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Forgive my belated post from Monday’s Gaming in Libraries Symposium. I’ve been traveling ever since with little time to stop and take note. I thought it went very well. It was probably the most enthusiastic group of conference-goers I’ve seen in a while. They asked lots and lots of questions after our talk, which Giz has already posted. We learned that 80% of the group had not done a gaming event before, so they were eager to know tips and pitfalls to avoid. Here is a picture of Giz in action:

I think the conference bore out the fact that gaming in libraries is more than just a fad. Those who think we are cheapening the library brand by associating with gaming need to take another look and reassess exactly what our brand is. A number of speakers talked about the complete revolution in learning that gaming has brought about. For example, one speaker said that educators would do well to note how seven year olds can be enraptured in learning extremely complex language and coding skills but then sit in the classroom completely board with their academic work. I plan to continue to follow this movement with our own modest gaming program. Lynn