November 4th: Take Action, Change the World!

Do you want to change the world? You can, you know. You…yes, you…you can make a difference. You can make this a better place. It is up to you to make the right choice on November 4th.

That choice, of course, is figuring out how you are going to get home from the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning and Libraries Symposium in time to vote. With the time difference to the West Coast, those librarians almost have an unfair advantage in their ability to both attend this critical symposium that can help their libraries look to the future while also having a few more hours to fill out their ballots.

Now you might be thinking, is this guy really comparing keynotes from Gamer-Dad Andrew Bub, Jon-Paul Dyson from the Strong National Museum of Play, Grand Theft Childhood author Dr. Lawrence Kutner, and all around tech guy Marc Prensky to what might be seen as the most pivotal election in American history? Well, yes. But only because of the electoral exemption to the rules of basic logic that allow non sequitors to be promoted to full causal relationships. And besides, with a special gaming night with presentations from Scott Nicholson and Eli Neiburger surely there must be some leeway given.

So, ask not what your library can do for you because really it is much better to be proactive and let the whole community know up front that you are a library that gets it. You understand the complex interactions between Book St. and Game St. We have nothing to fear by obsolescence itself, and that is why I will be doing my duty and heading to the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium in Chicago from Nov. 2 to Nov. 4th.

***Insert this paragraph above somewhere so it doesn’t seem like I am totally pandering to my heavily school library weighted audience.***
As someone who has worked in schools and with school librarians for 10 years, I understand your needs. You want to go to an ALA Conference and actually have some workshops there that apply to you. Well that is why I am suspending my campaign for ALA Council 2009 (Vote Chris!) to put on two presentations at the Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium. Brian Mayer and I will be sharing the stage with Scott Nicholson to bring you all kinds of information about modern board games, and a second session will feature Brian and I discussing the alignment of board games to the AASL and other state curriculum standards as part of our system’s game library.

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