ALA 2008
I’ve just returned from attending the American Library Association’s annual conference.
The sessions were fine, I learned some practical tips, and took plenty of notes. But what I took away as my major lesson didn’t happen in a formal session. It came from visiting the acres and acres of convention center space occupied by vendors. All of the traditional companies were there: publishers, library supplies and furniture, automated system vendors. And then I saw the Nintendo booth. A salesman in jeans, a t-shirt and a faded t-shirt introduced me to wii. I tried to hit soccer balls with my virtual head while he explained that I was getting a balance workout (and that he had seen worse). Many vendors had librarians playing wii, Guitar Hero, or Dance Dance Revolution.
It was like an amusement park, but it was much more than a bunch of librarians cutting loose at their annual convention by playing games. The encyclopedia sets looked lonely as everyone watched presentations about web-based resources on plasma screens, just like in the real public library. There were new books all over the place, but there were just as many DVDs, Playaways, databases and ebooks.
My attorney/librarian daughter also attended ALA. I believe she attended only one session, but along with many other attendees, she participated in a conference-wide virtual game similar to a scavenger hunt. Along with scavenging some free advance copies and tote bags, the game was her major engagement with the conference. While hunting for clues, she learned a lot about library services and products in a fun and creative way. She turned up her nose at the formal lecture-structured sessions. And watching her learn was my major lesson, not that budgets should link to strategic plans, or that broadband in the United States needs to get faster and cheaper. I learned that current generations aren’t learning the way I was taught. Gaming is much more complex than what many of us realize. It’s not just about frivolous recreation (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Gaming is huge, it’s a legitimate learning method, and it makes learning fun. And if some next-gen librarian is standing next to you recording your wii debut with her cell phone, that learning experience can end up on the internet, so watch out!
The sessions were fine, I learned some practical tips, and took plenty of notes. But what I took away as my major lesson didn’t happen in a formal session. It came from visiting the acres and acres of convention center space occupied by vendors. All of the traditional companies were there: publishers, library supplies and furniture, automated system vendors. And then I saw the Nintendo booth. A salesman in jeans, a t-shirt and a faded t-shirt introduced me to wii. I tried to hit soccer balls with my virtual head while he explained that I was getting a balance workout (and that he had seen worse). Many vendors had librarians playing wii, Guitar Hero, or Dance Dance Revolution.
It was like an amusement park, but it was much more than a bunch of librarians cutting loose at their annual convention by playing games. The encyclopedia sets looked lonely as everyone watched presentations about web-based resources on plasma screens, just like in the real public library. There were new books all over the place, but there were just as many DVDs, Playaways, databases and ebooks.
My attorney/librarian daughter also attended ALA. I believe she attended only one session, but along with many other attendees, she participated in a conference-wide virtual game similar to a scavenger hunt. Along with scavenging some free advance copies and tote bags, the game was her major engagement with the conference. While hunting for clues, she learned a lot about library services and products in a fun and creative way. She turned up her nose at the formal lecture-structured sessions. And watching her learn was my major lesson, not that budgets should link to strategic plans, or that broadband in the United States needs to get faster and cheaper. I learned that current generations aren’t learning the way I was taught. Gaming is much more complex than what many of us realize. It’s not just about frivolous recreation (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Gaming is huge, it’s a legitimate learning method, and it makes learning fun. And if some next-gen librarian is standing next to you recording your wii debut with her cell phone, that learning experience can end up on the internet, so watch out!
posted by SGroskurth at 6:28 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home