The Video Game Librarian is a site for librarians that offers resources and tips on how games can be integrated into your library.
You’ll find programming ideas and stories about what other librarians are doing with games, an overview of the latest game-related books to help your patrons dive deeper into the history of games, updates on professional conferences, and collection development strategies.
If you’ve ever wanted to know how the ESRB works, how to build a core collection, or how to put on a game tournament… you’ve definitely come to the right place.
About The Video Game Librarian
My name is John Scalzo and I’ve been working with games in a public library setting since the days of the PS2. Before that, I was a player for even longer, and I first remember picking up a controller when I was three or four years old to play Pole Position with my dad on our wood-paneled Atari 2600. A few years later, my love for gaming was solidified thanks to an NES under the Christmas tree and a shiny new copy of Super Mario Bros. And there was no going back after playing The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man II, Contra, Tetris, Super Mario Bros. 3, and a bevy of others.
I first began working in libraries in 1997, and by 2004 I was in charge of another batch of shiny new games. But this time, it was as the librarian for the video game collection belonging to my library. I published the first “Video Game Librarian” article chronicling my adventures in video game collection development at Gaming Target a year later. In addition to my duties as a librarian, I’ve been writing about games ever since, mostly at Warp Zoned and Video Game Canon.
The Video Game Librarian website has been featured in Library Journal, ALA TechSource, Information Today, Kotaku, Joystiq, Slashdot, and a handful of other library-focused blogs and textbooks.
I hope you like what I’ve put together and please feel free to ask me anything by sending an email to Ask the Video Game Librarian.
Privacy and Data Collection Policy
The Video Game Librarian does not collect any personally identifying information to view the site.
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