Gaming at Booth & Dimock

Since we didn’t have much time to talk about Gaming last Friday, I though I would mention the Gaming Club here. I inherited the program this year and have had two meetings so far, both of which went really well. I had 7 teens each time (some of them different) and they were very excited. They asked me to have meetings more frequently and are happy to suggest new games. It seems that one new one every so often keeps them excited about coming. I also let them bring games in from home as long as they are E or T rated and I do watch those to see what happens in them.

What I really like about the program is the way different ages interact. I have a 6^th grader who is teaching the 2 high school kids about a new game. I have also found that PC games are just as popular (if not more so) than the Wii and PS2.

Below is the list of resources that Lauri used to win the grant, most of them are from 2007 and older. If anyone wants any other information I would be happy to pass that on.

Braun, Linda W. “Reading–It’s Not Just About Books.” Young Adult Library Services. 5:4 (38-40), 2007.

Braun, Linda W. Teens, technology, and literacy, or, Why bad grammar isn’t always bad. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing, 2007.

“Case Studies: public libraries.” (Chapter 6). Library Technology Reports 42.5 (Sept-Oct 2006): p45(11). Student Edition. Gale.

“Conclusion: what librarians can learn from gamers.” (Chapter 8). Library Technology Reports 42.5 (Sept-Oct 2006): p60(3). Student Edition. Gale.

Czarnecki, Kelly. “A Revolution in Library Service: Gaming is more than just a lure into the library.” School Library Journal. (May 2007), p34(2).

Doshi, Ameet. “How gaming could improve information literacy.” Computers in Libraries. (May 2006). P15(3).

Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning And Literacy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

Johnson, Steven. Everything Bad Is Good For You. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005.

Johnson, Steven. “This is your brain on video games.” Discover Magazine. (July 2007): http://discovermagazine.com/2007/brain/video-games.

Ward-Crixell, Kit. “Gaming Advocacy: New ways librarians can support learning and literacy.” School Library Journal. (Sept 2007): p.36(3).

Prensky, Marc. Don’t Bother Me Mom I’m Learning. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House, 2006.

“The Gaming Generation.” (Chapter 2). Library Technology Reports 42.5 (Sept-Oct 2006): p18(6). Student Edition. Gale.

Squire, Kurt and Constance Steinkuehler. “Meet the gamers: They research, teach, learn, and collaborate. So far, without libraries.” Library Journal. (April 2005).

“Video games can reshape education: U.S. scientists.” CBc News. Oct. 19, 2006. www. cbc.ca/technology/story/2006/10/19/videogames-education.html?ref=rss

“Why Gaming? (Chapter 1). Library Technology Reports 42.5 (Sept-Oct 2006): p10(8).  Student Edition. Gale.

Teen Tech Week Displays:

if you’re in need of a display check out these booklists: Video Games and From Page to Screen

or maybe books with computers: HIVE, Entrapment, TTYL, Be More Chill, So Not Happening, Click Here, Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez,

or random technology books – Kingdom Keepers, Pengdragon series (Merchant of Death = 1), Daylight Runner, Storm, Artemis Fowl series,

or spy books – usually have fun gadgets

Teen Tech Week Ideas

Book Hunt: Kay Cassidy’s Great Scavenger Hunt Book contest

Reverse technology – update your librarian (This could work in a community where teens can help random people needing help with texting or other new technological tools)

Comic strips online:

READ THINK WRITE (is fun, but you can’t see the comic unless you print. Also the text box becomes cut off once printed)

ToonDoo – haven’t tried this one, but looks good

Bitstrips – create something funny out of the choices given

Any more that we didn’t talk about? Let us know what you’re doing!

Also don’t forget the Video Game booklist if you’re stuck for a display idea

Nonfiction Meeting

Don’t Forget about the meeting this friday @ 10 am at Killingly Public Library. Bring some nonfiction titles (with reviews) so we can chat books!  Also we’ll be talking Teen Tech Week ideas as well. See you there.

Library 2.0, Etc.

Hello, I attended the Library 2.0 and Web 2.0 Overview yesterday at WLSC and it was so great. Most of you probably already knew all about Flickr, blogging, LibraryThing, RSS feeds and all those tools for online collaborations but it is all new to me. That is why I am now brave enough to get onto this blog.
Our library is getting ready to launch a new website with a teen presence. Kathleen, our children’s librarian is at WLSC right now creating a blog and a Wiki. This is so exciting. We will be getting a group of teens together next week to for a teen tech club who will decide how they want to celebrate Teen Tech Week. We will post the results of the meeting. I am finding that teens aren’t such computer “geeks” anymore as they are gaming “geeks.”
See you all at the Canterbury Library on January 18th. We are located on Rt. 14 in Canterbury on the right hand side if you’re coming from Willimantic and right behind the post office. MS