Going for the Gold Innovating and Collaborating thru Gaming and Digital Technologies The Georgetown County Library’s Challenges and Successes Dwight McInvaill, Director Georgetown County Library, SC 843-545-3304 dmcinvaill@georgetowncountysc.org 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) Evaluate the library experience (Survey the community; figure out how to get at the heart of what matters most to your community.) Embrace new information technologies. Preserve the memories of your own communities. (Don’t let yours disappear.) Experiment with creative spaces so the future role of the library can define itself.

If we would like things to remain the same – 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? Brabant Library, Netherlands (proposed) American Library Association Library in Second Life Graz Tech University, Austria

Delft Library, Netherlands 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 Your Public Library: Keeping Your Community Connected http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM7jAbvLUFc&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Egclibrary%2Eorg%2Fdefault%2Easp

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.

Surround Sound Rear Speakers in ceiling Teleconference Camera Center Channel (High) Meetings Gaming Research Teaching Movies Listening Learning Teleconference Camera LCD Flat Panel Display Main Left Main Right Center Channel (Low) XBOX Receiver DVD/VCR Headphones Computer Network HUB Signal Limiter Audio Mixer USB HUB Power Outlet A/V Input Network Port Sub Left Sub Right

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 Schedule Carvers Bay Library Tournament 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 Library Tournament 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) 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 Library OPEN 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 April Repeat in summer and Fall Georgetown Branch Kids Activities Small 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 May Game 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

10 Recipients of $5,000 Literacy and Gaming Initiative Grants Anderson Public Library, Anderson, Ind.: “Techie Tuesdays” emphasizes technology and information literacy through gaming. Held over a period of six months, the program is divided into three, six-week courses engaging students by making a video game, a board game, and a book trailer. Brewster Ladies Library, Brewster, Mass.: The library will use GPS technology to create an adventure game that requires reading, research, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and aligns closely with technology standards established by the International Society for Technology in Education. Cascade Middle School, Cascade, Wash.: The library’s Gaming Zone initiative will develop two afterschool programs a week, encompassing board and video game creation workshops, tournaments and hint book/cheat sheet development. Henshaw Middle School Library, Anchorage School District, Anchorage, Alaska: Expand DDR to 10 middle schools & add a lunchtime computers gaming program to use Spore & Civilization, strategy simulation games

Indian Trails Public Library, Wheeling, Ill.: Participants will learn about four categories of gaming from gaming experts: computer animation games, card games, board games, and role-playing games, then work in teams to create games. Then, they will participate in a Game Fair using the Science Fair model, and compete in the Chicago Toy and Game Fair Young Inventor Challenge. Manhattanville College Library, Purchase, N.Y. : Students will design games for middle school students on how to use the library to find a book, use a general database, ask for reference help, navigate the library website, and develop a time management plan. San Pablo Library, San Pablo, Calif.: Youth will track their participation in a variety of music-literacy related activities via a 'Musical Scavenger Hunt' big game.

Sewickley Public Library, Sewickley, Pa Sewickley Public Library, Sewickley, Pa.: In this 10-week program, middle school youth will plan and facilitate gaming events for younger students, which will then be held at the public library. Participants will document their efforts by producing a video of the steps they followed. A school assembly to showcase participants’ finished movie would entice fellow teens to get involved with the next session and would make the students accountable for their time spent in the program. A viewing would also be held in the library for parents and interested community members. Wayne County Public Library, Goldsboro, N.C.: This narrative focused experience includes a variety of creative and competitive events to give the youth in the community a place of their own that caters to their interests while fulfilling their needs for intellectual growth. Example: A fan-fiction contest where young people will write original stories about their favorite video game characters and create stories incorporating characters they create in games.

Weber Country Library System, Ogden, Utah:This ambitious proposal to move tween/teens beyond merely playing games, and to immerse them in a physical, creative, visual, and written game creation process to foster artistic, literary, and media literacy has many unique components, including a computer building workshop that addresses a level of technical analysis and critical planning skills in a practical hands-on effort seen in no other proposal.

Try Educational Games http://www.stopdisastersgame.org/en/home.html

Turn Little Devils Into Little Angels!

Some Educational Games Can Be Found Online. Here’s a Selection of Nine. 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/

What2Learn Prepare for exam success by playing over two thousand FREE interactive activities and revision games. http://www.what2learn.com/

Run your own nature park. 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/

What can YOU do with maps? Help endangered animals 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.

http://scratch.mit.edu

Try Video Game Design and Review Competitions Video 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!

A 2009 ICMA “Library Innovation Grant” Let’s Us Bring it All Together! The Hurricane Project Georgetown County, SC ICMA 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 Schools Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation Contact: Dwight McInvaill, Director, Georgetown County Library dmcinvaill@georgetowncountysc.org 843-545-3304

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!

Here he is going after more gold at the White House! For More Information, Contact: Dwight McInvaill, Director Georgetown County Library, SC 843-545-3304 dmcinvaill@georgetowncountysc.org Here he is going after more gold at the White House!