The grand Astor Hall of the Beaux-Arts landmark Humanities and Social Sciences Library will be alive with the sound of video games during a free and open gaming session on Friday, March 21, starting at 4 p.m. The event celebrates Game On @ The Library!, a New York Public Library initiative bringing video games to public libraries. Wii, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3 will be available , and gamers of all experience levels are invited. Library staff will be on hand to help those unfamiliar with the systems and games who want to learn. The Humanities and Social Sciences Library is located at Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street.

“Game On @ The Library! brings The New York Public Library to the forefront of where technology, youth culture and learning come together,” said Jack Martin, The New York Public Library’s Assistant Coordinator of Young Adult Services. Gaming at the library can bridge the gaps between children, teens and adults, bringing them together as families and friends under one space, or through dialog created through the users' individual game playing. Gaming provides technological offerings not always traditionally held by libraries but relevant to today's learning and cultural environments.”
Currently, Nintendo Wii and Playstation 3 game programming for children, teens, and adults is being held at 18 New York Public Library branches in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island; Xbox 360 gaming programs for teens and adults are held at 5 locations across the Library’s boroughs. Programs involving video games are often for specific age groups (for example, ages 6 – 12 and 12 – 18); some programs are open gaming sessions while others encourage the participants to create their own gaming tournament.

In addition to programming, non-reserveable, circulating games for children, teens, and adults are also available at the 18 locations. Game On! video games included for either programming and/or circulation are Wii’s Mario Party 9, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, Excite Truck, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Playstation 3’s Tony Hawk’s Project 8, PS2 Guitar Hero 2 Controllers, Madden NFL ’08, and College Hoops 2K7; and Xbox’s Halo 3, Rock Band, and Dynasty Warriors Gundam.

Today’s students in grades K through college represent the first generations to grow up with new technologies such as computers, video games, digital music players, and cell phones. These students think, learn, and process information differently from their predecessors, relying frequently on electronic media to learn kinesthetic and visual representation skills. Video games facilitate learning on several levels:

• Games make learning fun by lowering the emotional stakes of failing, allowing players to take risks through trial and error.
• In the game world, players make their own discoveries and apply what they learn to new contexts.
• Games are a mode of active engagement. They encourage experimentation and risk-taking, and they view the process of solving a problem as important as finding the answer.
• Games span language barriers, and players do not necessarily need to speak English to participate.

The March 21 Game On! program at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library is generously funded through the Cultural After School Adventure Program by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and The City of New York.

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to its services. It comprises four research centers – The Humanities and Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the Science, Industry and Business Library – and 87 Branch Libraries in Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating collections combined total more than 50 million items. In addition, each year the Library presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The New York Public Library serves over 16 million patrons who come through its doors annually and another 25 million users internationally, who access collections and services through its website, www.nypl.org.

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Contact: Gayle Snible 212.592.7713 | gsnible@nypl.org

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