Tag: Programming

Libraries, Video Games

Gaming Programs For All Ages at the Library by Tom Bruno

Justin Hoenke

TomBrunoGaming

I’m excited about Tom Bruno’s new book, Gaming Programs For All Ages at the Library. Not only is Tom a most excellent, community focused librarian, but he’s also one hell of a gamer and he knows his stuff. I couldn’t think of a better person to be writing about gaming in libraries than Tom.

I got a chance to read through the book before it came out and let me tell you, this is a great resource to have if you’re looking into all things gaming at your library or even if you already have some gaming programs and collections in place. What this book does best is inspire the reader to keep trying, to keep growing, and to remember that gaming events really cater to a unique audience in your community. That’s one of the qualities of what great libraries do…they notice how they can reach out to everyone in their community. Gamers are a part of our communities, and Tom’s book will help you not only reach out and get them to the library but keep them there for years to come. I couldn’t recommend this book enough.

You can purchase a copy of Gaming Programs For All Ages at the Library by Tom Bruno here. Better yet, if you’re reading this here’s a promo discount code for 30% off of the book: RFLANDF30 (EDIT 6/5/18 this code only works in the USA and I will update later if/when I have an international code)

Here’s the official details on the book:

Gaming Programs for All Ages at the Library: A Practical Guide for Librarians
by Tom Bruno

Join librarian and lifelong gamer Tom Bruno on his quest to bring gaming to his library community, from bringing back classic board games such as Fireball Island to offering free play in the latest virtual reality games using the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive!

Gaming Programs for All Ages at the Library shows you how you can launch and support gaming programming in your library, including:

  • how to make the case for library gaming with your administration
  • how to acquire and loan gaming materials (whether or not you have the budget for them!)
  • how to publicize your library gaming programming
  • how to incorporate other library units into the gaming experience.

Everything from acquisitions to budgeting to circulation is covered in this practical guide — you’ll also learn about promotion, assessment, and experiential learning opportunities.

PLEASE NOTE: this isn’t a promoted post or anything like that. I don’t do those. I will probably get a free copy of the book at some point and that’s it.I’m doing this post for three reasons:

  1. I like Tom. I always have. He has a good and positive message at all times and he brings something good into this world.
  2. I love video games in libraries, and the more we talk about it and the more do it the better it will become. This books helps that mission.
  3. Along with Jenny Levine and Scott Nicholson, Tom names me as being part of what he calls The Dynamic Trio of Library Video Gaming in the book, and he also quotes some of my publications on video games and libraries and talks about how there was once a Ms. Pac Man machine on The 2nd Floor of the Chattanooga Public Library. That was very kind of him. It was also very neat to be mentioned alongside these really great people.
Advertisements
Benson Memorial Library, Community Building, Kids, Libraries, Library Director, Management

Library To-Do List: 2017

Justin Hoenke

IMG_0185.JPG

EXPAND OUR LOCAL HISTORY/GENEALOGY OFFERINGS
Titusville, PA has a wonderful and rich history (for a glimpse of it, just read this). As our local public library, I believe that we should be doing as much as possible to make that history accessible to our everyone in the community. To date, we’ve done a few things to increase awareness of our great history. Jess Hilburn started up a blog to share some great local stories she digs up in the Titusville Herald Archives. We’ve got the Titusville Herald archive online for in library use. But in my opinion we’ve got to do more, and slowly but surely we are getting there.

A partnership between the library, the Titusville Historical Society, Drake Well Museum and Park, and the Titusville Alumni Association came about in 2016 and resulted in the beginnings of the Titusville PA Heritage Connection, a website/digital portal that aims to bring all of our organizations together in one online space to make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for. While the site isn’t anywhere near complete, the fact that we have it up and the framework is there is a step in the right direction. A big thank you to our Clarion University of PA intern Kerry Neely for her help in getting this set up!

UPGRADE OUR INTERNET CONNECTION
Living and working in Chattanooga, TN was pretty great and one of the big reasons for that was their gig fiber internet connection. Speeds were fast, reliable, and the excitement of having something so state of the art created such a positive buzz in the community which led to some great things being tried out to make Chattanooga TN a better place for all.

Since moving to Titusville, PA, I’ve been wishing we’ve had that kind of thing to spur some excitement. Our internet options here in town are lacking, and the ones we can connect to have average to terrible service. HOWEVER, I hope to change that in 2017. To my excitement, I discovered that the town does have fiber internet lines in a few places. After some conversations with people around the community and others in the state, I found out that THERE’S FIBER LINES SURROUNDING THE ENTIRE BENSON MEMORIAL LIBRARY. Here’s a beautiful image of that fiber line coming right down in front of the library and turning right down our alley. Wow.

Benson Memorial Library.jpg

In 2017, I’m gonna do my best to get us connected to these fiber lines so that in the future we can offer better internet access to our patrons. I don’t know how this will look, I don’t know how much this will cost, and I don’t know if I’ll fully succeed, but I’m going to try. As far as I know, we’d be the second institution in Titusville to access this connection (the University of Pitt at Titusville is the first) and the first public space to offer high internet speeds. Like I said above, we’ll see, but for now I’m gonna dream big and try out something that’s potentially huge for our community.

PROGRAMS, PROGRAMS, PROGRAMS

IMG_0218.JPG
Yup, these are my kids Aero and Finn at a library program. They come to a lot of them because they have a lot of fun and they enjoy getting to hang out with other kids. That’s what it is all about!

One of the big things that libraries do best these days is to offer educational and fun programs for all ages. In 2016, we’re going to have offered 320 programs that were attended by over 8,000 community members. That’s not bad for a public library that has a service area of around 14,000 people.

2017 is gonna bring a lot more of that and hopefully in larger numbers. I can’t and won’t take my foot off of the gas pedal when it comes to programming in libraries. We have to constantly be offering something to our community members. Programs are unique to libraries and something that we do very well. Story times and after school clubs work best for our younger audience, while nighttime events and musical performances work well for our adult and senior citizen crowd. We plan on having more of those throughout the year.

DO MORE TO ESTABLISH THE LIBRARY AS A COMMUNITY SPACE
One of the best things public libraries have going for their is their space. Most, if not all of us, have amazing buildings in centrally located areas. These buildings are one of our biggest assets. They do some of the simplest things that a library can do: provide space, warmth, comfort, and adventure. I’ve been thinking and speaking about this idea for a few years, and in 2017 I hope to do more to make that idea more cohesive and understandable to everyone out there.

STAY POSITIVE
No matter what we face directly in front of us in 2017, we have to remember that there is love and support all around us. Take a look around at your online social networks, groups like EveryLibrary, and your local community organizations that support the library. Take a moment and look at the community members you serve on a daily basis at your library. All of these groups and all of these people believe in the work that you do. I’m going to do my best to keep that up front in my head and my heart in 2017. I urge you all to do the same.

Kids, Libraries, Management, Teens, Uncategorized

Youth Services in Public Libraries (some thoughts that I’m having circa September 2014)

Justin Hoenke

Screen Shot 2014-09-15 at 9.49.39 AM

I think about Youth Services in Public Libraries more than the average human being. That is ok as it is my job and I make a living to provide for my family with these thoughts, ideas, and actions.

My mantra with library services in general is to keep pushing ahead and try new things. To be in a constant state of change is to always be on the top of your game. When you are on the top of your game, I believe that you are better able to provide for the needs of your community. Flexibility enables you to have a quick reaction. Too many times in libraries we are bogged down by the planning and talking about it process. Once that’s over, it is sometimes too late to give the community what it seeks. OK, back to the subject of this post.

Here are some ideas that I have been having over the past few months. Enjoy them, borrow them, modify them, etc. If you don’t agree with them you can just close out your internet web browser and forget about everything I just said.

SIMPLIFY
Youth Services librarians always think big. We plan big. We want our community to have the greatest possible experience in the library and at our programs. Never lose that. That’s what makes you special and that’s why youth services librarians are often looked upon as some of the best people in the community. We give a HUGE crap about our community.

But simplification is, in my experience, not a quality that most youth services librarians have. I know I am in that category.  I see others that I work with in that category. Simplification in this case is a good thing. Think about the resources you have around you. Can you take those resources that you’re using everyday (volunteers, 3D printing, Legos, community members) and copy/paste them into your library and programs? I suggest you give it a try if you are not doing this already. You will be using things that you are already comfortable with and in some cases already prepared. Simplification will give you less stress to knock everything out of the park. Less stress allows you to be a better librarian for your community.

WORK TO YOUR STRENGTHS
What are you most comfortable with in the library? What does your work schedule allow you to accomplish? What are the skills that you have now and wish to develop in the future?

Mindfulness of those particular things allows you to work to your strengths. At my current stage of my professional life, I am most comfortable with the behind the scenes stuff, laying out the big picture, and making sure it connects. For someone that came through libraries working directly with the public for 6 years, this shift was difficult. I initially fought it very much. What that led to was stress and depression. None of that is helpful.

When you work to your strengths, you will approach your day to day work in libraries with a clear set of eyes. This clear set of eyes allows you to focus better on the job in front of you.

FUN
I am a big believer that having fun leads to more learning than we can understand at this point. My son Finn and I were recently interviewed for the Chattanooga Times Free Press about video games. I also point out this great post by Megan Emery (who I work with at the Chattanooga Public Library) titled Learning Through Fun.

The basic idea behind all of this is that fun leads to a lot of amazing discoveries and life moments. I think this approach works really well in libraries. We are in this very unique position of not being a school but also having a mission to encourage lifelong learning in our communities. We can try new things. We can experiment! Yes! I just said that! We are free to be unique.

Fun is a great approach to take. When you have fun at something you create a positive memory. You look back on that experience fondly. It gives you warm fuzzies.  There’s probably some kind of chemical brain thing happening that makes the warm fuzzies and fun so memorable…I don’t know. I’m not a brain doctor smart person type. All that I know is that my head is full of amazingly fun memories and I keep going back to those things.

IN closing….when I re-read this post one thought comes to mind: it is all about simplicity and getting back to the basics. Make things easy, for yourself and your community. Have fun. Don’t stress yourself out. I really believe this to be a great path forward for youth services in libraries.