Convince Me, Hadrian

You have said, I believe, you are fine with the library having fiction books in its collection. So the book Star Wars (or one of its sequels/prequels) would be fine, no? How about an audio version of the book, would that be acceptable? We take it one step further to consider the movie itself—would you be OK with the library owning (and circulating) the movie? And then there’s the Star Wars video game(s). If it is acceptable to own the book and movie, why not the video game? The primary purpose of all three is to entertain, although arguments can be made for educational uses of each (improved literacy, study of mythological archetypes, practice of problem solving skills, etc.). Other than format, is there any difference? It’s the same story across the formats, so why are some acceptable and others not?

You can do the same thing in terms of programming. One of the most widely accepted type of library programs is the book discussion group. So I assume you’d be OK with a Star Wars book discussion group? How about, then, a program to view and discuss the film? Other than format, not really any different than reading and discussing the book, is it? So, again, why can’t you have a program devoted to playing Star Wars the video game? Really, how is it so different?

Because I assume you think it is important that the library have information sources across the formats. The traditional form of storing information is books, but we have so many more options today. It’s one thing to read a description of a tornado or the muscular system or the landscape of Norway, but you learn so much more by seeing those things on an educational video/DVD. Print journals are nice and the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature served its purpose, but would you really want to do without online databases and digital journals? Likewise, there are many video games in existence that have been created purely as educational tools for experiential learning—the military and surgeons are using video game simulations in their training these days. Why shouldn’t the library have informational/educational video games? It’s just one more format for conveying information, like all of the others.

So if you are going to have fiction books in your library—books for both informational and recreational purposes—why not have materials that are both informational and recreational in all of your formats? What is the difference? Why are recreational books good and recreational video games bad?

(This post is a continuation of the comments here.)