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

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 →

David Gibson. (Photo: Geo. Willeman/Library of Congress)

Bookend: Game On

November 1, 2015

David Gibson, a moving image technician, is LC’s videogame steward, and he earned the role by chance. “I was the youngest person in the office, so they gave me the job,” he says, laughing. He does credit gaming as a youth and while in graduate school with providing a background to archive the 4,000 videogame … Continue reading Bookend: Game On →

Academic Tools

By Phil Morehart | October 30, 2015

Games to test college-level writing Toolwire develops, delivers, and supports immersive learning tools for online and blended learning courses. It’s a new name in game-based learning, but it is already earning accolades for the new directions it’s taking to enhance the educational gaming experience. Through customer feedback and user testing, Toolwire learned that a game’s … Continue reading Academic Tools →

A Place for Play

By Abby Johnson | September 10, 2015

There is a wide range of possibilities, no matter what your budget may be. An amazing play space can make your library a destination for young patrons, as it has at the Barrington Area (Ill.) Library (BAL), where open-ended activities engage a variety of age groups and encourage adult-child interaction. BAL’s activities and spaces in … Continue reading A Place for Play →

G. Willow Wilson at the ACRL 2015 conference

ACRL 2015 Conference Record Opening

By Laurie D. Borman | March 26, 2015

G. Willow Wilson, creator of the Ms. Marvel comic series starring a Muslim superhero named Kamala Khan, headlined the opening session. A prize-winning fantasy author and journalist, Wilson is an American convert to Islam who has lived in both the US and Egypt. Wilson said she initially figured the Ms. Marvel series would run no … Continue reading ACRL 2015 Conference Record Opening →

Gamification as a Tool

By Bohyun Kim | March 13, 2015

If we can experience game aesthetics in real life, as well as in front of a video console or a computer screen, why wouldn’t we? If everyday drudgery, dull learning experience, and stressful tasks can be ameliorated with the application of game dynamics and mechanics, wouldn’t that be a great thing? In discussing Chore Wars … Continue reading Gamification as a Tool →

Rolling the Dice in an Academic Library

by Jayne Blodgett and Peter Bremer | December 1, 2014

Admittedly, that last event may not be a traditional academic library service. But at Briggs, we’ve supplemented those traditional services by staying open until late in the evening one Friday every month to offer students the chance to unwind at Game Night @ Briggs Library. During Game Night, students can set aside their papers and … Continue reading Rolling the Dice in an Academic Library →

Latest Library Links

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Nora Neus writes: “On a recent spring Saturday morning in Uvalde, Texas, young library patrons were learning how to set off a volcano. With help from Michelle Ramirez, outreach coordinator for the Children’s Bereavement Center of South Texas, kids carefully poured vinegar into a glass bottle with baking soda. Almost instantly, the concoction bubbled up and overflowed, to shrieks of joy and giggles. But the activity wasn’t just for fun. It was part of a grief counseling session for children following the massacre at Robb Elementary School on May 24, 2022, that killed 19 students and two teachers.”

American Libraries feature, May 22
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Sheree Strange writes: “Nothing beats a good podcast while doing chores, taking a drive, working out, or even making dinner. And of course, we especially cannot resist podcasts about books. We want to hear about hot new releases, indie titles we missed, and creepy books to keep us awake all night long. Not to mention those coveted author interviews and spicy opinions. Find the best bookish podcasts—and we say “bookish” because not all are limited to solely book talk. A few will cover multiple topics.”

The Uncorked Librarian, May 20
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Chris Reber writes: “Ten students at Landisville (Pa.) Middle School staged a walkout and protest Tuesday morning in opposition to proposed school district policies that they call censorship. The Hempfield School District board of directors is considering a set of policies that would lay the groundwork for reviewing and potentially removing library books deemed sexually explicit or inappropriate for students. The students said the policies would hurt their education and infringe on their civil rights.”

LNP Lancaster Online, May 17
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Jason Scott writes: “While there are plenty of items at the Internet Archive that have no obvious home elsewhere online, there are also cases where we hold a copy of a frequently-available set of material, but we can provide it for much easier distribution and preview, including the ability to download the entire original set of files in one fell swoop. Such it is with the USC Sound Effects Library, a collection of .WAV files taken from rapidly crumbling magnetic tape and presented for reference, enjoyment and even projects.”

Internet Archive Blogs, May 20
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Tate Ryan-Mosley writes: “Robyn Caplan understands the fragility of digital memories intimately. After tragically losing both of her parents in recent years, Caplan treasures the digital possessions she inherited. She cherishes her mom’s iPad, access to their email inboxes, and message threads with both of them. It allows her to see the world through the eyes of her parents, she says. But on May 16, Google announced that starting in December 2023, it would delete personal accounts that haven’t been active in over two years. Photos, emails, and docs attached to inactive accounts will all be eradicated as part of the policy.”

MIT Technology Review, May 19
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David Nield writes: “Your laptop is going to pick up dust, grime, and fingerprints as you use it day to day—and not only does this make it less appealing to look at and work with but it also encourages bacteria to set up home on your portable computer and can reduce its lifespan. Like your bathroom or your car, it’s a good idea to regularly clean your laptop, and it’s not difficult to do. You may already have everything you need for the job, and if not, the necessary supplies can be sourced inexpensively.”

The Verge, May 16
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Andrew Albanese writes: “In response to a troubling wave of book bans, PEN America, Penguin Random House, a group of authors, and a group of parents have filed a federal lawsuit against a Florida school district over the ‘unconstitutional’ removal of books from school libraries. The suit, filed on May 16 in the Northern District of Florida in Pensacola, alleges that administrators and school board members in Florida’s Escambia County School District are violating the First Amendment as well as the 14th Amendment (the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution) because the books being singled out are ‘disproportionately books by non-white and/or LGBTQ+ authors.’”

Publishers Weekly, May 17

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