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Finish Your Games So You Can Start Your Schoolwork: A Look at Gaming in School Libraries

Article

Gaming is growing into its role as a new media, sitting beside books, music, and film as a way of both recreation and education. Games have been a part of humanity far back into history, although the hieroglyph that translates into Dance Dance Revolution has not been discovered. Libraries have also been supporters of games; many public libraries have games available in the children’s section or have hosted a chess club. As the popularity of computer and video gaming has grown, some libraries have incorporated these leisure activities into their offerings.

A lack of documentation about what other libraries are doing makes it difficult to make evidence-based decisions and to justify choices to administrators. As gaming plays a more significant role in the lives of students, librarians need access to data about how gaming is supported across many types of library settings. This article discusses the results related to school libraries from a larger-scale survey done of gaming programs in libraries.

Background

To better understand the intersection of gaming and libraries, I started with a survey of public libraries. Public libraries do not have the curriculum-based directive of school and academic libraries; in addition, one of the goals of most public libraries is to be a community hub. It is important to note that librarians were asked to consider all types of games, from traditional board and card games to Web-based computer games and console-based video games.

This study started with 400 U.S. public libraries chosen at random, and I worked with Syracuse University students to call them and ask a few questions about how they support gaming. All but 18 responded to the survey, and it was assumed that these non-responding libraries did not support gaming. This survey showed that 77% (+/-5%) of public libraries supported gaming of some type. Less than half, 43% (+/-5%), of libraries run formal gaming programs. Only about 20% (+/- 5%) circulated games. For both gaming programs and circulation of games, more libraries supported tabletop board and/or card games than electronic games. More details can be found in the white paper The Role of Gaming in Libraries: Taking the Pulse at http://boardgameswithscott.com/pulse2007.pdf .

2006 Gaming Census

The next step in this research agenda, and the focus of this article, was the 2006 census of gaming in libraries. The goal was to have librarians of all types tell us about how their libraries support gaming. This Internet-based survey was conducted in spring, 2007. We invited libraries that supported gaming of any type in 2006 to talk about how gaming was supported. Advertised on prominent lists for public, academic, and school libraries, the survey resulted in 314 responses.

About 2/3 of the responses were from public libraries and another 10% were from academic libraries. Most of the remaining responses (23%) were from school media libraries, and these 78 school media library responses are the focus of this article. These responses are not representative of any population, as this was only a convenience sample, but this pilot study indicates the need for more explanation and helps us to understand how to better ask questions in the future.

As this was a general survey to all library types, specific questions typically asked of school libraries were not used. Instead, more generic demographic measures were collected. Libraries were asked to categorize themselves by size—the largest third, the smallest third, or somewhere in the middle. Almost half of the libraries were in the middle, a little over a third categorized themselves as small, and the remaining 15% were large libraries.

Libraries were also asked to categorize themselves as rural, suburban, or urban. About 40% of the libraries were rural, another 40% were suburban, and the remaining libraries were either urban or didn’t fit in any single category.

Results from Gaming Census

The first series of questions related to the circulation of games. About 30% of the libraries that responded circulated games of some type. Table 1 contains the different types of games and how many school media libraries circulate each. Note that libraries may circulate multiple types of works.

Table 1:
Types of Games Circulated Percentage of Responding Libraries
None 69%
Board/Card Games 19%
PC Games 9%
Other 6%
Console Games (Playstation, Nintendo, Xbox) 3%
Roleplaying Games 1%

The next series of questions had to do with what types of games were allowed on library computers. About half allowed Web-based games of some type on their computers, while about a third of responding libraries allowed no games on their systems. The rest of the responses can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2:
Types of Games Allowed on Library Computers Percentage of Responding Libraries
Web-based games 51%
None 33%
Locally-installed games that are purchased 26%
Other 14%
Locally-installed games that are free 9%

Librarians also talked about the policies they have regarding games on library computers. Some reported policies at the district level, while other policies were at the school or library level. One librarian reported that their district’s policy did not allow games, but he was choosing to ignore that policy and allow games in their library.

Most policies that govern games in school media libraries fall into one of four categories. About half had some type of policy that allowed games, with 32% allowing educational games only. A smaller group (17%) had policies that allowed recreational games during free time. Some of these libraries had explicit policies based upon the other needed use for computers; if the computers were not needed for school work, then they could be used for games. About one out of five libraries had a policy preventing any gaming in the library, and 28% of libraries had no policy at all (Table 3).

Table 3:
Policy Details Percentage of Responding Libraries
No Policy in Place 28%
No Games allowed 18%
Educational Games only 32%
Recreational Games During free Time 17%
Other 5%

Individual Programs

After answering these general questions, libraries were given the opportunity to describe gaming programs in their library. Fourteen librarians chose to talk about gaming programs, so the rest of this article will discuss these programs in-depth.

The programs were a mix of educational and recreational activities; half of the programs described involved educational games. To put this in context with the larger-scale study, about 7% of the programs described by public libraries and 9% of the programs described by academic libraries involved educational games. More than half (57%) of the programs involved some type of competition, which was close to the result for the other types of libraries.

The libraries reported the goals and outcomes for the program. The goals were selected from a list, or libraries could add their own. For school libraries, the goal of running the programs varied considerably; there was no popular answer. In public libraries the most popular goal was to attract an underserved group of users to the library. The different goals and their frequencies can be seen in Table 4.

Table 4:
Most Important Goal Frequency
To attract an underserved group of users to the library 3
To allow users to improve their skills/knowledge 3
To increase the library’s role as a community hub 2
To provide an additional service for a group of active library users 2
To recognize the cultural significance of the gaming medium and to participate in it 1
Keep them busy 1
Fundraiser 1
To help develop new literacies 1

This diverse spread of goals suggests an interesting challenge for school librarians trying to develop gaming programs and for researchers looking to support these librarians. One of the long-term goals of this gaming research agenda is to develop gaming programs based upon these goals. Since school media gaming programs have a wider variety of goals, it is more difficult to create gaming programs that can meet all of those goals. Researchers developing programs to be used in school media programs need to create smaller program components that can be assembled by an individual librarian based upon their local needs.

Users were also asked about the outcomes of the gaming program. For 8 of the 14 programs, users attended the gaming program and then came back to the library another time for a non-gaming activity. For the public libraries responding, 84% said that users who came to the gaming program returned another time. This may be representative of the fact that only 14 programs were described for school media, but is an interesting point for future exploration, as it seems counterintuitive as many students are required to visit the library in ways that they are not required to visit a public library. In contrast, only one librarian reported that users came to the library for the gaming activity, but then did not return to the library; this proportion is smaller than the 16% of public libraries reporting the same outcome.

Descriptions of Individual Programs

Of the programs described, half focused on games primarily designed for education while the other half focused on games primarily designed for recreation. These categories are not distinct; educational games will have some recreational qualities, and recreational games can teach not only traditional lessons, but also other types of skills not addressed in traditional education, as Gee explored in his book, What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.

One library turned to game show formats for educational content. This medium-sized, suburban school used a computer with an overhead projector to play games similar to Jeopardy, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and Hollywood Squares as a way of engaging 50 students in an educational and fun program. This same library employed games to encourage students to come to the library and learn about good books to read. The primary goal of these programs was to attract underserved groups of patrons to the library.

Keeping in the theme of trivia games, another library used their school’s intercom system to run school-wide trivia games. This medium-sized rural library also allowed students to play Web-based educational games in the library and circulated educational PC games.

A small urban library recognized the need to provide gaming opportunities to those whose families could not afford this luxury, and they ran a 25-student gaming program that allowed students to play both computer and board games. The librarian reported that “many urban and immigrant students do not have opportunities to play traditional board games with peers (and perhaps not even with families) so providing board games to use in school libraries offers them a chance to play with peers and learn the games.” This library also circulated board and card games and allowed patrons to play selected Web-based games on library computers.

A number of school libraries used board games such as chess and Scrabble along with puzzles like Sudoku as part of library programs. While these games do not necessarily advance the curriculum, they do allow the development of planning, logic, and critical thinking skills. Programs focused on these activities can be very low-cost with inexpensive chess boards, or free with Web-based chess games. Each of the four programs focusing on these more traditional games had a different primary goal—to be a community hub, to attract an underserved group to the library, to increase the participants’ skills/ knowledge, and to “keep them busy.”

Along with online chess, several libraries focused on selected online games. Many of the online word-based games such as Lingo and Twixt were appropriate educational activities that improve spelling and vocabulary skills. One library allowed teachers to select appropriate online games, just as the librarian might work with teachers to develop the print collection. The students were then provided with listing of these approved games for playing on library computers.

The remaining programs focused more on the recreational nature of gaming activities. While the educational gaming programs were more likely to be regular offerings of the library, the recreational gaming activities were typically tied into special programs. One medium-sized urban library ran bingo events with books for prizes. Another library turned to the popular musical video game Guitar Hero as a library fundraiser after school hours.

Many recreational gaming programs involved many types of games. One military high school ran a program twice with a wide variety of game choices from dancing games and Super Mario to Uno and Risk. A large suburban library that circulated PC games and tabletop games found success with a student-planned library program featuring Super Smash Melee, Wii Sports, UNO, and other card games.

Some libraries run regular recreational gaming programs. A creative small rural librarian ran a biweekly introductory role-playing game appropriate for children called Faery’s Tale. Another small rural library ran a monthly game program with a variety of tabletop games, such as the collectable card game Yu-Gi-Oh, party games like Scattergories and Taboo, and board games like Monopoly, Battleship, and Mars 2020. One library runs a weekly game night that draws 70 students every week. In this library no gaming is allowed during school days, but once a week students can play Halo, Dance Dance Revolution, and Wii games along with tabletop board and role-playing games. These types of multi-activity programs permit many different types of students to participate, thus allowing students from different social groups to mingle.

One librarian stated a concern with using the library space for gaming: “The shared space concept only works if gaming students can respect the rights of others to be able to use the library for more traditional services. This did not always happen as the noise level often reached outside recess levels.” This is a significant concern for the typically small facilities that school libraries occupy, as many gaming activities do create noise. One librarian provided a solution, saying that “if students get too rowdy, or if we’re full with research projects or classes, we send sets of the games (Scrabble boards and pieces, chess sets) to the study halls so that students can still play.”

Another problem came with providing appropriate supervision. One middle school had a successful chess club for three years, but had to discontinue the program as they did not have enough adult volunteers to supervise, stating that: “Many students saw the library as a welcoming spot to congregate after school. However, the lack of additional adults to supervise was a factor in my having to end the program.” One librarian had a program with age limits, but students wanted to join the gaming activities so badly that they (and sometimes their parents) would lie about their ages. Two librarians found that involving students in the organization of the event led to successful programs and more student involvement in the library.

Conclusions

Due to the size and method of the sample taken for this study, no conclusions can be drawn about the larger population of all school libraries. This study does provide some basic concepts about different ways teacher librarians are using games in their libraries, and will be useful in helping us develop measures that will provide data about the larger population.

This study highlights the variety of ways that games can be incorporated into a school library. Games do not always have to be of the “educational” variety; most games have some mix of educational and recreational components. Gaming sessions can not only be used to support the curriculum and teach students different types of skills, but also can bring in non-library users and provide additional services for existing users.

A wide variety of gaming experiences is available, and all sizes of libraries in all types of settings can find appropriate gaming activities for their space, time, and budget. Consider the desired goals for the integration of gaming into other library services, as this is useful in making decisions about what types of games to use. Much of today’s discussion of gaming in libraries focuses on the console-based music games, and these games may not be the best gaming activity for many school media applications.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following school media libraries for their participation: Bishop Kearney High School Library, Cedar Falls High School Library, Colton High School Library-Media Center, Durgee Junior High School, Goodland High School, Greenwood Friends School, Holbrook Library, Jack Werner Memorial Library-AVTEC, Manlius Pebble Hill School, Middle School Library at The American School in Japan, North Whidbey Middle School, Peters Township High School Library, Springville High School, West Genesee Middle School, and all the libraries that wished to remain anonymous.

More information about the Library Game Lab at Syracuse can be found at http://gamelab.syr.edu .

Scott Nicholson

MLA Citation

Nicholson, Scott. "Finish Your Games So You Can Start Your Schoolwork: A Look at Gaming in School Libraries." Library Media Connection, 26, no. 5, February 2008. School Library Connection, schoollibraryconnection.com/content/article/2148991.

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https://schoollibraryconnection.com/content/article/2148991

Entry ID: 2148991

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