Food was not offered during the event. Teens are able to eat most anywhere in the library facility except when using equipment, such as computers or videogame controllers. One staff member should be present at all times. Depending on the turnout, another staff member might be needed for such things as the distribution of snacks/beverages (if you choose to offer them), to help secure and distribute the different games, and crowd control. Other assistance might be needed if a tournament is being hosted, or if other gaming formats such as board games or computer games are being used, to help out with rules/directions and/or disputes. Registration is recommended for libraries with a small space or desire to serve snacks/beverages. Before the event, the librarian in charge of the event hung promotional and directional signs around the library to make sure the teens knew that was going on and where to find it. The club was held in the community room (capacity 50) in order to block the noise from the speakers and the players reaching the rest of the library.
Literacy ConnectionsGaming is an important tool in literacy and it is attractive and fun. The Gaming Club allowed PLCMC to highlight all of our materials in the collection that related to gaming (gaming strategy guides, gaming magazines, programmer guides, careers in gaming, etc.) by putting them out during the club. The club was the foundation for helping contribute to the formation of system-wide gaming tournaments, nation-wide gaming tournaments, and videogame design classes. The club and these programs supported additional literacies skills by requiring players in tournaments to think critically about what information they need to succeed in the game. The players sought out print and visual information and worked with their peers to evaluate the information in order to create new knowledge and new strategies.
ImpactAttendance averaged about 15 teens per month during the 2 ½ years the program ran. Attendance was approximately 80% male, 20% female. Success was measured through attendance and relationship-building. The librarian that ran the program could be sitting at the desk and see a teen come in every day for two weeks to use the computer and only get in a couple lines of dialogue that didn't really allow a conversation to develop to spark any kind of a connection. Or, the librarian could spend two hours per month in the Gaming Club and that same teen would come in and see a common interest that could spark a videogame conversation, which may lead to a challenge to whom is better at a specific game, which leads to a one-on-one battle. Teens began to let their guard down and open up on topics other than gaming. Many teens were on a first name basis with the librarian and built their relationship with him through gaming... and the librarian doesn’t even consider himself a gamer! After two years of the gaming club, the branch set up a "gaming corner" where videogames for the PS3 and Wii (will grow to other consoles) were available to play whenever the branch was open, which started to cut down on the number of teens attending the monthly session in the board room. The corner is very visible and available to youth that have library cards. After two and a half years, the After School Gaming Club ended, having run its course and served its initial purpose. The club was created a few months after ImaginOn opened and we were looking for more ways to market our space and all of our programs to nontraditional library users. Staff learned that gaming in our libraries not only tackles multiple literacies but also provides a safe environment for teens to meet like-minded peers, and challenge their skills and knowledge of each particular game with someone new. Parents contacted the librarian that ran the club many times to explain how important it was for their teen to get out and meet new kids instead of sitting in their bedroom playing the videogames alone.
Funding: $3,444.96Funding came from Friends of the library, the library’s programming budget, and part of the library’s technology budget and part of the library’s teen systemwide budget. The consoles (except the PS2), games, and A/V equipment had not been newly purchased for the gaming club, they were previously purchased by the library’s programming budget. Prices may not reflect current costs. Equipment $818.96
A/V equipment: $1400.00-$2800.00
Games $696.00
Gaming Strategy Guides: $500.00 Support Materials: $30.00 ResourcesFor more information, please contact Jesse Vieau, (formerly at PLCMC) at jjvieau@scls.lib.wi.us. Gaming Strategy Guide Booklist Brady Games. DK Publishing, 2009. www.bradygames.com. Prima Games. Prima Games, 2009. www.primagames.com. Library Loft. www.LibraryLoft.org. March 4, 2009. Library Loft MySpace. www.myspace.com/libraryloft. February 28, 2009. Entertainment Software Ratings Board. www.esrb.org. February 28, 2009.
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Gaming @ your library is an initiative of the American
Library Association. This initiative is generously funded by the Verizon Foundation |