GLLS2007: Making Book: Gaming in the Library

Making Book: Gaming in the Library

- Natalie Gick from Simon Fraser University

The game room at their library started with a donated collection. Simon Fraser University in Vancouver has a game design program and major on their campus and supporting that curriculum provided additional support.

They have over 400 games and treat them the same as DVDs in regards to policies. "Lock or Loan" policy: consoles are locked down to tables and controllers are checked out. They also loan out Nintendo GBA and DS games and systems. The library designated a specific liaison to work with the students and gaming department. Since they

Copyright right issues for PC games, they created a 4 hour same day loan period in order to account for copyright concerns. There was not any supporting details (case law or literature) on why this period was used. They did struggle with licenses issues both internally and with contacting vendors and publishers for the games. She discussed the challenges with their IT department and the

Natalie become much more comfortable as she moved from the technical aspects of gaming into the library's role. They did do video game collection development based on reviews, publications, local publishers (like EA) and staff and student recommendations. She discussed some of the challenges they've encountered over the years: equipment failures, noise, monopolized(too much ownership of the gaming space), abuse of privileges.

Code of Conduct:

• respect inclusion
• good behavior
• communciation with staff
  
• respect copyright
• no food
  
• exiting promotely

The library is using games for recreational use, faculty reserves, and course research.

Here is the link to Natalie's power point

glls2007