Today's Daily Breeze has an interesting story on video games in libraries featuring the Palos Verdes Library District and other local libraries. It's a somewhat touchy subject, but on the whole I think journalist Melissa Pamer did a good job presenting a balanced view.
There are a couple of things in the article that are a bit misleading, though.
The article correctly states that many libraries are using video games as a way to attract teens, but doesn't mention that in fact people of all ages enjoy video games. According to a poll conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life project in late 2007 35% of adults play online video games - and that doesn't include the large number of adults who play "console" games like xbox, Wii, or Nintendo DS. According to the Entertainment Software Association the average age of video gamers is 33. Our decision to expand our circulating collection of video games to include those oriented towards "adults" was based on the large and growing population of adult video gamers. It was also based on an awareness that video games are fast closing in on DVDs in terms of total sales volume making them an important source of entertainment and education that libraries shouldn't ignore.
As this interview with University of Wisconsin professor Dr. James Gee points out, playing video games has significant educational value, teaching important skills like dealing with complexity and anticipating the consequences of your decisions as well as in some cases imparting factual knowledge about subjects like history and geography.
While I'm pleased that the Daily Breeze article recognized that offering video games for check out places PVLD in the forefront of local libraries, I was less pleased with the article's statement that PVLD's circulating video game collection for adults includes what are termed "more violent war games." In fact, PVLD applies essentially the same selection policies and criteria to video games that it does to other formats such as DVDs and books. Like movies, video games have ratings to reflect their appropriateness for various age groups. With movies, we purchase titles with ratings up to and including "R" , which means the content is considered suitable for ages 17 or above or for younger people in the presence of their parent/guardian. With video games we purchase titles with ratings up to and includng "Mature", which is comparable to the R rating for movies. We do not purchase movies with an NC-17 rating or video games with an "Adults Only" rating.
Once an item is in our collection we rely on adult users to make the determination of what specific items to read, view or play, and on parents/guardians to make that determination for minors. In the case of video games we shelve items suitable for teens and above in the adult section of the library, and we make copies of the Entertainment Software Rating Board guide to video game ratings available where the games are shelved to assist people in selecting items to check out.
Is PVLD a bit ahead of other local libraries in adding this new source of entertainment and education in our libraries?Yes. (although, as this blog post with some great reasons why libraries should embrace gaming highlights, we're not ahead of other libraries in the country!) Is offering video games for check out a bit controversial? Maybe to some, but I put the discussion in same category as the debate that raged in the 19th century about whether to include novels (the same novels that are now considered classics!) in public library collections or in the late 20th century about whether to add videocassettes. When something is new there is always a bit of anxiety, but that isn't a reason not to do it.
And our experience to date validates our decision - the video games are popular! One of the reasons there is no photo accompanying the newspaper article is that when the photographer came to the Peninsula Center Library yesterday afternoon there were only 4 on the shelf! We also are hearing lots of positive comments from customers like this conversation reported by Librarian Erik Adams a couple of weeks ago -
A married couple just walked into the library and was excited to hear about the video games PVLD is now offering. They asked the circulation desk, "Are there XBox games?" Circulation responded that there were and then the couple said, "Let's get the kids down here." The wife said, "Ah, let's get them one." The husband responded, "No, they need to come down to the library with us." and they walked off into the stacks. I thought this was a neat chunk of conversation to hear.
Update: They just walked up and wanted to know where the adult video games are located. I showed them and pointed out the XBox games and the others. They were very happy that the library is offering this.
Sounds like we're on to a winner...and hopefully the $5/week rental fee will allow us to sustain and grow this collection depsite budget pressures.
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