Post by leunas on Jan 22, 2007 19:19:19 GMT -5
The Library: a bastion of books, silence, nerds, old people, the homeless and now, video games. A children's librarian once told me that the only reason kids come to the library after school anymore is to use the computers to play online games. He spends more time signing kids up for computers and making sure the kids aren't gambling than he actually helps people with books. So, I was interested to see this article on Bits, Bytes, Pixels and Sprites about how some libraries are using video games to lure people through their doors.
BBPS points to a story on The Shifted Librarian about a Louisiana Library Systems Administrator who is trying to get the Wii into his local branch.
The Lafayette Public Library System in Louisiana held a tournament using their Gamecube, but Systems Administrator Adam Melancon also brought in his own Wii to let folks play with. He's already started thinking about best practices (for example, put an "x" on the floor using tape so that people know where to stand or else they tend to move about and run into things!). Adam even has Friends of the Library money to buy two Wiis, four Wiimotes (controllers), and two copies of "Excite Truck" for the Library if he can just get his hands on them.
And so, the final downfall of the Public Library System begins. Soon they will be nothing more than a book museum where you go to play games and remember what it was like when you were still able to read something more lengthy than an instruction manual.
Wiibraries [The Shifted Librarian]
www.kotaku.com/gaming/library/libraries-not-just-for-books-anymore-230217.php