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It's a big job to start a video game collection,
especially if you have never played a video game. We will try to
help you with all the information we have gathered over the last
year. These are our trials and tribulations, and our great successes
laid bare for all to see! :) Start at the top and work your way
down. By the time you've gotten to the bottom of this page, you'll
be ready to start one of the most popular collections you'll have
in your library! |
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This can be one of your biggest hurdles in getting
video games in the library. You may get resistance from your director,
your department head, other librarians and even the public. Remember,
sometimes sound ideas can take a while to set in, particularly,
when the people you are trying to convince have been hearing and
believing differently most of their lives. We have a whole section
dedicated to helping you overcome this difficult hurdle. Keep
at it; with the right information this is something you can overcome! |
Defense
of Video Games
Megan Johnson, Teen librarian and lifetime gamer, has written a
defense of video games. You can view it here. |
Everyone
else is doing it, why can't we?
Links to information for other libraries who have video games.
Some of these libraries have likely had to go through the same
process you have, so use your peers! |
Press Releases
Sometimes what you really need is to pre-empt those negative remarks
you may get with good
ones. Ideas for press releases including a sample press release
from our library with quotes from area teens praising
the collection. |
Research,
research, research!
A list of articles that may help you back up you points. |
Numbers!
Sometimes all you need is a little proof! Here are our statistics
for our Video Game collection. If these numbers don't convince
them, we don't know what will! |
In
our own words
We have personal arguments for why video games are important and why they aren’t
just a waste of time. Seasoned video gamers and librarians Megan Johnson, Robert
Slater and Jeff Reid explain in their own words why video games are great. We
also have some interviews with teens who game to help you understand why they
think they are important. |
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A video game collection has been approved,
but you are having trouble starting one up. We have some suggestions
that will help you get started on your new collection and that
will help make you feel comfortable making your decisions. We also
have information on portable games and how you can safely circulate
them.
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Make
a collection development policy
Go here to see how we chose our games, and how it has worked out
for us. This section is updated as we have more news for you. |
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Ask
your teens
We asked the teens in our Teen Advisory committees which games
were must-buys. Use the teens when you can; they are one of your
primary audiences. You can go to our teen
forums at animeted.org to
see the reviews of
some of our teens! |
What worked for us!
An Excel spreadsheet of video games in the catalog pulled on 4-2-07.
This spreadsheet lists the creation date, number of checkouts and
titles of the games as well as what system they are on. You can sort by number of Check Outs to see what has circulated the most for us. [Updated 11-12-07] |
How do you process video games?
We get a lot of questions about how we process our games. Here's information on how we process our games, including what we do with those pesky instruction books! |
How
can I circulate Nintendo DS games?
We know, we know, no one makes a security case designed
specifically for portable games like the PSP and the DS.
But we figured out a nifty trick for getting these puppies
into the security cases we currently buy! |
Top Selling Genres
The Entertainment Software Association keeps a list of the
top selling genres and online games. Go here for some ideas
about what percentages of different genres you might invest
in. |
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Starting a Video Game collection doesn't come terrifically cheap,
but then no new collection really is all that cheap. In this section,
you'll find information on how to start up your collection as cheaply
as possible, how to keep it from being stolen, and how to fix those
damaged video games. We'll also discuss the best circulation policies
to help keep the items available to more patrons if you have a small
collection. |
Purchasing
Video Games on the Cheap
Here are all the tricks we used to maximize our starting budget.
See how we managed to buy close to 100 games for $1000. |
Security
Policies Reviewed
There are several means of securing your video games from theft.
We review a few of them and make some suggestions based on our
successes and failures. |
Damage Repair
Can video games be resurfaced? Even Gamecube games? What about
those video game store warrantees, are they worth it? Go here
to find out! |
Circulation Policies
for Video Games
See how we are doing it, and we'll tell you how it worked out for
us. Also, links to how other libraries are circulating their games. |
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Weeding can be hard to do with popular
collections. Hopefully, your collection will be checked out so
much it won't be necessary. But, unfortunately, space is finite
in a library and there may come a time when you need to weed.
If you do come to that point, we have some pointers and information
that will help you out. |
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How long do you keep
those last generation games?
When a new system comes out, that can mean that down the road you
will have a glut of last generation games on your hands. Do you
need to keep classic games the way you keep classic books? Here
we discuss how the gaming industry generally works and the marketability
of classic games. Armed with this info, you'll feel better about
weeding. |
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