The downtown library in Nashville, Tennessee has undergone a makeover that is part of a $450,000 project to bring adolescents back in. What video game console would make teens consider a library as the place to see and be seen?
Take the jump to find out.
According to the Tennessean, four plasmas, personal computers, wi-fi, and a Wii will be available for use by the public. The idea is to make the library a social setting for youngsters. I was definitely born in the wrong decade. I thought the library was that building that you visited to study and check out those things filled with pages and bound with a cover, some hard, some soft. Oh yeah, they’re called BOOKS!
I visited a new library near my house recently and my kid, who is 5, was very excited to get her first library card. I know it is nothing new for computers to be available for the public to use as it is part of our daily routine and an indispensable research tool. The thing is, I walked around the eight computers in the kids area and you can guess how many were being used for studying. Exactly zero. All were playing a game. Granted there are very interesting educational games available, but these kids were not playing those.
And this library is going to feature plasma TV’s and a Wii. A Wii! Is it a library or a sports bar? Correction, a Wii sports bar. I guess the silence rule is out. I don’t get it. I’m all for remodeling libraries to make them more current with technology but I think the focus should be on getting these kids reading more.
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The article states that walls will separate the new area from the rest of the library. Will people have to go through the library to get to the social room? I think it will be harder for to go from a boisterous entertainment area to the quiet library sections without disturbing regular patrons.
When we go to the library, my kids run straight to the computers and turn on Noggin.com to play games. I would not be happy with even more avenues to play video games instead of read. I love going to the library for the BOOKS. Call me crazy.
I concur. I don’t think that playing with a Wii is an appropriate library setting. If the idea is to get kids and teens into books, that’s the wrong idea. Simply being at the library isn’t going to get them into reading. Yes, the noise might be an issue. My guess is this doesn’t last a year.
When I was a kid, our library offered cheap toys like the crap you can get from any party favor store or Oriental Trading (read: made by kids for kids) and you had to read so many books in a certain genre to get the prize. I have no idea where my finger monsters or super bouncy ball are now, but I remember some of what I read in the books and I still like reading today.
If they want to go edgy/non-conventional, maybe they should circulate comics. I have friends who can count on one hand the number of novels they’ve finished in their lives, but they’ll sit and read [i]The Watchmen[/i] cover-to-cover.
Reminds me of the OLD days of playing Oregon Trail in 2nd or 3rd grade, claiming it was “Educational”.
When I take the kids to the library (and I do) I won’t let them play on the computers. But it helps that they have a computer at home.
Now if the library starts serving beer along with the Wii I think I’d be there a lot more often.
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