NEWS
For Immediate Release,
April 28, 2009
Contact: Dale Lipschultz
Literacy Officer
ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services
(312) 280-3275
Ten Libraries Receive Gaming and Literacy Grants
CHICAGO – Ten libraries in 10 states from New York to Alaska will receive $5,000 grants as part of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Libraries, Literacy and Gaming initiative, funded by the Verizon Foundation.
The winners, representing a broad spectrum of libraries – seven public, two school and one academic – will use the funds to develop and implement gaming and literacy programs that provide innovative gaming experiences for youths 10-18 years of age. The 10 libraries were selected out of 390 that applied for the grant.
The following libraries were chosen:
• Anderson Public Library, Anderson, IN
• Brewster Ladies Library, Brewster, MA
• Cascade Middle School, Cascade, WA
• Henshaw Middle School Library, Anchorage School District, Anchorage, AK
• Indian Trails Public Library, Wheeling, IL
• Manhattanville College Library, Purchase, NY
• San Pablo Library, San Pablo, CA
• Sewickley Public Library, Sewickley, PA
• Wayne Country Public Library, Goldsboro, NC
• Weber Country Library System, Ogden, UT
“These library gaming programs will help tweens and teens build 21st-Century literacy and learning skills,” said Dale Lipschultz, literacy officer with the ALA’s Office for Literacy and Outreach Services.
The Libraries, Literacy and Gaming initiative is generously funded by the Verizon Foundation and managed by ALA’s Office for Literacy and Outreach Services. Dr. Scott Nicholson, an associate professor in the School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, is the evaluation specialist.
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A little more about each of the projects…
Anderson Public Library, Anderson, IN
“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, MA
Geocaching: YOU are the Search Engine: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.Geocaching, “Hi-Tech Hide and Seek,” provides the perfect blend of simplicity and complexity needed to design a successful gaming and literacy project. The library will create themed gaming events by devising a search promoting an understanding and appreciation for Brewster’s historic places and regional history and utilizing a book featured on the summer reading list (such as The Graveyard Book) as source material for a hunt could require students to do genealogical research at the library and visit a local cemetery to locate a cache.
Cascade Middle School, Cascade, WA
CMS Gaming Zone: The library’s Gaming Zone initiative will develop two afterschool programs a week, encompassing board and video game creation workshops, tournaments, developing a gaming council, hint book/cheat sheet development and more.
Henshaw Middle School Library, Anchorage School District, Anchorage, AK
Game on in Alaska!: With purchase of additional equipment, the library will make Dance Dance Revolution available to all middle schools in the district, host a lunchtime gaming group using PC games such as Spore & Civilization, offer gaming as an incentive to specific classes, host family game nights, and extend gaming year during a summer Internet Camp.
Indian Trails Public Library, Wheeling, IL
Operation Game Creation: 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, NY
Student Created Games as a Tool for Academic Success: At Manhattanville College, a small liberal arts college dedicated to educating its students to become ethically and socially responsible leaders for the global community, 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, CA
Make Music at the San Pablo Library: Youth will track their participation in a variety of music-literacy
related activities via a ‘Musical Scavenger Hunt’ big game. Activities include music enrichment assemblies, creative writing workshop featuring a song writing contest, musical Jeopardy, performances by local teen musicians, music composition workshop featuring hands on experimentation with music composition software, music video games like Wii Music and Rock Band, an “Iron Musician” competition, a build your own musical instrument contest, and more.
Sewickley Public Library, Sewickley, PA
Teen Gaming Initiative: This afterschool gaming partnership with the local school districtstresses programs & projects “based on constituents interest.” 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, to be showcased at the local school and serve as a marketing device for the next program session.
Wayne Country Public Library, Goldsboro, NC
Play Me a Story: 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. The current gaming program will be expanded to include an ongoing Dungeons and Dragons game wherein participants will develop back stories for their characters and create detailed synopses of the adventures they encounter, tabletop games such as Warhammer or Settlers of Catan, and created content will be made available for public viewing, 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, a workshop where young people create their own board game and/or concept for a video game, with emphasis on character and narrative development, LiveJournal groups dedicated to role-playing and world-building, creation and publication of machinima and a group project where several authors contribute to an ongoing narrative.
Weber Country Library System, Ogden, UT
Get Into Gaming: 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. Activities include a board game modification program, classes to teach teens to develop and write game storylines and to design their own professional-grade video games, an interactive Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) program for participants to write and construct CYOA novels and have the opportunity to play a live-action CYOA game, each tween choosing his or her own path, console RPGs gaming as research, a hands-on workshop to teach teens the fundamentals of designing and building gaming PCs, podcasting workshops will teach teens to write, produce, and post podcasts featuring book and video game reviews and an interactive Alternate Reality Game that will use the real world to immerse players in a fictionalized narrative quest involving geocaching. In addition, the library will develop a collection of 50 gaming novels to be used in a traveling display for GIG events, complimented by bookmarks, book lists, and booktalks will be developed to market this circulating collection of novels.