Successful Ongoing Gaming

Here is an interesting article this week in American Libraries, revving folks up for National Gaming Day @ Your Library (which, no, we did not plan anything for...should we next year?). It focuses on the work the Houston Public Library has done to incorporate gaming into both their kids and teen spaces.

I love how it focuses on the community that has evolved around teens who are fans of the program:

What we discovered after a month or two was the formation of a community.... Players encourage each other through the most challenging games and play in a good-natured way that encourages others to join in. We have a library full of engaged teen boys and our only real issues have been language and trash from our two vending machines.

Many of our teens ride the bus for at least an hour or more to get to the Central Library and they do it on an almost daily basis. They have learned to cooperate and participate with other teens from all over the city. Race, age, and ability have little to do with whether or not they can join a group playing. They teach each other and learn from each other daily.

I wish we could offer ongoing programming like this...sounds like a great idea!