Educational Game Technology Try Out

The South Carolina State Library has recently purchased a selection of educational game technology that may be loaned to South Carolina public libraries. This is a great opportunity to get your “feet wet” before purchasing gaming equipment for your library. Below is a list of the games and the consoles (updated 11/6/07):

Equipment & Software:

PlayStation 2 with controller with two guitars for PS2 Guitar Hero with Guitar Hero game. (Suitable for tournaments) Guitar Hero Kit

• PlayStation 2 with controller Two Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) Pads with DDR Supervnova game (Suitable for tournaments).DDR Kit
• Tony Hawk’s Underground Game (Suitable for tournaments with additional controllers for larger group, 1 controller for smaller group.) Request PlayStation 2 separately. Tony Hawk Game
• One Nintendo Wii comes with Wii Sports Game with Call of Duty 3 (suitable for tournaments) and Big Brain Academy (suitable for tournaments or individuals). Wii Kit
• Three Nintendo DS Lite (bundled together for loan) with MarioKart DS, yoshi’s Island DS and Big Brain Academy DS games (individual play only). Nintendo DS Lite KitEach bullet indicates a kit that may be borrowed. We are suggesting that that items go out for no longer than two weeks, but that is dependent on demand.

To borrow these items, contact Deborah Hotchkiss, Library Development Consultant at dhotchkiss@statelibrary.sc.gov or 803-734-8646.

Searching for Program Ideas?

The Gaming Zone is designed for people who want to come to gaming programs at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg Counties. In addition to highlighting programs at ImaginOn, there are a number of gaming nights hosted by branch libraries in the system.

List of libraries providing gaming programs around the US with contact names comes from Library Success – A Best Practices Wiki.

Go also to Game On: Games in Libraries! Game On strives to keep librarians up to date on gaming with convenient one-stop shopping for all your gaming news and information.

Outagamie Waupaca Library System has a list of additional sites on education game programming and collection development for teens.

Best Book on Educational Gaming Programs in Public Libraries. Even if you are just thinking about teen programming for your library and believe that gaming will be part of your future, you need this book!!

Gamers … in the Library?! The Why, What, and How of Videogame Tournaments for All Ages. Eli Neiburger. American Library Association, 2007. Cost $42 / ALA members $37 and available at SC State Library for loan.

Need Research on Gaming Technology & Education go here! and here!

 

 

Audio from the Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium

I mentioned in a previous post that I was lucky enough to attend the TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium this year in Chicago.  You can now find audio from most, if not all, the sessions over at TechSource.

It’s hard for me to highlight just one of the many terrific sessions I attended, but if you only have time to listen to one or two of the sessions, here are my picks:

• James Paul Gee’s keynote address on Libraries, Gaming, and the New Equity Crisis.  James Paul Gee is the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University, and he is providing some of the best research out there on video games and learning.  His keynote was an excellent look at key learning principles and how games address them.  My favorite!
• Eli Neiburger’s featured presentation on  The Payoff, Up Close and Personal.  Eli is the manager of Information Access and Systems at the Ann Arbor District Library in Michigan.  He runs the game program at AADL, and has lots of anecdotes about the positive role games have played in not only bringing young people into the library, but also how it has changed their view on who we are and what we do.

There is audio for more than 30 sessions available, so take a look!