Gaming & Teens

 

This week we have been talking about teens & social media and gaming. Sigh! We all have heard the evils of teens and social media - mental health struggles, comparison to others, unrealistic expectations, and addiction. Such big topics. The articles we read this week, though a little dated, talked about some of the positives of online usage in teens, and let's be honest, our kids are all online. The above graphic contains the quote from one of the articles we read this week, Teens, Technology & Friendships from the Pew Research center, "online games help build friendships, engage in collaboration, and conversation." I see this in my own kids, who play collaborative games online with friends, engaging in real-time conversations about their games. They talk about world building in Minecraft and how they are going to defeat the big boss as a group. It's how kids hang out these days. 

So what does this mean for our libraries? Do we meet them where they are at? Yes! 

Another one of our articles from Knowledge Quest, Let’s Play: Why School Librarians Should Embrace Gaming in the Library  by Aaron Elkins, talks about how, "incorporating gaming into your school library can help foster a love of reading and learning." But that's a bit harder for school libraries with tight budgets. Elkins asks, "what kinds of gaming materials do you want to add to your collection? In addition to games themselves, consoles, controllers, and even strategy guides could join your school library collection." For those of us who work with younger children, or who have smaller budgets, strategy guides are an easy entrance into the school library collection. The few strategy guides I have are regularly checked out. I have also added some of the game themed readers and chapter books, like Minecraft of Roblox, into my collection for gaming enthusiasts. Here are some of my favorites:

Minecraft Woodsword Chronciles by Nick Eliopolous

This is a set of 6 chapter books that take five players and put them in Minecraft realm. They need to use all of their Minecraft skills to survive! This is great for Minecraft fans, or even gamer fans in 1st through 3rd grade. There is now a Stonesword Chronicles set!

Minecraft Guides by Mojang

These books are hot commodities in my library. The kids love all the tips and tricks from the various books, Guide to Survival, Guide to Creative, Redstone, and Combat. My Minecraft fans from 1st to 4th grade love these books.

Diary of a Roblox Pro by Ari Avatar

I love most "Diary" books, because the kids love them. In Diary of a Roblox Pro we meet Ari Avatar, a kid living in Roblox and having various adventures. Written in the style of "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" these books will appeal to Roblox players and Wimpy Kid fans.

Works Cited:
Lenhart, Amanda, Aaron Smith, Monica Anderson, Maeve Duggan and Andrew Perrin.
    “Teens, Technology & Friendships.” Pew Research Center. 20125, Aug. 6.
Elkins, Aaron. “Let’s Play: Why School Librarians Should Embrace Gaming in the Library.” 
Knowledge Quest. May/June 2015. Vol. 43 No. 5.