The formal abstract

Europe is a culturally diverse patchwork of 48 countries, crammed onto only 2% of the Earth's surface. Despite steady integration into a common European Union and an increasing number of countries sharing a common currency (the Euro), each nation retains certain individual elements of infrastructure. Libraries, for example, tend to follow different policies and systems in different countries.

This presentation examines one aspect of library activity across Europe: the implementation and use of digital games. By studying some rich and varied examples of game use, several important questions may be addressed: Why do some library digital games services flourish in some European countries but not in others? Is access to games affected by library funding, technological progress, legal restrictions or national attitudes to digital games? Are there models of game use in European libraries that could be replicated in American libraries?

Discussion of these issues will both highlight the barriers and opportunities for the technology and suggest ways forward for implementing digital games in libraries in different countries in the future.

A bit about me

I live in Europe, which kinda made doing the research for this presentation a little easier. To be more specific, I live on the Island of Berneray (population: 126) in the Outer Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland:

But even on Berneray we have library services, as you'll see during the presentation. 

I do research on the use of digital games in education; here's a presentation I did on the use of digital games in libraries and information science, a few months ago in Finland:

http://www.slideshare.net/silversprite/digital-games-in-libraries-and-information-science

I was the first web editor of Ariadne, an online magazine for librarians (www.ariadne.ac.uk). This was in 1995 to 1997, which now seems like ancient times. My manager was Lorcan Dempsey at UKOLN (www.ukoln.ac.uk) before he left to become someone very important at OCLC (www.oclc.org/research/staff/dempsey.htm), while I became a researcher and manager of several digital library projects in the UK Higher Education sector.

After several years, boredom with "meetings about meetings" in academia set in and Silversprite (www.silversprite.com) went self-employed, undertaking research and consultancy in the areas of digital libraries and digital games. Much of this work is in the use of virtual worlds (especially Second Life) in UK education, under the VWW (www.virtualworldwatch.net) banner.

I can't vote in the US election, otherwise Paris Hilton would be up by one more vote due to her energy policy.

To get to Monterey from www.isleofberneray.com means taking 2 taxis, 1 bus, 3 planes (1 of which is an 11 hour flight), and 5 trains, so I'm hoping a few people turn up for...

The presentation

1. Barack, Sarah and me

• What connects a grave in the small English village I was born in, with the most patriotic symbol of America?
• What are the common roots of four ordinary Americans?
• Head due east from Kodiak, Alaska; what library services are available on the first bit of Europe encountered?

2. The United States of Europe

• One continent, many nations. Five minutes on how it's changing.

3. The National Libraries of Europe

• How are the National Libraries of Europe using digital games?
• What did national libraries such as Catalonia (below) say when I asked them about their use of digital games?

   

4. Local European libraries

• In which countries are local European libraries using digital games?
• ...and how are they using these games?
• Games night in your nearest Kazakhstan public library? Likely, or not?

5. In conclusions

• The digital gaming map of European libraries.
• Language, culture, funding, technology - what gives?
• That little misunderstanding in 1776: time to come back to the fold? :-)