推 aflylin:oh 真酷 03/25 09:10
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The New York Times
March 22, 2008
紐約市立圖書館 開放週五時段 讓民眾進如圖書館大廳 大玩 電視遊樂器
時下流行Wii也可以輕鬆玩
http://myurl.com.tw/0n29
Taking Play Seriously at the Public Library With Young Video Gamers
By SETH SCHIESEL
And you thought libraries were supposed to be quiet. Not on Friday.
Under the Beaux-Arts arches of Astor Hall at the New York Public Library’s
flagship building on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, thumping hard-rock beats
mixed with tennis-ball thwacks and the screech of burning tires late Friday
afternoon, as the library showed off the latest addition to its collections
of books, films, music and maps: video games.
Beneath the engraved names of august benefactors like John Jacob Astor and
Simon Guggenheim, several hundred children, young adults and the people who
love them virtually jumped, drove, battled and rocked out as the library
celebrated its burgeoning “Game On @ the Library!” initiative.
The library first offered games at a single Midtown branch in 2006. Now the
library system offers both organized play sessions and games for circulation
at 18 branches across the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. (Brooklyn and
Queens operate their own separate, library systems.) The library now owns
about 2,500 copies of 92 different games available for circulation in
one-week intervals. Overdue fine: $1 a day.
Standing a few yards from boisterous teenagers playing Super Smash Bros.
Brawl on Nintend's Wii and driving through Burnout 2 on Microsoft’s Xbox
360, David Ferriero, the Andrew W. Mellon director of the New York Public
Libraries, referred to the system’s planned $1 billion expansion — to be
kick-started by a $100 million gift from the financier Stephen A. Schwarzman
— as he explained what video games were doing in such unfamiliar
surroundings.
“Especially at this pivotal moment in our history, it is so great to have so
many people of this age group here in the library, because it foreshadows
what life is going to be like around here when we have transformed this
building,” he said. “We want to do a better job of integrating the
circulation and research collections, and part of that is becoming more
relevant for a younger audience.”
Jack Martin, the library’s assistant coordinator for young adult services
and the mastermind of the “Game On” project, said the library was in some
ways only catching up with libraries in Ann Arbor, Mich., Los Angeles and
parts of New England in making video games part of its programs and
collections.
“What we’re seeing is that in addition to simply helping bring kids into
the library in the first place, games are having a broader effect on players,
and they have the potential to be a great teaching tool,” Mr. Martin said. “
If a kid takes a test and fails, that’s it. But in a game, if you fail you
get to take what you’ve learned and try again.
“In a lot of these games you have to understand the rules, you have to
understand the game’s world, its story. For some games you have to
understand its history and the characters in order to play effectively.”
The program now includes games for the Wii, Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation
families of game systems. Mr. Martin said he hoped to expand soon to include
online PC games like World of Warcraft. He said the library system had spent
about $61,000 to provide hands-on game spaces in the 18 branches. The 2,500
circulating games appear to have cost at least $100,000.
In Astor Hall (also known as the lobby), a procession of tourists stopped in
their tracks as they passed through security, alternately stunned and
thrilled by the juxtaposition of the venerable hall with the three big
screens and throngs of exuberant players.
“This is pretty cool, and it definitely expands the audience of the library,
” said Garrett Lynn, 15, a ninth grader at Rockhurst High School in Kansas
City, Mo. “It’s good because you don’t see too many kids my age in a place
like this to check out a book.”
Donna Roth, 50, a makeup artist from nearby Prairie Village, Kan., and a
chaperon for Mr. Lynn’s visit to New York with her son Donald, answered, “
But you should!”
Across the hall, Radhames Saldivar, 16, a 10th grader from upper Manhattan,
ripped through a blistering rendition of Heart’s “Barracuda” on Guitar
Hero III. Afterward he said: “I never thought I’d see this happen. I might
have to check out the library some more.”
A few feet away, Carlos Rivera, 16, said he helped organize the regular
Friday afternoon game sessions at the Jefferson Market library branch in
Greenwich Village.
“I thought a library was just for books, just for studying, just for a lot
of things I don’t normally do,” he said. “But when I found out the library
was starting to have games it was great, because it’s really good to hear
that the library is paying more attention to the youth and what we’re into.”
He paused. “And it’s also good because I can just say to my parents, ‘I’m
going to the library.’”
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