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Going for the Gold
Innovating and Collaborating thru Gaming and Digital Technologies
The Georgetown County Library’s
Challenges and Successes
Dwight McInvaill, DirectorGeorgetown County Library, SC
Presentation to the Association for Rural and Small Libraries Conference
September 2009
Georgetown County’s Library in 1859
Prosperity on the Back of Enslaved Persons
Georgetown County Library 2009
But Enduring Problems Remain
We’ve Got Local Problems that
Need Creative Solutions!
And Also Some Scarier National Ones!
How Do We Continue to Succeed in a
Brave New World?
Let’s Do Something Exciting!
Presently, Libraries are Popular.
Recommendations for Libraries
(According to the Da Vinci Institute)
1. Evaluate the library experience (Survey the community; figure out how to get at the heart of what matters most to your community.)
2. Embrace new information technologies.
3. Preserve the memories of your own communities. (Don’t let yours disappear.)
4. Experiment with creative spaces so the future role of the library can define itself.
A Paradox?
If we would like things to remain the same –
with libraries at the center of their communities (universities, schools,
businesses, cities, towns, etc.)
– then, maybe, we have got to do some things differently?
Augmented Library Users?
Graz University of Technology, Austria
Augmented Libraries?
Graz Tech University, Austria
Brabant Library, Netherlands (proposed)
American Library Association Library in Second Life
Why Wait for the Future?
Delft Library, Netherlands
We Need to Cultivate All of Our Resources
Now!
Georgetown County Library, South Carolina
Our Library Faces Challenges. For example, we have
• Limited Resources– Staff (Only 24 FTEs to serve
60,000 citizens at 4 locations)– Money (Of 42 public library
systems in SC, we rank only 19th in total operating income)
• Lack of Expertise• Need to Garner Support for
Innovations from:– Library Board, Itself– County Government– Staff– General Public– Grant Givers
The Library Does All Sorts of Programs for
Youngsters
We’ve had Success in Innovating and Collaborating
When We Hosted a Ben Franklin Exhibit, We Even Had Dancing in the
Heart of the Exhibit!
To achieve success , we collaborated successfully with our national funders,
with the Humanities Council of SC, with the Studio of Dance, and with the Georgetown County School District.
The library system is a key member of the Georgetown County First Steps Partnership which aims to prepare preschoolers to be emotionally, intellectually, and
physically ready for first grade. As part of this aim, the library established book collections in 42 childcare
centers throughout the county. The library also obtained grant funds to develop a special educational curriculum
and to supply a storyteller to visit each of these preschool centers monthly to entertain the youngsters and
to serve as a model for the childcare providers. Additionally, the library continues to furnish monthly workshops where preschool instructors can earn continuing-education certification credits. For this
work, the library system won in 2003, the first “Counties Care for Kids Award” given by the National Association of
Counties.
So We’ve Always Known that Libraries can Benefit Young People, but First, You’ve Got
to Get THEM inside!
We’ve Used Innovative Technology Projects to Get Folks
to Visit Us
One of Our Projects Involves Interactive
Gaming
Here’s a View of our Interactive Gaming Center at
our Carvers Bay Branch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM7jAbvLUFc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egclibrary%2Eorg%2Fdefault%2Easp
Your Public Library: Keeping Your Community Connected
Success Takes Good Rules, People, Spaces, Equipment,
Games, and PR!
We Started with THE LIBRARY CARD.
Checking Out Library Materials Comes With Being in the
Library Gaming Club.
Graphic Novels, Videos, Music, Magazines, Gaming Rules, and Even Regular Books!
Great Staff is Key to Success!
Marilynn Robb, Carvers Bay Branch Manager
Donald Dennis, Overall Gaming Project Manager
(Bunnelle Youth Technology Experience Series –BYTEs)
Truman Winns, Carver Bay Branch Library,
Gaming Site Assistant
Good Spaces are Needed, too.
That takes additional planning, along with equipment.
Sub Left
Main Left Main Right
Center Channel (Low)
Center Channel (High)
Sub Right
Teleconference Camera
Power OutletA/V Input
DVD/VCR
Network HUB
USB HUB
Network Port
Audio Mixer
Headphones
Receiver
XBOX
Computer
LCD Flat Panel Display
SignalLimiter
Surround Sound Rear Speakers in ceiling
MeetingsGaming
ResearchTeachingMovies
ListeningLearning
Kool-Aid Jammers will Draw Some Folks in like Bees to
Flowers!
So will Good Publicity.
Wait! Is This Really Okay? Are You Sure?
Parents are often concerned.
See ALA’s Gaming Web Site for Some Good Points about the
Value of Gaming for Kids.• To Play, Kids will get Library Cards & Read Books• Games Sometimes Provide Stories in a New Format• Games Encourage Problem Solving and Critical
Thinking• Games Involve Experimenting and Evaluating• Games Meet Developmental Needs of Teens
Established by National Middle School Association• Games Encourage Social Interaction Between Peers
and Non Peers, Enforce Rules and Boundaries, Encourage Creative Expression, and Reward Competence
• Some Games Help to Release and Manage Anger and Frustration (See this Book: Grand Theft Childhood)
• Some Games are Physically Healthy: Dance Dance Revolution Gets Heart Rates Up to 140 Beats Per Minute
• Some Games Help Students with Special Needs (See this study from 2005: The Effects of a Consumer Oriented Multimedia Game on the Reading Disorders of Children)
• Games have Recreational Value• Many Games are Social• Some Games Require Reading Instructions, Menus,
and More• Some Games (D&D, Sports Games, etc) Require
Statistical Skills and an Understanding of Probability• Some Games Introduce Us to History, Music, etc.• THE LIST COULD GO ON AND ON!
Have a Good Event ScheduleCarvers Bay LibraryTournament Schedule (Detailed below)• OPEN 2nd or 4th weekend of every month (Detailed below)• GAME CLUB ONLY 3rd weekend of every month (Detailed below)Digital Arts Literacy Experience Through the end of the 2009-2010 school year.Additional programs will be created if their grant status does not continue. YDACS Game design program Weekday Afternoons June 9th – July -27th 2009. (Perhaps expanding to Georgetown.) Andrews LibraryTournament Schedule • OPEN 1st weekend of every month (Starting with completion of room)• GAME CLUB ONLY 3rd weekend of every month (Starting with completion of
room)Digital Arts Literacy Experience Through the end of the 2009-2010 school year.Additional programs will be created to fill the gap if their grant status does not continue. YDACS Game design program Weekday Afternoons June 9th – July -27th 2010. (If test run at Carvers Bay is successful.) WBL LibraryOPEN Gaming 1st weekend of every month (Starting March 2010)Digital Arts class Starts January 2010 if Andrews room completed.• Writing/Storytelling/Blogging January• Digital Photography February• Audio March• Film AprilRepeat in summer and FallGeorgetown BranchKids ActivitiesSmall Bytes June 9th – July -27th Kids programming in the Technology and computer lab • 10:00 am – Noon on Tuesdays• Afternoons on Thursdays Mid-Week Manga Talk about Manga, comic books, Anime, and related web sites• Afternoons on Wednesdays during the summer. June 9th – July -27th
• 2nd Wednesday evening of the month thereafter Family Game Night • Tuesdays starting in MayGame Tournaments • OPEN TOURNAMENT 2rd weekend of every month (Detailed below)• GAME CLUB ONLY 3nd weekend of every month (Detailed below)
Have Speakers at Game Club Meetings andTournaments:
May – Norman Lewis (Mentor – Local) June – Tronster Hartly (Sr. Programmer ~
Firaxis Games Web conference) July – Ron Brown (USC) August – Adam Cooksey of Perry
Cunningham (Game Stop - Local) September – NONE – Hurricane party October – DJ Hammonds (Artist - Local) November – Alan Webb (Game Tester, Level
Designer - Web conference) December Tim Collins & Donald Dennis January – Kathy Tempesta (Zenimax,
Producer, Test Lead) February – Steve Roff Service over Self
(Approached, not confirmed) March - Sean Torrens (Parks & Rec – Local) April – County IT guys. (We’ve talked to
several, and they are interested. Asked us to get in touch as we got closer to the time.
Here’s the URL for Libraries, Literacy and Gaming at ALA:
http://librarygamingtoolkit.org
ALA & Verizon Made It Possible
Try Educational Games
http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html
Turn Little Devils
Into Little Angels!
Bank Jr.
Teaches grades 1-5 students about how to handle money through simulation and games.
This is a fun site.
http://www.bankjr.com/
Some Educational Games Can Be Found Online. Here’s a
Selection of Nine.
What2Learn
Prepare for exam success by playing over two thousand FREE interactive activities and revision games.
http://www.what2learn.com/
CBBC Roar
Run your own nature park.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/roar/
CBBC KS3 Bitesize
Here’s an online video game from the BBC where players have to answer questions related to English,
Science and Math. As you answer the questions correctly, a little “questionaut” in a balloon gets to
continue on his journey.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/games/questionaut/pop.shtml
Time Pirates
Here’s an extraordinarily ambitious interactive game-site designed to help students learn about the history
of London from 2,000 years ago to now.
http://timepirates.atticmedia.com/flash/
iCue
It’s a very interactive collaboration between NBC and MIT with much to the site. It deals basically with how to learn about the news, but that’s an understatement. It’s designed for students thirteen years-old and above. You
can play games, watch videos (with very easy simultaneous access to transcripts, save student work, and a ton of other activities. You have to register, but it’s
free and easy to do so.
http://www.icue.com/
Free Poverty
It’s an online geography game similar to the popular Free Rice vocabulary game that donates money to
purchase rice for distribution by the United Nations. In Free Poverty, though, money to distribute water is supposedly distributed to Third World countries for
every correct answer.
http://www.freepoverty.com/
Maps are a part of every great adventure. They help you find your way, share information, look at patterns, and
solve problems.What can YOU do with maps?
Help endangered animals Find sunken treasure
Explore a pyramid Collect rocks on Mars
Go on a family adventure Learn more!
http://www.mywonderfulworld.org/toolsforadventure/index.html
Stock News Game
In it, you’re given a very short piece of information about a company, and then have to predict if its stock goes down, stays the same, or goes up by the end of
the day that news came out. It’s accessible to high Intermediate or Advanced English Language Learners to get a little more of a sense of how the stock market
works.
http://www.stocknewsgame.com/play_game.php
And Have a Family Game Night at the Library
It was a full house Tuesday April 7th, 2009 when we had our first family game night at the Georgetown Technology and Game Lab. We had twelve participants that evening, mostly kids with some parents, a number we expect to grow in the months to come.
Webkinz are stuffed animals with a code for online play. Kids tend to their virtual pets in safe online activities. http://www.webkinz.com/us_en/
Ooga is a tabletop recognition game where kids hunt dinosaurs with rubber suction cup spears. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/9506
In Blokus 3D, players get 3-D pieces to try to place by already-set pieces of their own color. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6411
Bella Sara gives girls the chance to trade special beautiful horse cards. Online, girls can care for their horses in various ways. http://bellasara.com/
Bring a New Crowd and their Parents Into the
Library!
And Watch the Magic Happen!
Track Kids’ Progress in Literacy and Good
Behavior
Expect Good Results.Here’s Ours in “Year One”:
• Increase in library card holders from only 2% to 13%
• 42.7% of registered users are under 18 years old
• 56.8% of these juveniles are checking out library materials
• 15% of local high school students are members of the gaming club (81 of 550)
• 30% of gamers are checking out 4 items monthly
• 90% of gamers are African-American Males
• 20 teens monthly attend cultural programs at the library
Add an Exciting Video Game Design Endeavor.
Try Video Game Design and Review
CompetitionsVideo Game Concept Competition• Over the course of the summer, June 9th – July -25th
BYTES participants at any GCLS location will be able to present video game design concepts. These concepts will be presented to video game design professionals for review. Prizes will be awarded for the best idea, and best presented pitch. Awards will be given at the August open tournament. Each entry of sufficient length satisfies one literacy requirement.
Video Game Review Competition• Over the course of the summer, June 9th – July -25th
BYTES participants at any GCLS location will be able to submit video game reviews in one of three categories Written in word or other appropriate program, Oral recording, Video recording. Reviews will be judged by professional video game reviewers. Awards will be given for each category with at least five entries at the August open tournament. Each entry of sufficient length satisfies one literacy requirement.
• Competitions will be repeated during each school quarter, if participation justifies continuing the program.
We Also Use Digital Arts to Stimulate Literacy along
with Library Usage
It Takes Good Equipment
It Needs Good Instructors
Add Great Young People to that Mix
You’ve Got Success!
Again
And Again
And Again!
The Hurricane ProjectGeorgetown County, SCICMA Public Library Innovation Grant
Digital Library of Historic Hurricane Photographs
Digital Film Collection of Oral History Interviews
Digital Storytelling on Hurricanes using Photostory3
Digital Video PSAs on Hurricanes by Teens
Digital Game Simulations for Young People on Hurricanes
Web 2.0 Ways to Communicate Hurricane Dangers
Collaborators:Georgetown County Library
Georgetown County Emergency Management Georgetown County Service Over Self
Georgetown County SchoolsFrances P. Bunnelle Foundation
Contact: Dwight McInvaill, Director, Georgetown County [email protected]
843-545-3304
A 2009 ICMA “Library Innovation Grant” Let’s Us Bring it All Together!
Kids Star in PSAs on Hurricane Prevention
Local Artists Design the Props that Help the Kids
Become Stars!
Young People Go “Out on the Town” to Film Other PSAs
Themselves!
Using Technology Creatively Can Lead to a Good Community Spirit
Some Folks Have Considered our
Strategies to be Good Ones.
We Plan to Continue to Reach for the Gold thru
Gaming and Digital Technology!
For More Information, Contact:Dwight McInvaill, Director
Georgetown County Library, SC843-545-3304
Here he is going after more gold at the White House!