In the past twenty years
library collections have been changing drastically. This isn’t to say a library’s collection
hasn’t always been changing, but the biggest difference in recent years is the
slow progression towards not only electronic content, but the inclusion of
material not in a written format. DVDs
have become a staple at many public libraries, so much so that in my area
patrons would be shocked if they were to come to the library and find they were
not able to check out a movie. Coming up
slowly behind movies are video games, but these collections still have a lot of
ground to cover, for a couple reasons. Not
considered an art form as movies are, video games are also perceived as
promoting a sedentary and anti-social lifestyle in children and teens. However, anyone who is a gamer knows that
these stereotypes are exactly that, as games today encourage kids to move
around, use teamwork and more. As every other medium has moved forward when it
comes to childhood development, so have video games.
Games can offer a lot to kids at many ages, whether it be the first video game a child has played or the one
hundredth an experienced teen decides to give a try. One of the most common
skills developed are simple reading skills.
In order to progress the story or explain the next objective, gamers are
required to read text placed on the screen.
In order to fully enjoy the experience, players will need to read
extensive amounts of text. For kids who
often can’t stand to read, they find themselves paging through screen after
screen to discover how the plot unfolds or what their next objective will
be. On top of this, younger kids will
develop hand eye co-ordination and how to work socially with other children. Multiplayer video games are extremely common
and fantastic for children, whether they are competitive, co-operative or both. Learning how to get along with other children
is a crucial skill that many kids have trouble acquiring. Through multiplayer video games, kids learn
how to work and play together in an environment easily monitored by an adult. While not often considered critical, learning
how to both win and lose gracefully is important for a kid to learn at a young
age.
That being said, there are still games out there that
don’t offer any positive benefits and worse, aren’t even fun to play. While
librarians have become masters of collection development when it comes to print
materials, I have yet to find a video game collection in any library that does
justice to the medium. This is a big
challenge, as there are few ways to playtest a game before a purchase. Judging a game by its cover can be just as
dangerous as doing the same to a book.
Often movie and character licensed games are some of the worst out
there, offering little in the way of gameplay or entertainment but these are
the games I see most often in libraries.
They are purchased for the title or character on the cover, and once
kids realize they aren’t fun to play, the game sits on shelf collecting
dust. The kids are out a fun game to
play and the library is down fifty or sixty dollars they could have spent on
other material. This is one of the
biggest challenges in video game collection development and that is where this
blog comes to the rescue.
As a long time gamer and a children’s librarian, I like
to see my patrons come check out a game over and over again, but I also like
knowing the kids are getting a little more out of it than just the
entertainment. Many games offer
different positive benefits, whether it be increased literacy skills, critical
decision making options or requiring gamers to work and think together as a
team to complete a challenge. Finding
the games that espouse these positive effects can be hard, especially when the
video game section of a collection is on an extremely tight budget. Making each purchase count can be the
difference in moving forward with the collection or having it languish on the
shelf. Through this blog I will offer
reviews and recommendations of books to purchase for a collection and the ones
to avoid. Ranging from the youngest
gamers to the teens, the games highlighted will not only be fun to play but
offer development of other useful skills as well.
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