Gaming has branched out of arcades and basements asserts WIRED magazine writer Rex Sorgatz. He summarizes his article, "When Reality Feels Like Playing a Game, a New Era Has Begun," with:

Of course, the basics of gameplay — competing against opponents,
setting records, winning prizes — are as old as human civilization. But
the gaming mindset has now become pervasive. We use game models to
motivate ourselves, to answer questions, to find creative solutions.
For many, life itself has turned into a game.

Gaming is racking up points in libraries too. Public libraries offer three months of gaming every year in the form of Summer Reading. (Counting books or minutes read in order to earn prizes is pretty obvious.) School libraries are usually closely tied into the Accelerated Reader system, which is yet another game to encourage reading.

But we haven't hit the high score yet. There's still a lot more libraries could do to utilize game theory for maximum effect. What about having library users earn points for referring friends to sign up for library cards? Or special priviledges for always bringing books back on time? Or a weekly prize drawing for kids who follow the rules?

The possiblities are endless. Whatever you do to put more game into your library, you'll be more relevant in this new life-is-a-game era. Libraries need to level up their services by being more fun and more interesting. Are you game?

You got Meebo in my Firefox!
You got Firefox in my Meebo!

Two great web services that taste great together.

If you use Firefox to browse the web (and why wouldn't you?) and if you use Meebo to handle IM reference and/or to IM coworkers across various networks, you'll love the new Meebo Firefox add-on.

This little doozy of an add-on makes it easy to see when other people IM you, even if you aren't looking right at the Meebo window. You can even have it sign you into Meebo automatically when you start Firefox, making it even more like traditional desktop IM clients (but without the extra software).

Aaron Schmidt (of walkingpaper.org) has more of the skinny or check out TechCrunch's coverage of this nifty new add-on. Do you Meebo and Firefox?

If you've been around kids at all in the past ten years, you've undoubtably heard of the Japanese juggernaut known as Pokémon. Even ten years after it first hit state-side, kids are still clamoring to collect, trade and battle the virtual monsters. The latest incarnation of the series, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, have already sold over 8.76 million copies worldwide.

With just a small investment of time (and possibly money), you can leverage this portable video game franchise at your library. Just advertise an hour (or more) each week when kids can bring their portable game systems to the library to battle and trade each other. It really doesn't take any more than that to attract a regular following of Pokémaniacs who will come to the library week after week.

However, if you want to "evolve" your program to a new level, consider these extras:

• Teach Yourself Pokémon
  Study the basics of the games and your Pokémon players will be duly impressed. Start with online resources like Wikipedia or Bulbapedia and then branch out. If you really want to awe them, why not pick up the game and play through yourself?
• Provide Game Boy Advance Link Cables
  Nintendo DS players can use their built-in wireless to play with others, but Game Boy Advance gamers need good ol' fashioned cables to connect up. By providing inexpensive link cables, you'll let everyone enjoy the multiplayer fun. (Here's an example of a suitable link cable available online from GameStop.)
• Provide a Nintendo Wii & Pokémon Battle Revolution
  Kids love getting to see their favorite Pokémon duke it out on a big-screen TV. You can give them this experience (and make it a spectator sport for everyone) by providing a Nintendo Wii and Pokémon Battle Revolution. Players with a Nintendo DS and either Pokémon Diamond or Pearl will be able to wireless connect to the Wii to battle it out in 3D for everyone's entertainment.

So what's stopping you from tapping the Pokécraze that's been captivating kids everywhere? By doing so, you can push other library offerings (like Pokémon books, videos or music) at the same time. But, best of all, kids will continue to think of your library as an awesome place to play with their peers, further forging a lifelong love of libraries.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past several years, you're no doubt familiar with the ubiquitous Wikipedia. However, based on my personal experience, it seems that most people, including librarians, don't really understand how the participatory online encyclopedia works.

That's why I was thrilled when I saw the New York Times ran an article earlier this week titled "All the News That's Fit to Print Out". Though I recommend reading the whole piece, here's the last thoughtful bit from the conclusion:

Wikipedia may not exactly be a font of truth, but it does go against the current of what has happened to the notion of truth. The easy global dissemination of, well, everything has generated a D.I.Y. culture of proud subjectivity, a culture that has spread even to relatively traditional forms like television — as in the ascent of advocates like Lou Dobbs or Bill O’Reilly, whose appeal lies precisely in their subjectivity even as they name-check “neutrality” to cover all sorts of journalistic sins. But the Wikipedians, most of them born in the information age, have tasked themselves with weeding that subjectivity not just out of one another’s discourse but also out of their own. They may not be able to do any actual reporting from their bedrooms or dorm rooms or hotel rooms, but they can police bias, and they do it with a passion that’s no less impressive for its occasional excess of piety. Who taught them this? It’s a mystery; but they are teaching it to one another.

Aren't Wikipedians striving for the same neutral objectivity that we in the library profession hold as one of our central tenets? These people are our comrades-in-arms, closer aligned to our values than we might think at first blush.

We have much to offer each other. I'll go out on a limb and suggest that we, the library professionals rooted in an ancient and noble tradition, could stand to learn much from these upstart Wikipedians about how unbiased information can survive in this tumultuous Digital Age. Furthermore, could we not devote more into teaching these pioneers with the training and experience we've accumulated over the years? Wikipedia could be one of our greatest allies in creating the future for libraries.

Although I've focused on video games for youth (see Wii's Winning Ways and Nintendo Wii @ Your Library?) kids aren't the only ones who want to play. Case in point: Ada Community Library's first Video Gaming Night for Adults was a huge success! Just check out two of our "guitar heroes" demonstrating how much they love to rock the library!

When planning video game programs (or collections) for adults and teenagers, you'll want to ensure you have games (and consoles) that appeal to both novices (also called "n00bs") and veterans. Some adults will have lots of experience with video games (you might consider tapping them for their knowledge!) while others might not have touched a video game system since the golden days of the original Super Mario Bros on the NES.

If you need ideas for video games with wide appeal, here is what worked at our Video Gaming Night for Adults:

• Excite Truck on the Nintendo Wii (2 players)
• Guitar Hero II on the Sony PlayStation 2 (2 players)
• Karaoke Revolution Party on the Microsoft Xbox (1-2 players)
• Mario Party 8 on the Nintendo Wii (4 players)
• Soul Calibur III on the Sony PlayStation 2 (2 players)

If you (or your administration) have balked at purchasing video games for your library because of their perceived limited appeal, you should definitely reconsider. Video games at the library can be appreciated by all of your patrons, from grandchild to grandparent.

With just a few video game purchases, your library can become something that appeals to nearly everyone, including a bowling alley, a karaoke bar, a racing simulator, and a rock concert. So pick up a controller (whether it's a Wiimote, microphone, a steering wheel, or a plastic guitar) and discover for yourself just how captivating these games can be. Rock on!