Videogames Libraries And The Feedback Loop

Offering a fresh understanding of the learning potential of youth videogaming in public libraries, and delving into research-based accounts which showcase feedback mechanisms that nurture meaningful learning, Abrams and Gerber equip readers to re-envision library programming that specifically features youth videogame play.

Imagine: Teen and pre-teen boys, twenty-somethings, parents, and even younger kids streaming into the library. It's your library's monthly videogame tournament! Step boldly into a new arena of library programming with lifetime gamer and Ann Arbor's library technology manager, Eli Neiburger.As a leading expert on producing videogame tournaments and events, Neiburger explains why videogame programming holds huge potential for libraries. He offers the complete toolkit. Follow these practical and proven guidelines to get answers to all your questions - from convincing the skeptics to getting audience feedback through your blog.Learn how to serve this underserved audience and: gain familiarity with the basics of gaming culture, software, and hardware; understand how videogaming events fit into the library; learn what works and what doesn't from the experiences of the nation's leading expert; conduct a tournament in your library - including how to plan, set up, and run any size event; market the events, build an audience, and get feedback.Don't miss out on an entire generation of library users. With game-savvy librarians and this must-have resource, you'll soon be building a brand new audience of library-loyal videogame fans.

The ninth edition of this popular overview of the various programs and services offered by libraries offers best practice and useful tips for implementing them effectively. Building on the strong foundation of the previous editions, award-winning author G. Edward Evans returns with a new co-author, Stacey Greenwell, for this update that combines their signature style of textbook readability, informality, and sometimes humor, as well as their knack for balancing foundational topics and new trends. A new feature in this edition is the incorporation of the concept of "library social work" through "Social Work Connections" sidebars in each chapter. Anecdotes throughout the text and "Career Connections" sidebars offer practical advice and specific current examples. Greenwell and Evans have combined several chapters from the previous edition and expanded discussions of new trends while retaining and updating the fundamentals. The ninth edition is a welcome update for library and information science courses and a valuable handbook for public services librarians.

Video games are now a ubiquitous form of media used by the majority of the American population. However, the academic research field surrounding this genre does not accurately reflect the pervasive influence of video games. The field of library and information sciences helps provide the necessary foundational support for this media. Integrating Video Game Research and Practice in Library and Information Science brings together video gaming culture and its unique forms of communication with information behavior research. By detailing the nuances of video games and their influence, this reference book reveals communication patterns within society and provides comprehensive background and analysis for libraries, librarians, and information professionals.

This book aims to show how librarians in colleges and universities of varying sizes, populations, and locations have successfully incorporated gaming into their libraries.-Introduction. In an attempt to encompass the variety of ways games are being incorporated into libraries, this book has been divided into three sections: game collections and curricular support, gaming as marketing and gaming as an information literacy tool.

Librarians are beginning to see the importance of game based learning and the incorporation of games into library services. This book is written for them--so they can use games to improve people's understanding and enjoyment of the library. Full of practical suggestions, the essays discuss not only innovative uses of games in libraries but also the game making process. The contributors are all well versed in games and game-based learning and a variety of different types of libraries are considered. The essays will inspire librarians and educators to get into this exciting new area of patron and student services.

The biggest challenge facing many game programmers is completing their game. Most game projects fizzle out, overwhelmed by the complexity of their own code. Game Programming Patterns tackles that exact problem. Based on years of experience in shipped AAA titles, this book collects proven patterns to untangle and optimize your game, organized as independent recipes so you can pick just the patterns you need. You will learn how to write a robust game loop, how to organize your entities using components, and take advantage of the CPUs cache to improve your performance. You'll dive deep into how scripting engines encode behavior, how quadtrees and other spatial partitions optimize your engine, and how other classic design patterns can be used in games.

Playing with Videogames documents the richly productive, playful and social cultures of videogaming that support, surround and sustain this most important of digital media forms and yet which remain largely invisible within existing studies. James Newman details the rich array of activities that surround game-playing, charting the vibrant and productive practices of the vast number of videogame players and the extensive 'shadow' economy of walkthroughs, FAQs, art, narratives, online discussion boards and fan games, as well as the cultures of cheating, copying and piracy that have emerged. Playing with Videogames offers the reader a comprehensive understanding of the meanings of videogames and videogaming within the contemporary media environment.