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!

 

 

What’s new with electronic readers? Plenty…of promise

Are you keeping up with new developments in electronic readers?  Every once in a while I check in on what’s happening, hoping to soon be able to afford one of these nifty devices and see how I like reading the electrons.  It just seems like the logical next step for the publishing industry:  Create an appetite for downloadable books in audio formats; then, offer a comfortable handheld reading platform for people (like myself) who will always prefer the written word.  Pubic libraries should be part of the mix, a la Overdrive-type services, when these pieces fall together into place.

 

The Sony Reader and the iRex Iliad have been non-starters commercially largely because the devices are expensive.  They have some physical drawbacks as well, but competition is driving improvements.   Amazon’s “Kindle” and Bookeen’s “Cybook” will be vying for consumers’ attention and dollars, supposedly in the near future.   New e-ink technology is said to be as easy on the eyes as paper; response time and maneuverability are improving as well.  The so-called “second paper revolution” is one of those transformations that is always just around the corner but never seems to materialize.  Now, predictions are for generally affordable, satisfying readers to hit mass marketability around 2012. 

Read a great article here on the history of e-paper technology, with current status of the industry and forecasts for use of the format.

 

Creating great websites

I don’t often blog twice in one day, but when something comes along this good, it’s worth it.

Seth Godin, author of best-selling marketing books like The Dip, and the most popular marketing blog in the US, has put together 10 principals for making a great web site.  Read them.  Memorize them.  Make your website redesign go more smoothly and be more effective.

Personal favorites:

3. Less. Fewer words, fewer pages, less fine print.

7. Insight is good, clever is bad. Many websites say, “look at me.” Your goal ought to be to say, “here’s what you were looking for.”

 

TeenTrax

Yesterday, we hosted our first teen services institute, TeenTrax.  It was a blast!  Patrick Jones, *the* teen services guru in my book, started the day with a great reality check.

What do you call young adults in the library?  By their names!  It’s all about relationships, and you can’t have a relationship with someone if you don’t know their name.

How true!

Michele Gorman,  the truly awesome Teen Services Manager at Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s ImaginOn, gave us some of the basics on doing Reference for teens, and followed up with practical approaches to creating programs that meet the developmental needs of teens.  The thing that really blew me away is that she’s had her Teen Advisory Council assist in the hiring of three recent employees.  The teens create questions and interview the candidates.  That’s what I call radical trust.  Best part….the results have been terrific!

Teen services is one of the hot topics right now, but I don’t believe it’s a fad or a ignorable trend.  I think it’s a central part of the library landscape for years to come.  I admit, I’ve never really had an interest in doing teen services in my relatively brief career, but being around people so passionate, it’s hard not to get catch the fever.  I hope TeenTrax helped create the fever in a lot of people yesterday.

 

Customers or Patrons

It’s been far too long since we blogged here at LibraryTrax, I know.  We’ll try not to be away so long from now on.  Here’s one I hope will stir conversation.

I’ve had discussions over the years on whether to call the people who use our services “customers” or “patrons.”  I’ve grown fond of “customer” myself, and I’ve finally found something that may explain why it appeals to me so much.

John Jantsch, over on the Duct Tape Marketing Blog, writes about the choice between “customer” and “client”:

The idea for this post actually goes to Ridgely Evers, founder of NetBooks. In a brief discussion he mentioned the origin of the word customer is the Latin - consuetudinem, coming from one’s habit or custom - or, someone’s customary practice do something repeatedly. The root of client is the Latin cliens, more closely related to the idea of a follower.

He goes on to say:

I don’t know about you, but I know I want my customers to know, like, trust, call and refer me repeatedly. I want them to grow accustomed to my blog. I want it to be their custom to think of me whenever they need a practical marketing tip. So, customer it is for me.

Me too!