games and gaming Archives | Page 3 of 4 | American Libraries Magazine

Dewey Decibel Podcast: Beyond Our Borders

August 30, 2019

First, American Libraries Senior Editor George Eberhart speaks with Nigerian-American science-fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor (Who Fears Death and The Book of Phoenix) about how her heritage influences her work. Then, Dewey Decibel host and American Libraries Senior Editor Phil Morehart speaks with Jonathon Hodge, digital literacy service lead at Toronto Public Library, and Mark Williams, chief librarian … Continue reading Dewey Decibel Podcast: Beyond Our Borders →

Newsmaker: Emma Boettcher

By George M. Eberhart | June 11, 2019

When did you first try out for Jeopardy? I first auditioned for the show when I was just about to graduate from high school. At the time, I was trying to get on the show’s College Championship. (I could audition for that as a high school student because the tournament would tape and air when … Continue reading Newsmaker: Emma Boettcher →

Students play videogames during the grand opening of the Nest, the e-sports facility at University of North Texas in Denton. Photo: Photo: University of North Texas

Wide World of E-Sports

By Timothy Inklebarger | May 1, 2018

The biggest competitions in the world of e-sports—of which the most popular include League of Legends, Super Smash Bros., and Overwatch—fetch top players millions of dollars in prizes, and in 2017 the industry is estimated to have earned $696 million in revenue. Universities across the country have established e-sports teams, and some of the top … Continue reading Wide World of E-Sports →

Students assemble the Ultimate Shootout game from the littleBits Code Kit.

Coding for Fun

By Carrie Smith | May 1, 2018

littleBits Code Kit Little Bits has been used in classrooms and makerspaces for years as a platform for building and experimenting with electronics. The Code Kit, released in summer 2017, is its first education-oriented kit to incorporate simple coding into projects. The kit introduces an LED matrix and a “codeBit” to the littleBits collection of … Continue reading Coding for Fun →

Clockwise from top: Ben Almoite, Jennifer Hills, Gretchen Neidhardt, Margaret Miles, Ken Hirsh, and Sarah Trowbridge with Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek.

The Badass Librarians of Jeopardy!

By Anne Ford | November 1, 2017

“We use a lot of librarians on the show,” says longtime Jeopardy! staffer Maggie Speak. “One of the coolest things about being a librarian, from what we hear from our contestants, is that on any given day they’re facing a whole new set of questions or problems, and that keeps them very sharp. Plus, for … Continue reading The Badass Librarians of Jeopardy! →

(L-R): Donald Dennis, Sito Sanchez, Anthony Boyd, Yumi Hoashi, and Michael Parker at "Tabletop Games 101"

The Benefits of Tabletop Games for Libraries

By Dawn Abron | June 26, 2017

Card games such as Yu-Gi-Oh can be played between two people or as tournaments between four people. The objective is to get your opponent’s score to zero. The benefits of card games include sportsmanship, problem solving, and strategy. Meanwhile, role-playing games allow players to collaboratively use their imagination to tell stories. Libraries can also host a … Continue reading The Benefits of Tabletop Games for Libraries →

To Reveal Research Topics, Play This Card Game

By Jennifer Putnam Davis | June 25, 2017

Instead, Baglier and her colleague, associate university librarian Michelle Leonard, have developed a simple card game called Keywords to Mastery to help their students connect the right keywords to topics and find appropriate library resources. This interactive session, sponsored by ALA’s Games and Gaming Round Table, introduced Keywords to Mastery to attendees, who were broken up into … Continue reading To Reveal Research Topics, Play This Card Game →

Attendees at the Gaming As Meaningful Education conference try out new tabletop games for the classroom.

Playing Games with Curriculum Development

By Joshua J. Carlson | September 27, 2016

Conference cochair Christopher Harris, director of the Genesee Valley (N.Y.) School Library System and editorial director of Play Play Learn, stressed that games should not just be played, they should be treated as any other curriculum-aligned instructional resource. He looked at considerations for selecting games, thoughts on how to align games with the curriculum, and … Continue reading Playing Games with Curriculum Development →

Attendees at the Gaming As Meaningful Education conference, cosponsored by the American Association of School Librarians and the American Library Association’s Games & Gaming Round Table, solve puzzles in an escape room challenge.

Librarians Get Their GAME On

By Joshua J. Carlson | September 26, 2016

Game-based programs are my top teen program area, and I have seen firsthand how playing games can break down barriers—including gender, age, and race—between people. I wanted to look at gaming from a more educational vantage point to see how I can increase that aspect of game play in a public library setting. The opportunity … Continue reading Librarians Get Their GAME On →

Newsmaker: Jamie Lee Curtis

By Terra Dankowski | September 1, 2016

Your new book, This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From, explores themes of immigration and origin. Was there anything about the current climate in this country that compelled you to cover these themes? This is not a political book. Every person has an immigrant story in their family, … Continue reading Newsmaker: Jamie Lee Curtis →

From left: Joelle Pitts, Camille Chesley, Jami Schwarzwalder, Kelly Sattler, and Jeff Lacy

Gamification for Teens and College Students

By Kara Pauley | June 27, 2016

The panel included: moderator Breanne Kirsch, public services librarian at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg; Joelle Pitts, instructional design librarian at Kansas State University Library in Manhattan, Kansas; Camille Chesley, reference and instruction librarian at the University of Montevallo in Alabama; Jami Schwarzwalder, teen librarian at South Hill Pierce County (Wash.) Library; … Continue reading Gamification for Teens and College Students →

A billboard of Conquest of the Realm maps.

Engaging Students through Gamification

By Tasha Squires | March 1, 2016

In 2015, teacher-librarian Tasha Squires of O’Neill Middle School in Downers Grove, Illinois, entered the Follett Challenge, an annual contest from Follett School Solutions that showcases schools with innovative methods for learning 21st-century skills. O’Neill Middle School won the grand prize—$60,000—and has used the funding to enhance its reading and writing program. Here, Squires explains … Continue reading Engaging Students through Gamification →

Latest Library Links

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Angela Hursh writes: “Libraries have great stories to tell. But getting the media to listen isn’t always easy. Here are the top 10 practical tips that Leslie Marinelli, communications manager at Forsyth County (Ga.) Public Library; Ray Holley, communications manager at Sonoma County (Calif.) Library; and I shared [at a recent online panel] for getting your library into the news.”

Super Library Marketing, June 30
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Pranay Parab writes: “I’ve mostly been really happy with my M1 MacBook Air, which I’ve been using for nearly three years now. However, I regret not going for the variant with 16GB of RAM. The newer laptop still occasionally slows down when I open too many browser tabs. Luckily, I did some troubleshooting and fixed the problem, and I’m here to share what I’ve learned with you. So, if Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari or other browsers are slowing down on your computer, try some of these tips to nip that problem in the bud.”

Lifehacker, June 26
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Victoria Cox writes: “LaRue County (Ky.) Board of Education heard both criticism and praise last week when members were asked to remove 14 books from the high school library. Although the vote was split, the board ultimately refused to ban the books, citing the need to uphold the constitutional rights of students” by a 4–1 vote. Books the board considered include The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi; Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas, and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.

LaRue County (Ky.) Herald News, June 25
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Jennifer A. Keach, Jenne M. Klotz, and Galen J. Talis write: “Library leaders at all levels are well-placed to create opportunities for joy in their organizations and to model how to do so with nuance and balance. Toward that end, we explored the multidisciplinary literature and compiled an annotated bibliography for leaders who wish to support joy within groups, organizational change agents who want to create equitable conditions for joy in the workplace, and readers seeking to develop their personal practice of joy. We provide a guide exploring five themes: defining joy, finding individual joy, work and organizational joy, empowering change with joy, and joy-adjacent emotions.”

Library Leadership and Management, June 30
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David Vickers Loertscher and Michelle Young write: “This tutorial introduces school librarians to the use of data visualization tools for documenting and communicating their impact on teaching and learning. By leveraging accessible platforms like Google Forms and Google Sheets, the authors demonstrate how librarians can build dashboards and real-time visual reports to showcase co-teaching, instructional collaboration, and student engagement. The tutorial features real-world examples, highlights common data sources already available to librarians, and argues that dynamic visual storytelling is a powerful alternative to traditional library statistics.”

Learning Hub, June 25
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Robin Camille Davis writes: “It wasn’t until seven years into my career as a user experience librarian that I realized I’d been accidentally excluding a sizable segment of users from my user research. Interviews, surveys, and usability studies favor people who are gifted at oral and written communication. What about people who are more gifted at visual communication? In the context of user research, this participatory design invites participants to design their own response to a given prompt.”

Choice 360 LibTech Insights, June 30
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Stories from communities nationwide come to life on ALA’s new Show Up for Our Libraries interactive site map. The stories illustrate the real-life consequences of potential funding cuts to rural, research, city, state, and university library programs and, in turn, to the hundreds of millions of library users across the country. Services such as summer reading programs, telehealth resources, interlibrary loan, and ebooks have all been affected. ALA collected the stories in conversation with patrons, library professionals, and advocates across the country to better understand the impact of federal funding cuts since the President’s executive order to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

ALA Public Policy and Advocacy Office, June 25

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