Martha Riley Community Library Videogame Collection



Contents

Section I: Overview 3

Mission & Vision 3

Goals 4

Justification of recommendations 4

Collection Support 4

User community to be served 6

Service Community 6

Primary Users 6

Secondary Users 6

Demographics 7

Demographic Tables 7

subject areas to be collected 8

Formats to be collected 9

Programming 10

Selection process 11

Miscellaneous 12

Cost strategies and theft prevention 12

Bibliography 13

Section I: Overview

This report will review the existing collection development policy of the City of Roseville Public Library’s Videogame Collection. Recommendations for changes to that policy will be made in an effort to more closely match the mission and vision statements of the City of Roseville Public Library and to address any areas where services could be improved by change.

Any recommended changes to the current policy will be examined thoroughly to see that they do represent the mission and vision, that they reflect the goals of the collection, that they are justified, and will support the collection as a whole.

Mission & Vision

The mission statement of the Roseville Public Library states simply, “We enrich lives by actively connecting people with an engaging variety of collections, activities, services and environments.” (City of Roseville, CA, 2010)

The vision is equally understated, “Roseville Public Library is the place to experience the joys of learning, discovery, creating and connecting!” (City of Roseville, CA, 2010)

The mission and vision of this proposal reflect the same understated, yet inclusive nature.

The mission of the Videogame Collection of the Roseville Public Library will enrich lives by actively connecting people and technology with an engaging variety of videogames and corresponding activities and services to expand patron experiences of learning, discovery, creating and connecting.

Goals

The goals of the videogame collection are intended to meet the needs of the users and to reflect the mission and vision of the Roseville, California community.

• To critique the existing collection development policy for the videogame collection.

• To prepare recommendations for a new collection development policy for the videogame collection.

• To extend the videogame collection to a larger user community.

Justification of recommendations

The current videogame collection of the Roseville Community Library includes a variety of titles from the three major console videogame providers, Sony Playstation, Nintendo Wii, and Microsoft X-Box. These titles are available for rental under the following current policy.

“Some DVDs and console Videogames have rental fees of $1 for 2 days.  All other items are free to check out. Please keep in mind that items not returned by the due date will accrue fines or additional rental fees. “ (City of Roseville, CA, 2010)

The current collection is also primarily geared towards ‘tweens, teens, and young adults. It is important in support of the mission and vision of the Roseville Community to expand the videogame collection to include titles that would appeal to, and encourage learning for younger children including preschool age children and older adults. Libraries “need to embrace new technologies and new ways of learning in order to provide support and tools that enable success for all... In order to support the learning for all” (Sanford, 2008)

Collection Support

An expanded videogame collection that is readily accessible clearly supports the library collection, mission, and values. There are many ideas that support a videogame collection in a library. Libraries are viewed as having many different social and learning purposes, and whether it is for entertainment only, or to support educational endeavors, a good argument can be made for incorporating videogames into a collection. “We have come to believe that videogames may have as acceptable a place among our electronic library services as light fiction, popular magazines, and comedy record albums have had among our more traditional offerings.” (White, 1981)

User community to be served

The current user community being served by the videogame collection is a small percentage of the overall library user community thus far. It is the intention of the new policy to expand the collection to appeal to a vast majority of the library’s user community, as well as bring in new users to the Roseville Community Library.

Service Community

The service community is intended to be the entire community of Roseville, CA. All of the statistics and demographic information used reflect the entire community, and therefore, all of the recommendations were made with the community’s best interest in mind.

Primary Users

The primary users will stay the same as they currently are the teenagers and older children in the community. The justification for this is that, “97 percent of children 12 to 17 play games on computers, consoles and handheld devices.” (Rich, 2008) The changes suggested in this proposal would mainly further promote usage among this age group.

A good deal of programming is intended to be aimed at this age group, and therefore, age appropriate games will continue to thrive for this age group.

Secondary Users

The secondary users are those that are not primarily being reached by the current collection development policies. There are a few relevant age groups that are not being marketed to in the current environment. The first of these is the largest population group, described in more detail the next section, the 25-29 year olds. This group will probably require more mature games, and the inclusion of “Mature” rated games should be reconsidered.

The second group is the retired population. While their ages range quite a bit, if you look at all of the citizens age 65 and older then they fairly represent about 14% of the population. It would be prudent to acquire a small number of titles that support physical activities for this group such as those used with the Nintendo Wii or the Playstation Move. Additionally, titles that promote technological learning should also prove successful. “Spurred by arguments that videogames also may teach a kind of digital literacy that is becoming as important as proficiency in print, libraries are hosting gaming tournaments, while schools are exploring how to incorporate videogames in the classroom.” (Rich, 2008)

Even though there are many different aged people in this group, retirees represent a common societal group. The last are the younger children, preschool aged and early grade school children. This is the group that could possibly benefit the most from early exposure to this type of technology, providing “opportunities for library users (learners of all ages) to utilize the tools that best enable their learning, visual, interactive, auditory, as well as more traditional tools and texts (books, magazines).” (Sanford, 2008)

Demographics

“Roseville's population for January 1, 2010 was estimated to be 115,781.” “The mean (average) household income is $82,156,” and when looking at the median incomes, it is becomes clear that “Over one-third of total households make above $100,000 per year.” The population base is relatively evenly spaced between age groups with one major exception; there is “a small ‘bubble’ for the 25-29 year old segment.” The education level of the population group over the age of 25 is fairly high; 92.4 percent of them have a high school diploma, 33 percent have their bachelor’s degree, and 11.8 percent have attained post-graduate degrees. (City of Roseville, CA, 2010)

Demographic Tables

| |

|Age Breakdown |

| |

|Age Group |Number |% of total population |

|Under 5 years |8,285 |7.37% |

|5 to 9 years |6,432 |5.73% |

|10 to 14 years |7,357 |6.55% |

|15 to 19 years |7,113 |6.33% |

|20 to 24 years |6,281 |5.59% |

|25 to 29 years |11,838 |10.54% |

|30 to 34 years |9,363 |8.33% |

|35 to 39 years |9,348 |8.32% |

|40 to 44 years |8,162 |7.27% |

|45 to 49 years |7,405 |6.59% |

|50 to 54 years |7,020 |6.25% |

|55 to 59 years |5,499 |4.89% |

|60 to 64 years |3,568 |3.18% |

|65 to 69 years |3,281 |2.92% |

|70 to 74 years |3,310 |2.95% |

|75 to 79 years |3,159 |2.81% |

| | | |

|80 to 84 years |2,508 |2.23% |

|85 years and over |2,414 |2.15% |

|Total Population |112,343 |100.00% |

| |

|Educational Attainment |

| |Number |% of total population |

| Population 25 and over |75,418 | |

| High School Graduate | 69,728 | 92.4% |

| | | |

|Bachelor's Degree |24,886 |33.0% |

|Post-Graduate Degree |8,885 |11.8% |

|Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2009 |

Genres to be collected

In order to make a best effort to continue to serve the Roseville Library Community, there are a few distinct genres that should be collected. These should be titles that both entertain and teach, it is not necessary that any or every particular item do both, but that the overall purpose is to teach through entertaining and interactive methods.

Even titles that are seen as merely being entertaining only do present learning opportunities. For example often “players learn to interpret multiple sign systems, including maps, numbers, patterns, weapons abilities, and they learn how to communicate through online typing, reading, speaking through headsets to strangers, and listening to symbolic game sounds to help their game play. These cues and modern technological skills are becoming more necessary for various careers, and videogames are aiding the learning process” (Sanford, 2008)

Motion Controller Games

Through the use of motion sensitive controllers, game players can seize an opportunity for exercise within the safety and privacy of their own homes. This is an important aspect for gamers of all ages, particularly in a society with as much obesity as ours. It is socially responsible to incorporate as many of these titles as possible.

Other games that support movement and activity should be considered as part of this goal. Dance games, other games, and even new technologies as they develop should be included in the collections.

Learning Games & software development

There are many games available that are intended as teaching tools. From games for small children that teach basic technology, reading, and math skills, to brain teasers and puzzle games that sharpen the brain that appeal to adults, should be part of this collection.

There are also a growing number of games that include some level of software development in their programming. Many games allow you to design maps and characters, which teach some very basic software development skills. Games that can be completely modified by the player are new to the market, but do exist, such as Playstation’s title Little, Big Planet. In order to foster a community of not only user end technologically knowledgeable people, but also programmers, graphic designers, and software developers, these titles should be included in the collection.

FPS’s, Rpg’s and MMO’s

These terms used in the gaming community refer to the largest gaming audiences preferred games. FPS’s or First Person Shooters are the games where the player takes the role of the protagonist and proceed to shoot all the bad guys. RPG’s or Role Playing Games, are based on the old table top Role Playing Games and are similar to First Person Shooter games in that the player still takes the role of the protagonist, but the entire purpose is not to shoot the bad guys, but to accomplish goals and increase abilities as goals are accomplished. MMO simply stands for Massively Multi-player Online. These can be any of the other two types of games, or many other types of games. The purpose of including this discussion is that many of the games that are considered to be entertainment only games, do have a purpose in the collection. Many of these games do teach some valuable skills. There are almost always maps and symbols to read which can teach gamers skills that they may not encounter in other environments, and therefore, should be included in the collection. “Students develop a deeper understanding of semiotics, i.e., the study of signs and signifying practices) as they engage with a range of visual, print, audio, and multimodal texts required to play and create videogames.” (Sanford, 2008)

Party Games

For the purposes of building community and supporting library programming, Party Games should be part of the core collection. These games allow a number of people to interact with one another as well as with the technology. These are very successful games that usually appeal to a large audience and would be an asset to any videogame collection.

Formats to be collected

“Unlike the home video market, which typically moves from one primary format to another over a period of time, there are multiple viable game formats available at any given time.” (Laskowski & Ward, 2009)

It is important to keep this in mind while deciding which formats to collect. As of right now, there are three major videogame consoles, two primary handheld devices, laptop and desktop PCs, and all sorts of phones and other secondary formats that can potentially be used for games. It is not possible in the current state of technology to include every format. Research must be continuous as technology develops to maintain a current and relevant videogame collection. Playstation, Nintendo and Xbox have dominated the console market for some time, along with PC gaming, but it is not only possible, but likely that a new technology will bring a new competitor onto the scene. As with other technologies, circulating the consoles themselves should be considered, although “it is curious that libraries are willing to purchase and loan e-book readers, but they are rarely comfortable circulating videogame consoles” (Chadwell, 2009) The Roseville Community Library will keep pace by purchasing at least one of each device whose format will be supported for in library use.

Programming

A videogame collection can “provide a wealth of opportunities for unique programming events to build collaborations between library collections and services” (Laskowski & Ward, 2009)

There are several examples from a variety of libraries, and the potential is as endless as programming opportunities can be. “When you add a collection of video-console games for children, teens, and parents, your library's value-added services become priceless.” (Oakley, 2008)

The Roseville Community Library should use programming to promote the videogame collection and to promote library materials overall. This can include anything as simple as tours and displays such as the “Game "n' Read" nights, where bookshelves on wheels with new games and materials related to gaming are available for checkout.” (Oakley, 2008)

Events that would attract a wide demographic range from the community such as “a gaming event centered around music and gaming” should be included in the library’s programming efforts. (Laskowski & Ward, 2009)

Gaming tournaments should be held for all different age groups. “The library provides another possible location for student groups to both host tournaments as well as create events with libraries.” These can include “discussions of gaming projects used in the classroom, student created mods, fan fiction, and other locally developed content.” These play and talk type programs support the community as a whole. (Laskowski & Ward, 2009)

There should be events that are geared at teaching library patrons how to use the technology. It is in the best interest of both the library and the community it serves to hold any type of class necessary to broaden and enhance the patrons’ library experiences.

Selection process

The selection process will involve the following steps.

• Review potential selections and current trends to assess value.

o Will this title provide an educational opportunity?

o Will this title support the greater collection?

o Will this title enhance the greater sense of community?

o Will this title provide entertainment value?

o What audience(s) will be interested in this title?

o For what audience(s) is this title objectively appropriate?

• Select titles and choose method for attaining the titles.

• Prepare publicity for newly acquired titles.

• Prepare programming support for newly acquired titles.

Miscellaneous

There are many problems specific to building a videogame collection. There are many prejudices and there will undoubtedly be questions, objections, and outright accusations. The library will take seriously any challenge to the materials in this collection as with any other. Many library patrons and lawmakers will be concerned with costs and view videogames as a much more expensive endeavor than more traditional materials. The following section provides strategies for developing the collection at low cost.

Acquistion strategies

The most difficult concerns for any library working on a videogame collection are the costs, both upfront and ongoing. It can be difficult to find funding and people worry that these items are more likely to be stolen or not returned. However, in the case of one library, “only six videogames were stolen in 2007. Rather than buying security cases, we circulate them like we do our DVDs” (Oakley, 2008)

“One of the biggest hurdles to successfully building a gaming collection is that games are not typically included in any existing approval plans or vendor agreements.” However, there are many strategies that you can use to acquire videogames on a low or in some cases, non-existent budget. (Laskowski & Ward, 2009)

The library should use as many strategies to acquire materials as necessary including, but not limited to seeking the help of game manufacturers who “are agreeable to opening a discussion with us in the library profession,” purchasing used games which are “often… as good as new,” and even asking “if there are people willing to part with their old, unused games in support of the library's programs.” (Danforth, 2010)

Bibliography

Chadwell, F. A. (2009). What's Next for Collection Management and Managers? Collection Management , 34 (4), 254-259.

City of Roseville, CA. (2010). City of Roseville California Library. Retrieved October 13, 2010, from City of Roseville California:

Danforth, L. (2010). Games on the Cheap. Library Journal , 135 (11), 43-43.

Laskowski, M., & Ward, D. (2009). Building next generation videogame collections in academic libraries. The Journal of Academic Librarianship , 35 (3), 267-73.

Oakley, T. (2008). Circulating Videogames: The Next Steip in Public Library Service. School Library Jouirnal , 54 (4), 30-32.

Rich, M. (2008, October 5). Using Videogames as Bait to Hook Readers. The New York Times , p. A1.

Sanford, K. (2008). Videogames in the Library? What is the World Coming To? School Libraries Worldwide , 14 (2), 83-88.

White, W. (1981). What's That Funny Noise?: Videogames in the Library. Library Journal , 106 (8), 859-860.

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Jennifer M. Galeota

INFO665-900 Collection Development

Catherine Collins

I certify that:

• This paper/project/exam is entirely my own work.

• I have not quoted the words of any other person from a printed source or a website without indicating what has been quoted and providing an appropriate citation.

• I have not submitted this paper/project to satisfy the requirements of any other course.

Your Signature: Jennifer M. Galeota

Date: 10/17/2010

by

Martha Riley Community Library Videogame Collection

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