The Internet (A.K.A. The Last Competency)

For my final competency, I searched the internet through google for "gaming public library." This brought me to the Internet Public Library, which had a great subject pathfinders on Computer/Videogames. I followed the link to The Video Game Revolution, a documentary by PBS with the website, which is a companion site to the project. You will find a history of gaming, information on how games are made, how gaming has impacted our society, and some fun quizzes and games about the subject.

I wanted to share this site because it provides good information for those who are new to gaming, is interesting for even a dedicated gamer, and shows how videogames have become part of our everyday lives.

Multimedia Competency

For this competency, I am to search for a multimedia component to add to the blog. This could be a chart, table, graph, illustration, image, sound, video clip, etc. I used the Google search engine to browse media on the web. I found the Entertainment Software Association, a site serves the public and businesses with information about video games. This video clip, which is found under the ESA TV portion of the website, animates information the organization found about average gamers in the U.S.



I thought the information in this clip was relevant and interesting to my focus on videogaming in the public library. I usually assume male teens are the overwhelming majority of gamers, but this study found that the average gamer is in their 30s, and only 60% are male. Perhaps the public library could broaden their gaming focus to draw adults into the library. If my focus is gaming in the public library, I may not necessarily want to focus only on teen gamers.

And just for fun, I've included this Periodic Table of Video Game Characters from Nerd City Online website. I used google images with the words "video games table" to find this image.



BONUS: How many characters can you name?

Database Searches

This week, I am using my topic to practice a few different search techniques on four different databases. I will outline a total of four searches
Search Request: Information on public librarians using video game programs to draw teens into the library.

Search 1: Building Block search on Academic Search Complete
For my Building Block search, I brake down my query into three components.
s1 = public library
s2 = video game
s3 = teen
When I connect these terms with "AND," I get six hits. The first, "Gamers are Readers," by Lori Easterwood and Lindsey Patrick Wesson from the School Library Journal is relevant to my topic.
The Building Block method really helps to give my search a specific focus. I am impressed with the number of relevant hits with relatively little time spent working. The Building Block method forces me to do thinking ahead of time so that I have an overall higher level of success.

Search 2: Specific Facet search on WorldCat
In the Specific Facet method, I start with the component of my query that is likely to retrieve the fewest hits. If the search returns more than 30 hits, I add another facet.
First, I determine the amount of hits each search term retrieves alone. Public Library returns 672,307 hits; video game returns 20,694; and teen gets 36,900 hits. Thus, I search first by video game, then add teen to narrow the search. Since I get 970 results, I need to further refine the search. When I add public library, I only get one result, which is not relevant to my topic. I alter this last term to "library" to try to get more results and it works: I get 12 hits. The second hit, "Thinking Outside the Book: Alternatives for Today's Teen Library Collections" by C. Allen Nichols looks particularly interesting for my search needs.
I had some problems getting the right number of relevant hits with the Specific Facet on WorldCat. I know the real success of a search method is how precise and relevant the hits are, and how useful the information retrieved is to my search query. Even though I did find a good article in the end, it seemed like more work to go through the Specific Facet method than the Building Block method.

Search 3: Successive Fractions on Library Lit
The Successive Fractions method is like the Specific Facet, but reversed. This means I'll do a quick test to see how many results my search terms bring alone, then perform a searching using the broadest term first. Public library returns 21,007 hits; video game returns 164 hits, and teen returns 1,370 hits. Thus, I will search first by public library and add teen. This search brings 281 hits, which is too many to look at. Finally, when I add video game, the results dwindle to three hits, none of which really fit my information needs. I change my search term from "video game" to "gaming." This change resulted in four relevant hits. Preferably, I would get more than four hits, but I decided to stop my search because the four results were all relevant. One of them is an article called "Teen Gaming - More than Just Entertainment" by The Unabashed Librarian.
As with Specific Facet, the Successive Fractions method took more time to find the right search terms. Since you have to search each term separately to see the number of results, it takes more time to arrive at quality hits. However, I am satisfied with the hit I cited above, and I learned that "gaming" may be a better search term than "video game" for my particular information request. In the future, I will be careful to think about how I can use the best terms when I formulate my searches.

Search 4: Citation Pearl on ERIC
First, I search by library and gaming. An article from Library Journal, "Nurturing your Media" by Nanette Donohue, is one of three results. The article is not exactly a good match because it deals with collection development as opposed to teen programming. However, I identify the subject list and click on the keyword most relevant to my search: "library services." This results in 12813 hits, so I need to narrow my search. I use the term "gaming" since it I just learned in Search 3 that it describes my search well. My results are 10 hits. The first hit, "Building Next Generation Video Game Collections in Academic Libraries" by Mary Laskowski and David Ward has a focus on academic, rather than public, libraries, but the information is still relevant to my search query.
I enjoy the Citation Pearl method because it teaches me to tap into the indexing and cataloging each database uses. For example, "teen" may be a better word to use in Academic Search Complete, whereas "adolescent" is a better term in ERIC. One way to determine which search term is better in a new database is to look at the keyword list on a relevant article.

This concludes my four searches on four databases.

Tagging

My competency this week deals with tagging. In my Facebook account, I have become accustomed to posting photos and tagging them. I also use goodreads to post and tag the books that I have read. I created a free LibraryThing account, which seemed like a mashup of the two services I was already familiar with. LibraryThing allows me to keep a personal page of books that I have read and lets me rate and review the materials. The fun part is that it is also a social site, so I can see tags and reviews other people have posted about a certain material, and my friends can also look at the entries on my page. To the left, you see a screenshot for the entry and tags I created for our class textbook. I tagged our book with the words "ISAR" and "textbook." ISAR describes that this book topic is on information storage and retrieval. I tagged it as a textbook because that is the purpose of the book for me. To the right, you should notice my shiny new widget, fresh from my LibraryThing account. Now you can keep up with my reading and tagging without even leaving this site! Below you will see the tag cloud for Chu's book.

RSS Feeds

This week I learned about RSS feeds. I have noticed the "Subscribe" or "Follow this Blog" icons on the blogs and other sites I visit on the internet, and now I finally understand what they mean. Instead of checking a blog that you like every day to see if there is something new, you can choose to have it notify you. Sites like the Google Reader will organize all the blogs you follow and keep it all together on one site.

For this RSS Competencey, I chose to add a relevant feed to my blog. Since my focus is on teen programming and videogaming, I added the Young Adult Library Services Organization (YALSA) feed. This will allow me to keep current with with programming and services to young adults, while keeping my eye out for posts related to videogaming.

Podcasting

A podcast is like a broadcast. There are episodes and series, but they are released either as audio or video files online. For my third competency, I searched the pod-o-sphere for a podcast that relates to my subject, video games in the public library. My best results came from Youtube, using the keywords "Wii," "public library," "video games," and "podcast."

The Cape May County Public Library in New Jersey podcasted this great promo for their teen game nights. Using real library patrons (I assume), the library showed how game nights can be beneficial for teens and libraries. In the podcast "Trevor" starts going to all the gaming events, and soon the mother observes him making social connections with library staff and other teen gamers. He even starts using other library services, such as internet computers and books. I included this podcast because it shows how public libraries can use game nights to revamp their image in the mind of teen and younger patrons.

BONUS PODCASTS: I have two other podcasts to share. For people who feel relatively "gaming illiterate," I recommend you check out ArjShoghit's podcast on the history of gaming. It includes an overview of the newest gaming systems. Finally, nothing shows how video games get teens excited about libraries better than WestRoadSal's podcast. He can barely contain himself when he tells viewers that the New York Public Library allows patrons to check out Wii games. He even shows his audience how to search the library's online card catalog (!).

The Blogosphere

For my second competency assignment, I searched the blogosphere for topics that are related to my subject. I thought this would be easy, as gaming in the public library is a hot topic. However, when I used the Technorati Blog Search, I did not get load of results I had expected. When I used the the keywords "gaming in libraries," and finally found The Gaming Zone. This blog is run by the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, in Charlotte, NC, and it collects all the video game, board game, and technology programs for their library system.

This public library video game blog stood out to me because it has such a comprehensive gaming program. It has links to a calendar of events, which offers at least two programs a week. One aspect was new to me: Offering programs to teach interested teens how to create their own video games. I want to include this excerpt (in italics) of the program description:

TEEN GAME DESIGN
The Game Design Workshop is a series of class tutorials that use Multimedia Fusion Software to teach basic game design. These tutorials are self paced and provide access to online forums with other students all over the country. Students will have the opportunity to create original games and work with a game design facilitator (library staff) to develop their game’s content.
The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County

One aspect of of Information Literacy, which is defined by the National Forum on Information Literacy as the skills one needs to find and utilize information, is the ability to use technology to create, communicate, and manage ideas. The Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County teaches information literacy with this Game Design Workshop. Naysayers may argue that using video games in the library is simply a way to lure kids into the library, but PLCMC's program clearly promotes information literacy. Video games are not only entertaining and fun social activities: A successful gaming program promotes literacy and prepares youth for their technology-rich future.

Hip Hip Hooray

I created this blog as an assignment through TWU's Information Storage and Retrival 5013. The blog logs my practice with various competencies in the course. I am an advocate of videogames in the public library, and I will use this focus for all the assignments.

Although academic and other libraries do use video games, I will research information only relating to the public library. I have worked in a public library where I started a gaming program for teens. According to my analysis, this program increased teen participation in library programming. I wish to further my studies of videogame programs.