The Video Game Library: A Year On

Public libraries exist largely to provide exposure to cultural works to whoever desires it, free of charge. This most frequently comes in the form of literature, but many libraries also lend out film and music. Very few, however, stock video games, despite their clear cultural significance in modern society. One library employee, however, has worked to change that within his district over the past year. Today he looks at the first twelve months of offering video games on his library's shelves. There is also an archive of his articles on the effort over the past year. The librarian, John Scalzo, has attempted to shelve not only the games that he knows people will want to check out--Harry Potter, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk--but also games he feels are worth trying to expose people to: Beyond Good & Evil, Culdcept, Katamari Damacy. To reduce possible confusion with varying game formats, the library stocks only PS2 games for now.

Licensed games, sports titles and franchise titles rule the day. It's what people know and want. But I have also found that it doesn't really matter what we have on the shelf. If it's there, someone will check it out. Perennial unknown classic Beyond Good & Evil and side scrolling shooter Gradius V are numbers 11 and 12 on that list. When all you see is roughly three to seven games on the shelf at any one time building a "quality" collection takes a back seat to building a bigger collection. But the added bonus is that people may play something that they never would have before. Never underestimate the lure of the word FREE.

That is a particularly interesting observation. While people might be less likely to check out a particularly unique or odd game that they have to pay for, either at a retail store or at a game rental shop, there's no real risk in checking something out from the library. One limitation Scalzo has been unable to circumvent is an internal restriction on M-rated games, which means no Resident Evil 4, for example. Scalzo points out that video games present some problems for libraries that other forms don't. "Libraries love a single unified format," he says, and that's certainly something video games don't--and may never--have. Games are also more expensive than other media; he generally waits for games to drop in price, because he is of course working on a very constrained budget. The next generation, with its rising costs, presents even more problems. All that said, Scalzo reports that the effort has been a huge success so far, and with other libraries in his district having picked up on the operation, it looks to be a long-term part of his library system. I see preservation of gaming history as a big problem, and widespread acceptance of video games in libraries might go some way towards helping.