Take the Mission: We Don't Know Until We Try

I suppose the title could have been "take the red pill" or " take the plunge" or whatever catch phrase you want to use. My point is that there are a lot of great and interesting things happening with videogames and academic libraries, and now is your chance to show it.

Amy Harris and Scott Rice from UNC Greensboro sent out a call for proposals for their upcoming ACRL publication: Casebook on Gaming in Academic Libraries. While I know this proposal went out about a week ago, I wanted to try to keep some attention on it:

Deadline for proposals: August 31, 2007
Expected publication: Summer 2008

Gaming in all its forms is making its way into academia. “Casebook on Gaming in Academic Libraries” will provide case studies and reports of best practices and experiences in the many ways in which academic libraries have chosen to become part of this trend.

“Casebook on Gaming in Academic Libraries” will include three sections to encompass the variety of ways gaming has been incorporated into academic libraries.
Section 1: “Gaming as Marketing”
­ How is gaming used to bring students into the library and make students aware of other library services?
Section 2: “Gaming and Collections”
­ How have academic libraries started augmenting their collections with hardware and software?
Section 3: “Gaming and Teaching”
­ How is gaming used for teaching information literacy skills in academic libraries? How does gaming fit into the academic classroom?

Submissions
Individuals interested in contributing a chapter are invited to e-mail a proposal to the editors on or before August 31, 2007. Proposals should be 400-600 words and include information about your name, affiliation, a working title, and abstract. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified of acceptance by September 14, 2007. Full chapters will be expected by January 15, 2008.
From my experience at GLLS2007, there are a wide variety of librarians using and applying videogames in their libraries and instruction. While the presenters, Annie and Kristin and their info lit 3D game focused on immersion and experience; Bee and Tammy's Quarantined game (my notes from LOEX 07); and Amy and Scott themselves have excellent research and applications for their games - there is more out there.

You are doing more.
So accept the mission. Take the side-quest. Submit your proposals and let us all know about the work that you are doing.


Photo via ALA GLLS 2007 set

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