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Hey Librarians: Less Book Clubs, More LAN Parties

THURSDAY JUNE 28 2007 9:00 PM

Submitted by _DictionaryGirl_. Edited By erin_broadley.

TAGS: librarians, LAN parties, ALA, abject horror

Youth culture is a curious and fleeting thing--one day you're totally hep and the cat's pajamas, and then suddenly before you even know it you're entirely out-of-touch, utterly alone and unable to impress subordinates with your archaic talk of rolling for initiative and the Dewey decimal system. Then you become a librarian.

The chairs of the American Library Association, however, aim to beat the odds. No longer content to go on as living monuments to the art of anachronism, they handed out new marching orders to their troops in the college library fields during their annual conference this past week, and the only command on the page reads: play more video games. STAT.

At a packed session for academic librarians attending the annual meeting of the American Library Association, in Washington, the topic was how to help students who have learned many of their information gathering and analysis skills from video games apply that knowledge in the library. Speakers said that gaming skills are in many ways representative of a broader cultural divide between today’s college students and the librarians who hope to teach them.

The problem facing libraries today, it would seem, is the divergence between what speakers at the conference referred to as "digital natives" and "digital immigrants." Much like an eager and hard-working newcomer at Ellis Island, so too are our poor librarians, trying to explain the ROGER system to a bunch of college freshmen with their crazy moon language, all LOLs and zerg rushes and the like. But would we have the whole of New York City learn Armenian to better communicate with our immigrant friend? Of course not, that's all topsy-turvy! So, too, must the librarians learn the language of the students rather than the other way around.

“The librarian as information priest is as dead as Elvis,” Needham [vice president for member services of the Online Computer Library Center] said. The whole “gestalt” of the academic library has been set up like a church, he said, with various parts of a reading room acting like “the stations of the cross,” all leading up to the “altar of the reference desk,” where “you make supplication and if you are found worthy, you will be helped.”

[...] James Paul Gee, a linguist who is the Tashia Morgridge Professor of Reading at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the author of Why Video Games Are Good for Your Soul, argued that librarians need to adapt their techniques to digital natives. A digital native would never read an instruction manual with a new game before simply trying the game out, Gee said. Similarly, students shouldn’t be expected to read long explanations of tools they may use before they start experimenting with them.

“We should never read before we play,” Gee said.

Of course not. Heaven forfend we should read in order to learn. Especially at a library.

Gee and Needham have a whole lot of really super-fun ideas on how to better the library experience, using lots of fun terminology like "lowered consequences of failure" and "in-demand training." For example, rather than teaching a student how to use library equipment before they start, it has been decided that the best course of action is to let them aimlessly screw around on "explore" the equipment like it was Final Fantasy and they hadn't found any walkthroughs yet. When they finally ask for help, the librarians shouldn't make it explicit that they are formally training the students, but should instead opt to cheekily whisper "let me show you a shortcut," because shortcuts are cool, whereas knowing how to properly use a microfiche machine is totally lame and boring.

Here are some other totally boss ideas they have to improve the vitality of our library system.

Avoid implying to students that there is a single, correct way of doing things.
Offer online services not just through e-mail, but through instant messaging and text messaging, which many students prefer.
Hold LAN parties, after hours, in libraries. (These are parties where many people bring their computers to play computer games, especially those involving teams, together.)
Schedule support services on a 24/7/365 basis, not the hours currently in use at many college libraries, which were “set in 1963.”
Remember that students are much less sensitive about privacy issues than earlier generations were and are much more likely to share passwords or access to databases.
Look for ways to involve digital natives in designing library services and even providing them. “Expertise is more important than credentials,” he said, even credentials such as library science degrees.

What do you think? Way cool, n'est çe pas? Why construct intelligent, thoughtful e-mails when you can shoot the breeze with your librarian text-message style? Why rely on that nice person with the master's degree in library science to give you credible and pertinent information for that report on medieval warfare when your 16-year-old brother (level 62 orc hunter) is apparently just as qualified? Why... okay, you know what, I can't even find anything funny to say about hosting LAN parties at the library. I've got nothing. Just, why.

And then, the piece de resistance. Needham stressed in his lecture that no one is encouraging libraries to rip out the stacks in favor of arcades, but this kind of says it all.

Play more video games.

Onward, soldiers, toward a brighter and more intelligent future for tomorrow's youth. Let's not everybody rush all at once.

Thanks for the tip, Erin!

34 Comments

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Twelve

Bay City, MI

April 2007

JUN 28, 2007 09:14 PM

I challenge these "I would never read the manual before playing" people to play Nethack.

Also the reason you don't have to read anything to play most games now is because of the extensive walkthrough, which they also want to get rid of?

I guess as long as the libraries don't all close like they have been around here I can't complain too much. Fucking Libertarians.

90% of being smart is knowing how to look shit up when you don't already know the answer.

StarBelliedBoy

Philadelphia, PA

December 2003

JUN 28, 2007 09:17 PM

Librarians are on track to replace Republicans, FYI.

Charm

SUICIDEGIRL

Washington, USA

JUN 28, 2007 09:24 PM

i never play video games or computer games.
i just read.
hell i don't even own a television.

i guess im out of touch with today's youth culture.

liljohn

USA

November 2006

JUN 28, 2007 09:27 PM

dude!! am I gonna respawn if I don't bring the book back on time?

StarBelliedBoy

Philadelphia, PA

December 2003

JUN 28, 2007 09:28 PM

Charm said:
hell i don't even own a television.

"You mean you don't pocket mulch?"

Short

Sacramento, CA

September 2005

JUN 28, 2007 09:36 PM

I'm sorry, but what is the problem with this?

Video games get otherwise un-interested kids to read enormous amounts of text. They get kids to work on their math. Problem solving. Critical thinking. Hand-eye coordination.

Do they do these things better than some kid sitting around watching TV? Absolutely.

Hosting LAN parties creates a community, gets kids in a safe environment after hours, and gets kids who might not ordinarily into a library into one. Maybe they won't actually read any books, but maybe they will. And, if they were ever thinking about it, well hell, at least they'll be in the right place.

I don't give a crap if librarians want to tell kids that the dewy-decimal system is a NSA secret and they could be deported for learning it. If it makes them want to learn, then it worked. Besides, they'll figure out they were getting bullshitted pretty quick.

Most of the people that I know, who know computers, or video games, or cooking, or pretty much anything practical are good with (whatever) because they figured it out. They got in there, figured out what they could, and then got some books or somebody smarter then they were to help them. Its called "learning", and it should be encouraged no matter what form it takes.

edited for spelling.

el_duderino2

Kyrgyzstan

April 2006

JUN 28, 2007 10:35 PM

I am on the cusp of digital nativity and work with digital natives in a high-school setting. The natural ability these kids display in regards to technology and the problem solving skills they employ is nothing short of crazy cool. They have the faculties to work out problems as they arise - not because they have someone telling them how - but because they use trial and error and a host of other skills.

If I was to compare these skills to that of a digital immigrant - you'd be surprised how much longer it takes to work out problems - and they usually go to the instructions. For instance, I've had to show fellow teachers' how to log into their email and other seemingly obvious tasks. I think it also comes back to the low-risk nature of the trial and error when using technology - usually when dealing with computers, if you stuff something up there is an undo feature - great for a learning environment. This applies to videos games too - you die, you try again. Learning is about taking risks - one of the reasons the natives find using technology easy is because they do not fear it. Immigrants on the other hand (those not born into technology) are scared that they will break something or that they will look silly. It's just a different way of learning.

I've read the Gee analysis and I happen to think he's on the money - the critical faculties involved in playing computer games are many. Many complex ways of thinking are employed and many literacies are fostered.

I do believe, however, that there is something adults/librarians teachers must pursue. Technology has opened up the world to a remarkable degree - we live in a global society and, whether we like or not, kids are being assaulted from every which way with information. The key issue is whether they have the faculties to ascertain whether the source is a reliable one or nay. Lets face it, there are a lot of hacks out there and those hacks like to be heard - arming kids with an ability to differentiate between hacks and the real deal is tres important. This is critical literacy. How many times have I told kids, not to use Wikipedia? A lot was the answer.

In Melbourne, the state library has a multi-media room. It has computer games, animation equipment and much more (it's cool). I happen to think it's a great way of getting the kids into the library in the first place - and hopefully they will get to see the radness in the other rooms also.

I think the more you can offer the kids - the more they will grow.

joker_

Windsor, CA

October 2005

JUN 28, 2007 10:54 PM

Hmmm...

As much as I like the idea of teaching through trial and error (because I'm a little slow to grasp things often enough), life has situations where it is better to have some clear instructions presented.

Library Example: I don't want to wait to use the microfiche machine while some WOW addict tries to figure out how to use it.

The screw around method of learning is perfectly acceptable for some things, but completely unacceptable for others, such as driving, conducting surgery, using construction equipment. In a situation where other people are waiting to use the library equipment, I don't think this is good.

Also, whether or not to read the instructions depends on the game. Additionally, if video games are so great at developing problem solving skills, why is there a huge industry for walk through guides and cheats?

iKitten

Woodstock, GA

May 2007

JUN 29, 2007 12:02 AM

I cut my digital teeth on library computers way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth in the early ninties. I grew up gaming. I still play games, and recently I've even gotten into the "old fashioned" tabletop genre. I find this entire line of reasoning to be laughable at best.

This notion of "gaming skills" is disconcerting, as if they were a subset of abilities hitherto unknown to man, rather than merely applied techniques of problem solving, reflexes, and coordination. They're not foreign concepts to non-gamers, merely foreign applications.

You don't have to make things more accessible by "speaking the lingo." If anything, the effect is counterproductive, as you're now producing a mindset that the world will cater to ones needs when in fact it won't. It's equivalent to spoiling children.

The world is harsh and unforgiving of errors. To pretend and to teach otherwise is a mistake, and the youths taught in this manner will be unprepared in the face of someone willing to walk all over them.

joker_

Windsor, CA

October 2005

JUN 29, 2007 12:34 AM

iKitten said:
I cut my digital teeth on library computers way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth in the early ninties. I grew up gaming. I still play games, and recently I've even gotten into the "old fashioned" tabletop genre. I find this entire line of reasoning to be laughable at best.

This notion of "gaming skills" is disconcerting, as if they were a subset of abilities hitherto unknown to man, rather than merely applied techniques of problem solving, reflexes, and coordination. They're not foreign concepts to non-gamers, merely foreign applications.

You don't have to make things more accessible by "speaking the lingo." If anything, the effect is counterproductive, as you're now producing a mindset that the world will cater to ones needs when in fact it won't. It's equivalent to spoiling children.

The world is harsh and unforgiving of errors. To pretend and to teach otherwise is a mistake, and the youths taught in this manner will be unprepared in the face of someone willing to walk all over them.

After reading this, I've decided that I think this is an excellent idea. In the future when I'm hiring younger less experienced people, I would like to pay them less.

SnowgodCCR

Derry, NH

November 2006

JUN 29, 2007 04:19 AM

joker_c said:

After reading this, I've decided that I think this is an excellent idea. In the future when I'm hiring younger less experienced people, I would like to pay them less.

Good...that is kinda how it works...isn't it?

I wholeheartedly agree with what iKitten said...I kinda didn't have the opportunity for trial and error when I was learning to fly people around. There isn't much room for trial and error in many fields....to teach otherwise is setting people up for failure.

Cigarette

Cleveland, OH

April 2004

JUN 29, 2007 06:04 AM

Yr right, DG. If there's one thing libraries need to do to survive it's to live in the past and ignore change. Hey, it's worked for the Catholic Church, right?

Nokturn

United Kingdom

April 2006

JUN 29, 2007 06:53 AM

Final Fantasy is far more fun without the walkthrough.
Perhaps libraries will be too- who knows?

Uncognitive

Brooklyn, NY

May 2003

JUN 29, 2007 07:13 AM

_DictionaryGirl_ said:
When they finally ask for help, the librarians shouldn't make it explicit that they are formally training the students, but should instead opt to cheekily whisper "let me show you a shortcut"

Am I wrong in thinking that could be kinda hot?

Short

Sacramento, CA

September 2005

JUN 29, 2007 10:06 AM

joker_c said:

After reading this, I've decided that I think this is an excellent idea. In the future when I'm hiring younger less experienced people, I would like to pay them less.

in case you've never been into the "real world", this is actually how it works out here. less experience = less pay. in case you were being sarcastic, my bad.

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