Playing Games in Nebraska

March 6, 2009

People have been commenting about the ironic juxtaposition of the two top stories in this week's edition of American Libraries Direct: #1 Nebraska Auditor Cries Foul on Gaming: A 10-minute YouTube video posted by the Nebraska Library Commission to announce the purchase of Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution resulted—roughly a year later—in an audit in which Nebraska Auditor of Public Accounts Mike Foley concluded that “the purchase of gaming equipment is a questionable use of public funds,” and that “using social websites and gaming equipment on State time and with State computers . . . appears to be an inappropriate use of public funds.” #2 ALA Releases Gaming Tool Kit: In recognition of the increasing value of gaming to literacy improvement, ALA—with assistance from a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation—has developed the "Librarian’s Guide to Gaming: An Online Toolkit for Building Gaming @ your library." The toolkit includes a wide range of resources, contributed by expert gaming librarians across the country, to help librarians create, fund, and evaluate gaming experiences in the library. Coincidentally, these two stories were the two top stories of the week, but their appearance together was also a deliciously subtle slap at the rather shallow judgment of one Nebraska auditor and the unidentified taxpayer who initiated the audit, who both might better have turned their attention elsewhere to look for government waste. Libraries are notorious for their wise use of public funds and for squeezing more bang out of a buck than any other institution. While one reader told me she worried that the placement of the stories one after the other might offend the Verizon Foundation, which has been so instrumental in supporting library gaming initiatives, others have assured me that the second story reads like a rebuttal to the first and a great counterpoint to two barely informed people who haven't a clue about 1) the value of games as learning tools, and 2) the good stewardship that libraries in Nebraska and across the nation have shown for every support dollar they are able to obtain. Dale Lipschultz, literacy officer in the ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services, sent me an e-mail immediately after AL Direct mailed, saying, "I love the juxtaposition of these two news stories! This made my day." She agreed that the appearance of the two stories together was fortuitous, and gave the appearance that ALA was way ahead of the game, so to speak. It is unfortunate that library gaming got a bad rap in Nebraska, but the state's librarians know what to do. Good information and an afternoon with a group of young learners @ their library just might just turn Mr. Foley and the irritated taxpayer around.

Booklist sat down with author Ann Brashares to talk about her new book "3 Willows" and how it compares to her bestselling "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" series. Brashares opens up about the chances of the new book expanding into a series, how hard it is to let go of beloved characters, and how she likes to imagine her characters' lives at age 4, 14, 40, and beyond.

ALA Presidential Candidate Question Responses: Stevens on E-participation

ALA Presidential Candidate Roberta Stevens responds to Tom Peters's question on how ALA can enable participation without travel. More ALA videos at alfocus.ala.org.

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Genevieve Trainor writes: “The Guinness World Record holder for Most Prolific Book Thief is Ottumwa (Iowa’s) Stephen Blumberg. The 23,600 volumes he accumulated between the 1970s and his arrest in March of 1990 were all stashed in his 17-room home. Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, got involved with Blumberg as part of the FBI’s efforts to return the stolen manuscripts and rare books to their museums and libraries. Referred to as the Omaha Project, the information science proving ground involved four weeks, 44 catalogers and reference librarians and 600 volunteer hours to determine who might be the rightful owners.”

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Latia Ward writes: “One way to keep current with what students think of the library and its services is through Student Library Advisory Committee meetings. These meetings are a way to gather feedback and reinforce the library as a welcoming place. How do librarians create a welcoming environment within Student Library Advisory Committee meetings? Librarians create a welcoming environment through community, purpose, and dedicated space.” Also see part 1 of this blog post.

RIPS Law Librarian Blog, Nov. 13, Dec. 5
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Eleanor Hecks writes: “Few things are as frustrating to a user as when a site won’t respond. Unfortunately, it’s also an all-too-common scenario. Graceful degradation is a design approach that ensures the basics of a website will still function even if specific individual parts of it stop working. The approach removes single points of failure: just because one thing stops working doesn’t mean the system as a whole fails. A site following this principle fails in pieces instead of all at once, so the most important features remain available when some components encounter an error.”

Smashing Magazine, Dec. 6
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Camruinn Morgan-Rumsey and Lexi Lepof write: “On December 3, Knox County (Tenn.) schools received a list from the district of books to be removed from school libraries under Tennessee’s Age-Appropriate Materials Act. Knox County’s board of education voted in July, passing a policy to remove ‘explicit’ books from everyday student access in response to the new law. Some of the books on the list of nearly 50 titles might surprise parents. Among those to be removed are Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five.”

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Brittany Adams writes: “The digital landscape of libraries is expanding rapidly, with an increasing shift towards electronic resources and online services. As members of the library community, we’re witnessing a transformative era where physical collections are complemented—and sometimes replaced—by digital ones. This transition offers new opportunities for enhancing accessibility and engagement, but it also presents challenges, especially for young patrons and their families. It is essential to equip children and their caregivers with the tools and knowledge they need to navigate this evolving space confidently.”

ALSC Blog, Dec. 9

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Playing Games in Nebraska

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Ann Brashares interview

ALA Presidential Candidate Question Responses: Stevens on E-participation

ALA Presidential Candidate Roberta Stevens responds to Tom Peters's question on how ALA can enable participation without travel. More ALA videos at alfocus.ala.org.