Wisconsin Games + Learning + Libraries Cohort

Hi Tiff!

We have our video games displayed as part of our Library of Things, adjacent to our TTRPG materials. They are held upright with a bookend, and we have 2 book display wires that we can set a case on to highlight an item or two that sit on top of the shelf (at about chest height for an average adult standing, line of sight for an older elementary schooler or a wheelchair user). Currently, the small selection of Wii and Playstation 4 games circulate as they come, with the disc in the DVD case. However, our Nintendo Switch games process is different. On display, we have the cases with the assigned barcode on the cover, and a neon yellow sticker that says PLEASE VISIT THE FRONT DESK TO RECIEVE CARTRIDGE. The cartridges are stored behind the circulation desk, in a dedicated game card carrier (ex. Amazon.com: 48 Game Card Case Compatible for Nintendo Switch OLED 2021/Switch/Switch lite, 48 Game Holder Cartridge Case Compatible for Switch Game Cards , Compact & Portable Game Storage Case Box : Video Games). Kayla, our tech services librarian, has marked both the game card, and its slot in the case, with the last 4 digits of the item's barcode- that way every time the item comes back, if its not filling a hold, it has a dedicated spot to go straight back to. Once a patron takes the game case to circulation, the clerk should be checking the title and last 4 numbers of the barcode, then pulls out the associated game card and puts it into the case, and proceeds with check out. Games can be checked out for up to 3 weeks, and can be renewed if no one else is waiting for them. Upon return, clerks should remove the game card from the case and return it to its assigned slot in the game card carrier. The empty case then is put on a LOTS reshelving cart to go back on display. Rinse and repeat!

Kayla, did I miss anything?

Hope this helps, Tiff!

Hi Maggie!

Thank you so much for your insight! I appreciate the link to the cartridge storage case and your explanation of how you organize the games inside. There are definitely a lot of small logistical things to think about, and your clear description is very helpful as I try to develop a system that will work best here. 

Thank you again so much!

Tiff :)

Hey Tiff! Congrats on the collection management duties; you've come to the right place! (I hope :D).

I think Maggie's post offers a TON of valuable guidance on how to approach video game displaying/checkout procedures. Back when I was in my library, I approached our collection with a sortof fusion of your framing & Maggie's.

• Location-wise, we had ALL video games in the "Adult" section of the library, and technically cataloged ALL of them in our ILS as "Adult", as well. Of course, everyone could access all video games regardless of age, but maintaining all of them as "Adult" allowed us to organize our games by console (then alphabetically by title of game) without worrying about the ESRB rating (MA vs. Teens, for example), and how parents might respond; "they're all adult!", similar to how many libraries offer DVDs.
  • Reminder, too, to everyone that ESRB ratings are designed by a trade organization, not a regulatory body, and, according to the ALA, oughtn't be used/endorsed by librarians as a part of offering their collections!
     
• We had multiple stacks where we just had certain shelves highlighted to contain specific consoles ("Switch on these two shelves, clearly indicated, PS on these three", etc.). Which leads us to...
   
• Processing: we'd slap the main barcode for checkout onto the case of the game (Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, what have you); and then would separate the discs / Switch cartridges and put all of those in their own plastic sleeve (something like this). We'd also write the last 8 of the games' cases' barcode onto both the Disc / cartidge, as well as the plastic sleeve. We'd also add a title AND "console sticker" to whichever respective sleeve would house the game as well. We special-ordered the console sickers in different colors.
  • This helped big time with the fact that we'd occasionally have the same game for 3, 4, or even more consoles (like Dark Souls for the Switch, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, for example).
     
• We'd then pop the empty cases onto the console-organized shelves, with big signage stating "THESE CASES ARE EMPTY; Visit the front desk to receive your game at checkout". Behind the main desk, we had the sleeves organized similarly by console first, then alphabetically by title, mimicking their organization on the shelves. I think we'd used this to store the sleeves; it was a bit 'cheap', but it worked!
   
• Folks would be able to tell what was available based on the cases on the shelves, and could "browse" just like other collections! They'd then come to the front desk to check out the game.
   
• We'd cemented the process with our staff of FIRST CHECK PATRON ACCOUNT (to see if they had any blocks on their account or anything) > THEN GRAB GAME TO PUT INTO CASE > THEN CHECKOUT with barcode. Similarly (at check-in), staff were expected to check the disc / cartridge for potential damage, then grab the correct sleeve, and put the game back in it BEFORE check-in.
  • This process really helped alleviate potential complaints (or, regrettably, lies) from certain patrons that the library was responsible for a missing disc -- "They never gave me it at checkout!", or, "the game was there when I dropped it off for check-in!". Have procedures that wouldn't allow for this allowed us to be firm when games were missing.
     
  • Occasionally, there would be weird things, like where staff indeed did forget to put the game in. The good news was that the CASE wasn't available on the shelf (because the patron had it), so it wasn't like the disc could be given to someone else. When confronted with this issue, staff could just check the sleeve, confirm that the disc was mistakenly not given at checkout, and marry it to the patron's empty case to give it back to them.

It took a fair bit of 'guiding' / training staff and patrons on these new processes, but once everyone got used to it, it wasn't particularly burdensome, and became a regular part of our operational 'flow' the same as any other collection. I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions or clarification needed.

~Chris

Hi Chris!

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond with such detailed information! Your emphasis of the circulation staff training piece is really helpful as I try to work with our circ staff supervisor to come up with a process that will work for us. 

I'm also planning to have our video games located in the "adult" section of our library and to organize them by console as well. I'd love to display the empty cases, for the exact reason you mentioned - so people know what is available or not. Making the collection more browsable is one of my main goals.

You've certainly given me a lot to think about and a lot of good ideas to build off of as I try to make our collection more robust and user friendly. Thank you so much your time and your thorough response. I really appreciate it!

Tiff :)

Hi Tiff! What an exciting project! Lots of great insight has already been shared, but I figured I'd toss in how we do it: 

First off, I manage our collection, and I was brought in mostly to work with teens. Plus, it's mostly teens using the collection (though of course it's available to everyone), so it gets purchased with teen money and shelved in the teen section. This does mean I don't order anything rated M, but I do pass any requests I get along to our adult services department (in case they ever want to join in/create their own collection). When we created the collection, our circ manager seemed to think they would be fine on the shelf like our DVDs (stored in regular, non-locking cases), so naturally we had a couple of thefts, and now we treat video games more like we treat our Launchpads, Tonies, and other larger-ticket items; basically, there's a placeholder case on the shelf, patrons bring the case to circulation, and circ staff retrieve the item from the circ workroom for them. 

We started with games for Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. We figured, PS4 games are playable on PS5 consoles, but not the other way around; same with Xbox One and Series X. Plus, given our community demographics and feedback from my teens, I figured our users likely don't have the newest consoles anyway, and that has been borne out in the data. Our Switch games are generally way more popular, so I tend to focus on those titles and purchase for PS and Xbox when I get patron requests. I've also found, in chatting with my teens as well as my console-based friends (I'm mostly a PC gamer myself, though I do own an N64) that PlayStation doesn't really have a lot to offer lately. The consoles are super expensive ($500? YIKES) and VR is even more on top of that, so I'm probably not going to more that collection too far into the future anytime soon.

I do have a list of our current titles if you're interested! It's kind of for my own internal inventory purposes, so, grain of salt. I also have the teen section of our Collection Development Plan, if that's useful at all. 

If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them!