World of Warcraft library seminar

24 June saw 31 one people assemble outside the Stormwind Keep. These people, via their human, dwarf, gnome, draenei and night elf toons were turning up for the first ever library seminar or conference in World of Warcraft (well, we think it was the first).














The participants came from Australia, New Zealand and the USA to hear Liz Danforth who write the Games, gamers & gaming blog for the American Library Association, Scott Nicholson Associate Professor at the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University and expert on board games, Adam Beck from the Central Arkansas Library System and Peggy Sheehy, a teacher from Suffern, NY talk about games and libraries.

Note toons is the accepted term for the online figures which are used in World of Warcraft. Stormwind Keep in part of the human city of Stormwind. The seminar participants also travelled to Ironforge, the stronghold of the dwarves and home of the exile gnome leadership. The seminar mostly took part in the Stormwind Library and the Ironforge Library.

Liz Danforth provided an introduction to massively multi online games and some considerations for their use in libraries

Adam told us about his library is using World of Warcraft to engage with the community and teach skills. Quite a few of the new players wanted to sign up for his classes.

Peggy talked about how some schools are using World of Warcraft to teach students a range of life skills and seeking ways to help “at risk” students.

Scott Nicoholson provided a crucial contrast by talking about the use of board games. He highlighted the importance of not defining a target age group as often whole families or other groups of mixed ages would come to libraries for board game events. Board games have relatively low start up costs and no maintenance costs.

Transcripts of the day are available. This wiki will be used to discuss games and libraries, so you might want to join the wiki to participate in the discussion.

Although I write "talked about" the seminar was done using instant messaging. A guild was set up so that guild communication could be used. You can see the guild page. Note not all the members of the guild are visible as quite a few had not reached level 10.

One seminar was not enough time to cover all the discussions which need to take place about how libraries can use games. It provided an environment where it was easy to have an international discussion, and this provided a lot of benefit.

We will be having future meeting in World of Warcraft to discuss library use of games. You will need to set up an Alliance toon (human, dwarf, gnome, draenei or night elf) in Saurfang and join the guild. The easiest way to to this is to turn up early for the next talk. The talks could take place in any massively multiple online game, they just happen to take place in World of Warcraft. Other venues will be explored in the future.

r u game?

r u game is the name of a seminar, in two parts which is coming up 23 and 24 June. It explores current practice and possibilities for using games in public libraries. Quite a few of these possibilities relate to reference and information services provision.

Part 1
The 23 June seminar is at the State Library of New South Wales. Speakers include, Gary Hayes, Coordinator & Lecturer, Multi Platform Content at the Australian Film TV and Radio School, Sam Doust from ABC innovation, Dr Martin Masek from Edith Cowan University, Jaap Van De Geer and Erik Boekesteijn from DOK, the Delft Public Library, Huon Longman, Sue Killham from Narrandera and Penny Amberg. You can see the full program and book here.

Part 2
24 June seminar takes place online in World of Warcraft. The meeting place is in the Saurfang realm, outsite the Stormwind Keep.

Presenters include Adam Beck from Central Arkansas Library System will be talking about how his library uses World of Warcraft, Liz Danforth who is well known for writing the Games, Gamers, and Gaming” column for Library Journal both in print and online will be talking about some of the possibilities for public libraries using online environments, Huon Longman will talk about his research into the value of online relationships in World of Warcraft will talk about his research into the social value of online communities, Shawn McCann, the first immersive learning (gaming) librarian appointed at McMaster University in Canada will talk about his experiences and ideas, Scott Nicholson, Association Professor for Syracuse University School of Information Studies will talk about using board games in libraries. I will also be exploring some ideas relating to readers advisory work and games.

You can find out more about the seminar here. Don't forget to check out the links in the navigation bar as well.

This slideshow gives you some tips for getting started for the seminar

r u game online 2010 : getting ready

View more presentations from Ellen Forsyth.

You can book for the seminar here.

While holding a seminar in an online environment will be a first for New South Wales public libraries, a very successful science conference was held in World of Warcraft in 2008. You can read a write of this science conference, it was featured in Online worlds : convergence of the real and the virtual edited by William Sims Bainbridge and there is more information here.

If you are tweeting, blogging or posting to Flickr, please use #rugame2010