Libraries, Literacy and Gaming Grant

Project Description: Geocaching, “Hi-Tech Hide and Seek,” provides the perfect blend of simplicity and complexity needed to design a successful gaming and literacy project.

Target Population: middle school students

Project Design: The library will use GPS technology to create an adventure game that requires reading, research, critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, and aligns closely with technology standards established by the International Society for Technology in Education. The library will create themed gaming events by:

· Devising a search promoting an understanding and appreciation for Brewster’s historic places and regional history.
· Utilizing a book featured on the summer reading list (such as The Graveyard Book) as source material for a hunt could require students to do genealogical research at the library and visit a local cemetery to locate a cache.

Project Goals:
· Encourage civic engagement among youth

The Library will partner with:

· Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School
· Local historical society or natural history museum
· Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops
· Nickerson State Park

Project Description: This ambitious proposal to move tween/teens beyond merely playing games, and to immerse them in a physical, creative, visual, and written game creation process to foster artistic, literary, and media literacy has many unique components, including a computer building workshop that addresses a level of
technical analysis and critical planning skills in a practical hands-on effort seen in no other proposal.

Target Population: Teens & Tweens ages 10-18

Project Design: Activities include:
· A board game modification program with a “create from scratch” option
· Classes to teach teens to develop and write game storylines and to design their own professional-grade video games
· An interactive Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) program for participants to write and construct CYOA novels and have the opportunity to play a live-action CYOA game, each tween choosing his or her own path
· Console RPGs gaming as research
· A hands-on workshop to teach teens the fundamentals of designing and building gaming PCs
· Podcasting workshops will teach teens to write, produce, and post podcasts featuring book and video game reviews
· An. This interactive Alternate Reality Game that will use the real world to immerse players in a fictionalized narrative quest involving geocaching. Development of a collection of 50 gaming novels to be used in a traveling display for GIG events., complimented by bookmarks, book lists, and booktalks will be developed to market this circulating collection of novels

Project Goals:
· Increase traditional programs attendance by 50%
· Increase in gaming participation by 30%
· Improvement of written/verbal skills
· Increase in knowledge of game story structure and design

The Library will partner with:
· Boys and Girls Club
· The Marshall White [Community] Center
· Youth Impact [Community Center]
· local schools
 

Project Description: Youth will track their participation in a variety of music-literacy
related activities via a ‘Musical Scavenger Hunt’ big game.

Target Population: middle & high school students

Project Design: the library will host a variety of activities including:
· Music enrichment assemblies
· Creative writing workshop featuring a song writing contest
· Musical Jeopardy
· Performances by local teen musicians
· Music composition workshop featuring hands on experimentation with music composition software
· Music video games like Wii Music and Rock Band
· “Iron Musician” competition
· Build your own musical instrument contest

Project Goals:
· Expand library services designed to support out of school learning for San Pablo students

The Library will partner with:
· Helms Middle School
· Middle College High School
· Richmond High School
· North Richmond Youth Center

Project Description: Involve these young patrons as creators of the kinds of games they enjoy playing.

Target Population: Youth age 10-18

Project Design: Participants will learn about four categories of gaming from gaming experts: computer animation games, card games, board games, and role-playing games, then work in teams to create games. Then, they will participate in a Game Fair using the Science Fair model, and compete in the Chicago Toy and Game Fair Young Inventor Challenge.

Project Goals:

· Improve reading and writing proficiency while following and creating instructions and descriptive;
· Improve collaboration skills while taking games from concept to reality;
· Develop information literacy skills to identify appropriate approaches, sources and tools for the games they envision;
· Use reading, math, science, literature, history, logic, storytelling and myriad other skills to demonstrate and play their games;
· Improve communication skills when demonstrating and discussing their games.

The Library will partner with:
· Girl Scout Troops
· Chicago Toy and Game (Chitag) Fair
· Support from other library departments (webmaster, computer services)

Project Design: This narrative focused experience includes a variety of creative and competitive events to give the youth in the community a place of their own that caters to their interests while fulfilling their needs for intellectual growth.

Target Population: youth age 10-18

Project Design: Expand gaming programs to include:
· An ongoing Dungeons and Dragons game wherein participants will develop back stories for their characters and create detailed synopses of the adventures they encounter.
· Tabletop games such as Warhammer or Settlers of Catan, and created content will be made available for public viewing.
· A fan-fiction contest where young people will write original stories about their favorite video game characters and create stories incorporating characters they create in games
· A workshop where young people create their own board game and/or concept for a video game, with emphasis on character and narrative development.
· Live Journal groups dedicated to role-playing and world-building
· Creation and publication of machinima
· Group project where several authors contribute to an ongoing narrative.

Project Goals:
· Expand the gaming services offered to youth
· Increase number of young people using WCPL
· Strengthen youth thinking skills

The Library will partner with:
· Friends of the Library
· Wayne County Public Schools
· Boys & Girls Clubs of Wayne

Project Description: “Techie Tuesdays” emphasizes technology and information literacy through gaming. Held over a period of six months, the program is divided into three, six-week courses engaging students by making a video game, a board game, and a book trailer.

Target Population: teens & tweens

Project Design: Three six week courses are just part of the lineup of activities:
· “Be a Video Game Programmer” is an opportunity for teens & tweens to create their own video game based on their favorite book, using online programs like Scratch from MIT or Game Maker
· “Name Your Game” is an opportunity for teens to create a board game in a group setting
· “Book Trailers: Coming to a Library Near You” is an opportunity for teens to create a book trailer for a book of their choice selected from the teen collection at APL
· Adapt “Techie Tuesdays” for middle school students through a partnership with a charter school serving grades six through nine. Students will learn how to make a book trailer, video game or board game that corresponds to the book being taught in class
· Host roundtable discussions with local gamers
· host large, inclusive gaming tournaments between sessions

Project Goals:
· Participants will master specific skill sets associated with each project
· Give students an edge in our technology-oriented world
· The program will provide a creative outlet while teaching key literacy components
· Increase traffic of teens and tweens to the library

The Library will partner with:
· Anderson Preparatory Academy
· Additional local schools
· Established community partners

This afterschool gaming partnership with the local school district
Stresses programs & projects “based on constituents interest.”

Project Design:
In this 10-week program, middle school youth will plan and facilitate gaming events for younger students, which will then be held at the public library. Participants will document their efforts by producing a video of the steps they followed. A school assembly to showcase participants’ finished movie would entice fellow teens to get involved with the next session and would make the students accountable for their time spent in the program. A viewing would also be held in the library for parents and interested community members.

Project Goals:
· Enhances visual literacy skills of participants
· Enrich educational endeavors of participants
· Increase leadership skills by empowering youth as facilitators
· Increase number of teen & tween library users
· Give the librarian the opportunity to interact with teenagers who might not normally seek out library events
· Build a bridge between the school and the library

The Library will partner with:
· Quaker Valley School District