Librarians in Nebraska are under investigation by local news media and the state after a youtube video surfaced of these book-lovers setting up and playing Rock Band and Dance Dance Revolution.
Further down in article: Most librarians I’ve known are surprisingly cool. They are dedicated people who like education, books and kids. I’d speculate that the librarians in Nebraska are buying game systems to draw kids to the library by actually making the place relevant to the interests and lifestyles of the people in the community. Shocking, right? After purchasing the games and systems, the librarians set them up and tried them out. Amazing, right?
Coolest librarians EVER in trouble for playing Rock Band
Imagine, if you will, that you have entered a library. Imagine further that a librarian approaches and, upon meeting you, asks, “Would you like to play Rock Band?” Would you think that this librarian was A) the greatest librarian in the history of librarians or B) wasting taxpayer money? If you chose B, you appear to agree with Omaha, Nebraska’s Action 3 News, which recently filed a report about a group of local librarians using state funds to purchase Rock Band for its gaming workshops. Worse still, the librarians even had the audacity to film themselves assembling and playing the game — during work hours — and then uploaded the results to YouTube.
http://www.hctor.com/coolest-librarians-ever-in-trouble-for-playing-rock-band/
Librarians, trouble-makers of the world
Mention of librarians at the GoNintendo Blog Archive (Who would of thought)
Librarians, trouble-makers of the world, cause more problems by playing Rock Band
http://gonintendo.com/?p=73825
Excerpt: How in the world is it that someone doesn’t know this is going on? We’ve heard about libraries branching out with games for over a year now! Better yet, the person that complained caught this video on the internet…you know, the place with tons of information? You would think that that person would do a little investigative work of their own before accusing the library of doing something wrong.
Sofa king stupid
Ahh those magical taxpayers.
I say magical because they believe that every cent they paid in taxes magically comes to me and my library. And all we do at that library is sit around and figure out ways to screw the patrons and waste the money. Of all the government entities served by tax dollars, libraries are by far and away the cheapest. We don’t need helicopters like police agencies do. We don’t need multimillion dollar rigs designed to blow through intersections at speed (aka firetrucks). We need some computers, some materials sitting on some shelves, internet, and a desk.
But in the end, the librarians spent what? US$400? Maybe $600 tops for a video game system, accessories, and games? Certainly they paid less than a grand.
Now, how much did this investigation and audit cost? I should also point out that it was an investigation and audit that wouldn’t have happened if someone in charge bothered to go to YouTube themselves and search for “library” and “rock band.” If they’d bothered spending two minutes doing that, they’d have seen that this is a common practice and isn’t worth a hassle.
Is it re-election time again already?
Some books contain the machinery required to create and sustain universes. Tycho (Jerry Holkins) @ Penny Arcade
“Is it re-election time again already?”
You’ve been reading my working notes? 🙂 I’m right now prepping as I’ve got a phone interview with the Nebraska state auditor in about six hours.
According to the Nebraska constitution, though, Mr. Foley’s term isn’t up until 2011. See: http://law.justia.com/nebraska/constitution/c0104001000.html
________________________
Stephen Michael Kellat, Host, LISTen
PGP KeyID: 899C131F
Good luck, man.
I’m a new
Good luck, man.
I’m a new librarian, but I have over ten years experience with promoting role-playing games with my family’s business. These type of articles make me want to play “House of the Dead” with people in suits.
Well
The episode aired a few weeks ago. You can find it here. The interviews both went quite well.
________________________
Stephen Michael Kellat, Host, LISTen
PGP KeyID: 899C131F
Nebraska State Auditor Goes After Library Gaming—All $500 Worth
Nebraska State Auditor Goes After Library Gaming—All $500 Worth
Story at Library Journal
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6640129.html
College librarians and video games?
On page 10 of the Nebraska auditors report there is this info:
UNL Staff Gaming Day held on July 31, 2008 – some training was provided by Network
Services employees to UNL library staff on the use of games in libraries. There are 77
photos posted on flickr for this event.
See: http://www.auditors.state.ne.us/local/pdfSearch/PDF/2009_Library_Commission_Review.pdf
UNL is the University of Nebraska Lincoln. Why is a University having a staff gaming day? It is one thing for a public library to promote games to get kids into the library but at a college? I know how to get college students into the library, have their professor’s give them an assignment that requires the use of the library.
waste of money
I work at a library in a rural community and each library in our district is tasked with buying new Wii’s- to draw kids into the library. What a waste of money. The money could better spent on YA collections or on programming. As a new librarian it’s heart-breaking to be a part of the [further] dumbing down of America.
I thought the library would be a respite from the wasteful consumerism and cultural move towards cultural and literary illiteracy. I was dead wrong.
City librarians of America! Stand up! Be a beacon to these small American towns and their misguided libraries!
(or is it l ike this everywhere?)_
Amazing
It is amazing we can have computers for adults and kids alike, magazines, movies, music, rooms for knitting clubs, orchestra practice, and other events. All non”book” related things. But when libraries are trying to reach out to the youth and maybe get them in the door and stay at a library in a nontraditional fashion. It is dumbing down America. Kids are reading up on game cheats, latest game summaries, using eye hand coordination with these games and sometimes checking out a book or magazine in the end. I am not saying this type of program will make all of them scholars and readers or pure literature. But I applaud those looking outside of the box on how to reach teens. Let’s embrace what interests teens and show them a positive environment and then introduce them to the more traditional avenues of the library.
I have worked in the public library for over 21 yrs. and times have changed. We need to continually meet the needs and interests of our patrons along with downloadable books, movies and playaways and yes gaming for the teens. Then maybe when they become adults they will come to the library for say a book, magazine or even a book club.
Just my two cents.