November 13 is National Gaming Day

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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November 13 is National Gaming Day


November 13 is the American Library Association's National Gaming Day, when over 1500 libraries across the country come together for the largest simultaneous national videogame tournament ever held.

Libraries sure have changed since I was a kid. Back in my day, they were stern, sterile places where you could get a book, read a book, maybe check a book out, and the most exciting thing that ever happened was the matronly smackdown that had to be meted out every now and then when somebody got out of hand and raised his voice above a hoarse whisper.

But things are different now. "In the 21st century, libraries are about much more than books!" says the ALA's I Love Libraries website. "In fact, libraries work very hard to provide people of all ages with a rich and current menu of CDs and DVDs, as well as electronic and online resources. Video game resources and programs at the library complement these existing services. Featuring this new gaming media helps the library expand its reach while meeting community expectations."

In that spirit, the American Library Association is bringing us National Gaming Day on November 13, an opportunity to come together with friends and strangers alike for a day of gaming in a friendly, interactive and even educational environment. The games will be vetted by librarians as "family friendly" - sorry, no Red Dead [http://www.amazon.com/Gears-War-2-Disc-Xbox-360/dp/B001A4MTGS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288121338&sr=8-1] here - with a focus on social components that will encourage people to game together.

Even better, libraries will compete against one another online to ring up the highest score in games like the hit Wii release ilovelibraries.org [http://www.amazon.com/Super-Smash-Bros-Brawl-Nintendo-Wii/dp/B000FQ9R4E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288121377&sr=8-1].


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tomtom94

aka "Who?"
May 11, 2009
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Cue thousands of complaints that this is an unproductive festival to be promoting at children.
 

JourneyThroughHell

New member
Sep 21, 2009
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November 13th is also my birthday.

Huh.

Well, that's really cool. Too bad I don't live in the U.S.A., so I'll have to do with the bowling instead of going to the library.

Still, our media type is expanding.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
17,032
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I'll go see if I can play a round of Rock Band. I prefer to do vocals, and no one else every seems to.
 

Mr. Grey

I changed my face, ya like it?
Aug 31, 2009
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This is good news.

Although, the thought occurs to me: This will eventually hit a Friday.

What? Someone has to be the voice of reason!

[sub]Yes I edited to check my facts. Then returned to a somewhat original post. Why did I check my facts? I'm pushing on twenty four hours of awake.[/sub]
 

level250geek

New member
Jan 8, 2009
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I'm the Young Adult (re: Teen) Services Coordinator at Wayne County Public Library in Goldsboro, NC. We've been participating in NGD ever since the ALA has been sponsoring it. It's only one of many gaming programs we offer. Several times throughout the year, we have Game Days. We set up video games and let people come play. We have a multi-day Geeks and Gamers festival every summer, with video games and board games set-up and comics, manga, and sci-fi/fantasy books on display. We have bi-weekly Dungeons and Dragons nights and monthly Magic: the Gathering nights.

It helps tremendously that I'm a gamer and I know well the educational benefits of games and gaming. Any activity that teachers people to play nice and strengthens their skills at technology use is a good thing.

Yes, the games do have to be family-friendly; lots of libraries do have adults-only gaming nights, however, and that's something that's definitely in our future, I'm sure.

Libraries have embraced gaming in a big way. It's good for us in libraries, but it's also good for gamers. It helps establish gaming as a beneficial social activity and games as a legitimate artistic outlet. It's pure win. :)
 

Tirnor

New member
Sep 3, 2009
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As a Library IT worker, I have been running a summer video gaming and tabletop gaming program for about 5 years now (My first 'generation' of players are now heading to college/military/etc). The vast majority of its resources came out of my own pocket.

It's a shame that it took this long for such things to catch on, and just when many local library districts (and employees) lack the discretionary funds to take part.

For example, according to their listing of my state, I'd have to travel at least 2 counties in any given direction to find a library participating in this program, which not surprisingly would be the distance I'd have to travel to a reasonably sized metropolitan area with a more solid tax base.

...

Nevertheless, it's great news. I hope it really takes off, but I can't help but wonder how many patrons I could have pulled in and introduced to the world of gaming if I could have found some of this 'official' support sooner.
 

level250geek

New member
Jan 8, 2009
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Tirnor said:
As a Library IT worker, I have been running a summer video gaming and tabletop gaming program for about 5 years now (My first 'generation' of players are now heading to college/military/etc). The vast majority of its resources came out of my own pocket.

It's a shame that it took this long for such things to catch on, and just when many local library districts (and employees) lack the discretionary funds to take part.

For example, according to their listing of my state, I'd have to travel at least 2 counties in any given direction to find a library participating in this program, which not surprisingly would be the distance I'd have to travel to a reasonably sized metropolitan area with a more solid tax base.

...

Nevertheless, it's great news. I hope it really takes off, but I can't help but wonder how many patrons I could have pulled in and introduced to the world of gaming if I could have found some of this 'official' support sooner.
Five years ago is when we did our first program as well.

It took lots of libraries doing gaming programs, without support from the ALA, for it to catch on on a large scale. It is rather unfortunate that, yes, it seems to be lighting up just as libraries are struggling the hardest now.

Tirnor, have you looked into grant opportunities? I know that Demco is having a contest to win a $5000 shopping spree for gaming programs.
 

Fox242

El Zorro Cauto
Nov 9, 2009
868
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Alright! That's my 21st birthday coincidenatally! Anyway, this is great stuff, glad to see that the libraries are embracing modern technology as a social experience. Awesome stuff.