45°
GRAFTON, Mass.- The Daily Voice got acquainted with Beth Gallaway, the library's new director. Here is an excerpt of that interview:
Q: The town voted down a new library. Do you plan to try again?
A: Probably not for four years. We need time to regroup.
It would be nice to have a new building before the end of my tenure. My plan is to see our 100th anniversary in 2027.
Q: Will building renovations become a disruption to the patrons?
A: It’s scheduled to start Friday, but the architect is still reviewing the plans and making recommendations. We asked for pricing based on working around the library’s current schedule. We also asked for a bid closing the library for a week and a month, which would be detrimental to the community and we would like to avoid that. If we closed for a month we would relocate.They are slated to finish by June 15.
Q: How do people use libraries today?
A: We still have traditional readers but we also have people with their Kindle wanting to learn how to download a digital eBook. In the children's library story time, the librarian models how parents read and engage with words with children. We are a meeting space even though we don’t have a meeting room. A twenty-first century model is more of a community gathering place and there is certainly no room for that here.
Q: You wrote a book on video games and libraries. How did you make the connection?
A: It’s still about literacy although if you play a modern video game you are often reading text, there are subtitles. You have to be able to decipher codes and symbols. There is always more than one way to solve the problem in games. People who play approach problem solving differently because they see different outcomes.
Q: Aren't video games criticized for violence and sexist overtures?
A: That is why there is a rating system. Mature games are not intended for a young audience. The ratings help parents make wise decisions.
Q: Do you have a favorite video game?
A: I love The Sims. It’s like an electronic dollhouse. I’m really interested in architecture and the game drove me to take out books and research.
Q: What are you reading?
A: I’m a foodie. I finished reading, “An Everlasting Meal”. The writing is fabulous. The author says, “The egg wants a little oil and Parmesan cheese.” She talks from the food's point of view.
Comments (4)
Hi DaleC, please come by to meet me - I'd love to make your acquaintance--and shed some light what proper librarians do.
I'm late to this conversation - but video games are part of a spectrum of 21st century literacy skills that our students need to succeed! Literacy is multimodal. In addition to traditional print literacies, they need to have technological literacy, visual literacy, media literacy. Tons more information here: http://librarygamingtoolkit.org/literacy.html
Although gaming is only one of my areas of expertise, it's not an either/or question, and I'm not here to turn the Grafton Public Library into an arcade.
My stance is simply that games (which, like books, have plot, character, setting, storytelling, and teach problem solving, critical thinking, logic, and the scientific method in an engaging manner) belong in the evolution of materials libraries collect and share, that includes print, magazines, video, audio, and digital content. Libraries are about content. Format is irrelevant. To that end, we're beefing up our eBook collection, added a streaming movie service, and in July, adding ancestry.com and Heritage Quest--in addition to providing traditional library services.
Remember, the mission of the library is to meet the personal, educational, occupational, cultural and recreational endeavors. The school libraries are expected to provide curriculum support and teach students how to analyze and evaluate information. Since you seem concerned about education, perhaps you could spend some time advocating for school library media specialists in the elementary and middle schools--studies have shown student achievement rises exponentially with a formal library instruction program and professional staff member.
Thanks for your input!
Thank you to Mr. Price and The Daily Grafton for providing Grafton this introduction our new library director Beth. Please note that the Friends of the Grafton Public Library are sponsoring a welcome reception for Beth on Saturday, March 2nd from 10:00 AM and 1:00PM at the library at 35 Grafton Common. Please stop by to meet and welcome Beth in person.
I'm not surprised a new library was voted down. It's a luxury in these times, when money is tight for folk and the national debt is ballooning. Many folk have got computers and ereaders, and books are dirt cheap on Amazon. Sure, some kids can't afford that, but that's what schools are for. Any spare taxpayer money for literacy and books should be going into schools so all kids get a good education.
It's also disappointing that Grafton had to settle for a librarian who specializes in video games(!) rather than a proper librarian who knows about literacy. Were there no better candidates? I hope this does not mean taxpayers money is going to be wasted on buying video games for the library. If I want entertainment, the movies or cable TV or going to Disney, I work for it, earn the money and pay for it myself. I don't expect taxpayer money to buy it for me.