Video Game Collection Development

Video games have grown enormously in popularity in the last three decades; they now constitute as much as 25% of all time Americans spend on media consumption, and the numbers are even higher for the under forty demographic. Despite this fact, few libraries carry video games; this represents a gap between public interest in the medium and library collections. 

This presentation will make an argument for the why we need video games in the public library, provide the groundwork information of how to approach collection development for video games, and what hurdles and costs to expect when getting started. Together, this should provide library staff with a confident footing with which to start and maintain video game collection at their own institution

(Do you have a circulating video game collection? Be sure to attend and contribute your tips and best practices in the chat!)

Presenter: Matthew Hurley is a 2019 graduate from the University of Washington MLIS program, and librarian at the San Rafael Public Library in Marin county. They work with the 3D printer and virtual reality programs at their library and perform the collection development for the video game lending collection at San Rafael, the first such collection in Marin county. 

This is a CALL Homegrown event.