Wii Night

On Tuesday, September 18^th at 6:00 the Wells Public Library will be hosting a Wii Family Game Night. Bring your friends, parents, and siblings to participate in Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resorts. In addition, two Nintendo 3DSs  will be available that evening for cooperative Mario Kart play. 

Many of you may not be aware of this, but the library currently owns two Nintendo 3DS devices.  They may be checked out with a valid Wells Public Library card for 1/2 hour of in-library use.  We also have a small collection of Nintendo DS games that may be checked out for a 1 week loan period.

You may ask why the library offers these programs and services, since they don't seem to be related to traditional library services. Much research has been done over the past several years to determine the value or damage caused by video games, and most of the results have been positive.  It has been demonstrated that video games help promote problem solving, how to follow directions, how to creatively attack a problem without fear of failure, and to learn from your mistakes.

As Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken : Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World wrote in  The Huffington Post;

 "When we play a good game, we get to practice being the best version of ourselves: We become more optimistic, more creative, more focused, more likely to set ambitious goals, and more resilient in the face of failure. And when we play multiplayer games, we become more collaborative and more likely to help others. In fact, we like and trust each other more after we play a game together -- even if we lose! And more importantly, playing a game with someone is an incredibly effective way to get to know their strengths and weaknesses--as well as what motivates them. This is exactly the kind of social knowledge we need to be able to cooperate and collaborate with people to tackle real-world challenges."

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-mcgonigal/video-games_b_823208.html

If you want to learn more about this topic, McGonigal's book is available through the MINERVA online catalog.  For more information, you can always contact Devin Burritt, our Youth Services Librarian. He may be reached at dburritt@wellstown.org, 646-8181, ext. 202, or just stop by the Youth Services desk and talk to him in person.

Also, feel free to stop at the Check Out desk and check out one of our devices for yourself.  In addition to all the positive qualities listed above, they're just plain fun.