Greetings. So, as you may have guessed by my user name, I am indeed a Librarian. I work for a public library in a large-ish Canadian city, which is certainly one of the greatest jobs a person can have. It's tons of fun.
Anyway, my library system is coming up to the two-year anniversary of having video games as part of its collection. We carry games from the 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2. The only limitation (to date) with them is that we only carry games that are rated 'T for Teen' and younger. So far, it's been pretty successful in that it represents an acknowledgement that games are becoming recognized as a legitimate art form on par with books, movies, etc. On the other hand, there is a lot of shovelware in the collection (Carnival Games, anyone?), and there is a distinct lack of quality 'M' rated games.
Well, this isn't really much of a blog post I guess. What I'm hoping for is some feedback from you about whether your local library has video games, and what you think about it. Who knows, maybe this will be an interesting discussion. Thanks for reading!
Library
Location » linked to 180 games
Where people come to browse and borrow books and other media, or do research. May contain a shushing librarian. Also some mansions may contain a room called the library.
Video Games in Public Libraries. Thoughts?
Greetings. So, as you may have guessed by my user name, I am indeed a Librarian. I work for a public library in a large-ish Canadian city, which is certainly one of the greatest jobs a person can have. It's tons of fun.
Anyway, my library system is coming up to the two-year anniversary of having video games as part of its collection. We carry games from the 360, PS3, Wii, and PS2. The only limitation (to date) with them is that we only carry games that are rated 'T for Teen' and younger. So far, it's been pretty successful in that it represents an acknowledgement that games are becoming recognized as a legitimate art form on par with books, movies, etc. On the other hand, there is a lot of shovelware in the collection (Carnival Games, anyone?), and there is a distinct lack of quality 'M' rated games.
Well, this isn't really much of a blog post I guess. What I'm hoping for is some feedback from you about whether your local library has video games, and what you think about it. Who knows, maybe this will be an interesting discussion. Thanks for reading!
The library on my base has a few games.
Most people can't afford games, so this is a good alternative.
I say no because the library is a place for learning as much as that sucks i think it should stay that way
My local library has a few old PC games available for borrowing. That's how I first played Secret of Monkey Island ;)
@FrostedDolphin: It's ironic that you would speak about learning, considering the obvious ;)
I haven't seen any games at my library, I usually go for DVD's when renting media since why go to blockbuster when I can rent movies at the library for free. I think the fact that you have videogames at yours is great.
" @Axxol: they should just pirate them according to you lmao "I never said that, but nice try!!!
I've never heard of this but I can see it being a good idea and if they had this in my area I would definitely check it out.
I support this idea because I think that libraries are criminally underused here in the States. If tax dollars are going to go toward it, we should be getting as much out of them as possible.
It's a really exciting time to be in libraries now because we are making a serious effort to dispel a lot of the stereotypes people have (i.e. 'Shhhh'). I can't tell you how many times people have walked in and marvelled that we have more than books.
What my long-term career goal is, is for them to create a position of 'Video Game Librarian'. It occurs to me that my whole life since Colecovision has revolved around finding a way to get paid lots of money to play games.
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