Reading, wRiting and fRaging: Gaming at your local library

I remember being in my elementary school library trying to study with the distracting and ever-present threat of losing an axle in Oregon Trail. Those even less ambitious would spend the hour hunting the “Trail“, coming home with no more than twelve pounds of gopher meat and a B-minus. The true academics would forever ask the question, “Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?” I don’t know about you, but I never did figure out where the hell she was; fortunately, today’s kids have a slew of new ways to not learn.

Libraries have always been equal sources of both academics and entertainment. Whether it is in the form of a good book, CDs, DVDs, and even toys and games. If libraries want to stay fresh to keep young people coming in, they better keep up with the times. At the forefront of this trend is the Columbus Metropolitan Library. They’ve divvied out $40,000 in the first two years of their program, which sees them equipping their library with learning devices such as Rock Band (music appreciation), Nintendo Wii (spatial recognition) and Nintendo DS (penmanship?). This is a library fitted with “game rooms” boasting a selection that rivals my home. Visitors crowd around a projector screen for a round of Mario Party and when they check out a book of Shakespeare’s sonnets, they can also pick up a Nintendo DS along with it.

Obviously a move like this will have its critics. “What is this world coming to?“ some might moan, but truth-be-told, it’s not as superficial as it seems. First, this program samples new techniques to get children into libraries in ways that weren’t possible before. The basic argument is that video games have become the novels for today’s youth. This may be true, but what cannot be denied is the fact that it is provides an option to keep kids off of the streets and out of trouble; not to mention, it also encourages social interaction. Teens can now get together in these libraries instead of playing at home by themselves.

When new ideas like this come along, critics are quick to point out the negative; but in reality it is no different than what often happens when innovation comes along and threatens the status quo. There’s no doubt that parents were just as outraged when the library introduced Harlequin Novels or those little beeping film reel machines. The bane of one decade often becomes the nostalgia of the next. Perhaps one day a copy of Metal Gear Solid will be checked out just like War and Peace. It can’t be all that bad, considering this same library has copies of Superhero Movie available to check out. What is this world coming to?