Syracuse University School of Information Studies Associate Professor Scott Nicholson will autograph his new book, Everyone Plays at the Library: Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages (Information Today Inc.) from 1 to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 26. The book signing will be hosted at the Information Today Inc. Booth 4016 at the 2010 American Library Association Annual Conference at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.
Nicholson will also participate in the Open Gaming Night today from 7:30 to 10 p.m.at the conference, and will run the board games.
In Everyone Plays at the Library, Nicholson shows how gaming programs can be successfully implemented in school, academic, and public libraries, covering all types of games for all age groups.
“My hope is that Everyone Plays at the Library will help librarians develop gaming programs that come out of the mission of the library, as well as provide a positive gaming experience for their patrons,” he said. “Gaming allows libraries to provide a storytelling-like activity for many different groups of patrons, and when they select the game type appropriately, gaming can fully support the library’s mission as well.”
The content Nicholson presents in the book is geared to support gaming in libraries of all types. Readers will discover how to determine user needs, achieve library goals, gain stakeholder approval, reach out to users, build an affordable collection of great games, assess program effectiveness, bring all ages together, and create the type of memorable experience that gets users talking and keeps them coming back for more, according to the publisher.
An educator, librarian, game designer, host of the “Board Games with Scott” video series, Nicholson also founded the Library Game Lab of Syracuse and has taught courses on gaming in libraries, including one that is available to the public via YouTube. He started the Games and Gaming Members Initiative Group for the American Library Association in 2008, gives workshops around the world about gaming in libraries, and has written many articles on gaming in libraries, most of which can be found at the Library Game Lab’s blog (gamelab.syr.edu/publications).
Nicholson earned a bachelor’s in mathematics with computer science and a master’s in library and information science at the University of Oklahoma and a Ph.D. in Information Science in 2000 at the University of North Texas. His research focuses on the intersection of games, gaming, and libraries, as well as bibliomining and web searching.
Everyone Plays at the Library: Creating Great Gaming Experiences for All Ages (248 pp/
softbound/$39.50/ISBN 978-1-57387-398-7) is published by Information Today, Inc. (ITI). It is available in bookstores and direct from the publisher by calling (800) 300-9868; faxing (609) 654-4309; emailing custserv@infotoday.com; or visiting the ITI web site at www.infotoday.com.