Simon Chamberlain's library weblog » gaming http://chamberlain.net.nz/blog Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:41:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Games in libraries http://chamberlain.net.nz/blog/public-libraries/games-in-libraries/ http://chamberlain.net.nz/blog/public-libraries/games-in-libraries/#comments Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:49:48 +0000 Simon Chamberlain http://chamberlain.net.nz/blog/public-libraries/games-in-libraries/ Are public libraries turning into video game arcades? Should they? Steven Cohen responds to an article by Dave Gibson. Jenny Levine makes some good points in the comments to Steven’s post. Steven posts a follow-up. (Parenthetically, it’s sad that both Steven and Jenny have to stress that their disagreement on this issue isn’t personal. That should surely be a given, and it’s a bit of a sad reflection on the state of our (in general, not Steven’s and Jenny’s) online discourse that they have to state it explicitly). As for games in libraries: coming from a special/academic library background, I see less use/need for them than might a public librarian. I’m keeping an open mind, though. And the good thing is, as Jenny says:

not everyone likes cataloging, not everyone likes reference work, not everyone likes children’s services, not everyone likes law libraries. You don’t want to do gaming, don’t do gaming.

And we have others (in my case a colleague) who can look at these subjects on our behalf.  If gaming turns into a realistic prospect for our libraries, then they’ll be placed to offer advice. We don’t all have to do or know everything.

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