GAMERT (Gaming) Round Table

Hello all!

I am the Student Success Librarian at the University of Iowa, and will be working on a pilot program to bring a "research arcade" to our library. We are a large library system (the largest in the state of Iowa), yet do not have any games in our holdings. This project will work to remedy that, but at the same time is starting from a completely blank slate. The idea thus far is to build an "arcade / reading room", similar to the Computer and Video Game Archive at the University of Michigan Library. We are just beginning work on our initial proposal, with the program hopefully launching next fall. 

I am posting here today to seek advice! Has anyone built such a collection or service from the ground up previously, and, if so, is there anything you wish you would have known before launching? For those of you that work in academic libraries, what sorts of services or collections might you envision in a project like this? How have you generated faculty buy-in for your games collections, and how have you struck a balance between academic need and recreational desires? What are your operational budgets like and how do you divide between staffing, space needs, and the collection itself? Essentially, all of the questions. 

Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated, and I would be more than happy to meet on Teams or Zoom to chat as well.

Please feel free to reach out directly: Max-Radl@uiowa.edu

Thanks everyone!

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Max Radl
Max-Radl@uiowa.edu
Student Success Librarian
University of Iowa
He / They
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I'm looking for a job in academic libraries, so my experience with games and building a collection is only personal. My recommendation is while you're in the building phase, have survey QR codes to talk to your students about what types of games they would play. I know the big 3 stations are Nintendo Switch 2, Playstation, and X-Box, so you'll probably want at least one or two of each of those if your budget allows.

Something somewhat adjacent, but depending on the space/budget available, maybe look at a board game collection too. I personally think board games are great as a social activity and that libraries could benefit from that type of space.

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Jonathan Griffith
Graduated Student
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
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Hi Max,

I don't have experience building a game program from the ground up, but I wanted to shout out both Michigan State University and the University of North Texas as other places that have really cool game collections and spaces. I recommend reaching out to them!

I do have some experience collecting games for an R1 university as a grad assistant, but I had difficulty getting faculty to respond to inquiries about the kind of games they would want. I ended up focusing on meeting gaps in the collection based on popular games & also which consoles' games were more frequently checked out based on circulation data. It seemed that recreational use was much more popular than academic use, but your institution may be different! It's certainly easier to make the case for continued funding for a collection if you have faculty buy-in.

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Meli Taylor
Reference & Instruction Librarian
Bowling Green State University
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