Another Session: Making Book: Gaming in the Library

By Natalie Gick, Simon Fraser University

GamesRoom is in it's third iteration

GamesRoom v1: TechBC
Student Initiative: for game design, other areas of study, future employment

GamesRoom v2: SFU Surrey
PCs, Consoles and TVs
Students using GamesRoom started using other library services

GamesRoom v3: New campus
About 500 sq. ft.
Gaming equipment and shelving, soundproof

400+ games
3 day loan
Boxes shelved, games behind shelf
Lock or loan (TVs are locked down, everything else is checked out)

Also have a guitar and a driving wheel

PC Games
Over 100
4 hour loan (for in-library use)

Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS

Legacy Systems: Reproduction arcade game with lots of old games

Copyright and Loans
PC Games: Click-through licenses, compromise is 4 hour loan period
Console games: DVD-like
Permission to Loan: who owns rights?, asking was largely unsuccessful

Partnerships/Collaboration: Library, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Academic Computing Services (buy and support), Student Games Club (3 liaisons to library)

Management: Pre-load (can run out of space), now hybrid (pre-install some, students install others, regularly re-image)

Multiplayer gaming: Games Night in the labs (sponsored by Games Club), computers are reimaged the next day

Online Gaming: uses too much bandwidth

Selecting Games: Students, Gaming Research Group, Faculty & Graduate Students, Librarian Jamie Anderson (use Metacritic, Game Developer Choice Awards, BAFTA, School Library Journal to help)

Purchasing Games: Amazon, Best Buy, Baker & Taylor, EB Games, Library Acquisitions (Platform, version, direct link to game)

Cataloging: Searchable platform (538 System Requirements) or Local MARC field (made searchable, created authority file for platform names), game Key is suppressed in local field

Challenges: Equipment failures, Noise, Monopolized (not enough women), Abuse of privileges

Code of Conduct

My summary: What a fantastic idea for libraries! A space that's completely fun for students to use to blow off steam. That is a great way of doing outreach.

Next Techsource Session: Gaming in the Library: From Collections to Services and Beyond

By Lisa Hinchcliff from UIUC

Gaming Initiative:

Collections
Games are an important text of our culture, trying to create a historic collection today
Needs assessment
Funding: used media and monograph money, Friends of Library, donations
Collection Storage: anything that would fit into lockable DVD case is on shelf, Guitar Hero guitar is at desk
Access and Use Policies: 1 week checkout (same as movies)
Licensing/Publisher Relations: game system games not a problem, PC games are a problem because of registration

Archiving
Game as Object (the game itself) vs. Game as Experience (game as people played it)
Vintage Games Donations
Emulation and Emulators (code)
XBox Live and Nintendo Virtual Console

Teaching and Research
Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary
Classroom Use and Support (games on reserve, loaded on library computers)

Outreach
Gaming News Blog
Gaming Nights
Librarians as Researchers and Teachers
Collaborations on Archival and Use Standards
Campus Gaming in Learning Symposium in Fall 2008

Summary: UIUC does cool stuff.