He's Back!

Tom Lehrer, one of my favorite songwriters and performers, once complained about the endless stream of plays, books, and movies about people who have trouble communicating. Lehrer said, "If you can't communicate, the least you can do is shut up!" Early on when Alice and Alane asked me about starting this blog, I decided that if I didn't have anything to say, I wasn't going to say it here. So for the last few weeks, I haven't had a lot to contribute. But this weekend at ALA Midwinter has given me something I want to talk about.

The Symposium, pictures of which have been posted by OCLC's answer to Weegee, Alice Sneary, was terrific. Each of the participants brought an interesting perspective to the question of what libraries can learn from gamers. Kurt Squire and Constance Steinkuehler took the academic perspective and coupled it with Constance's personal interest in Lineage. Marilyn Mason tied WebJunction to games, and Migell Acosta talked about how the Santa Monica Public Library has used LAN parties in a mutually beneficial way: the kids get a safe place to play with well-networked machines, and the library gets exposure to a new source of input on how to appeal to this generation. (Kurt, Constance, and Migell had spoken at OCLC in October. Kurt and Constance were the keynoters at Members Council, and Migell spoke on a panel presentation for staff in a program immediately after the Council meeting.) After a break, John Beck, author of "Got Game: How the Gamers Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever," made a superb case for how the generation of people conceived in Pong, weaned on SuperMario and matured in Massively Multiplayer Online Games, are changing and will change the workplace.

The questions and answers were excellent, and it seems like the audience really got it. We got a lot less of "Why is this important to libraries?" than we might have expected. Instead, attendees learned more about a way to think about their users from a generational perspective, and they heard some interesting ideas about how this perspective could be applied. Gamers impress me with their enthusiasm, their optimism, and their willingness to try new things. If the gamer generation can apply these traits in our libraries, we have nothing to worry about for the future of libraries. We just need to have enough sense to take advantage of what they bring to the table!

I've also spent several hours working in the OCLC Exhibit Hall booth. Donna Gehring, who manages our conference presence with unbelieveable patience and an almost Zen calm, assigns me as a generalist on the booth, which means basically I get to help people sign up for the drawing and then direct them to someone who actually knows something about OCLC products and services. What has been most gratifying this week is that a number of blog readers have stopped by to tell us how much they enjoy "It's All Good." It was a real ego trip, and now I know why authors like book signings!