On November 14, 2009, libraries across the country will participate in the largest, simultaneous national video game tournament ever held! Kids will be able to compete against players at other libraries and track their scores while playing at their local library. In addition, libraries will be offering a variety of board games for all ages to play together. (ILoveLibraries.org)

Is your local library participating? Check out the map of participating libraries and get your game on!

View 2009 National Gaming Day participating libraries in a larger map

Apparently I’m a Hiss-Bird!

Found this site on the ALSC blog post The Latest Additions to Great Web Sites for Kids. Lots of other fun things listed there.

In the first one the kids tell why they like the library: books, computers, hanging out with friends, lemonade!

And the second, an appeal to voters to get out and support the library budget in November.

Creative and fun! This library participated in a summer reading mini-grant project sponsored by the Mid-Hudson Library System.  The grant provided video cameras and training on editing video (full disclosure – I had great fun doing the training session). Many of the videos are now posted on the NYS Summer Reading site.

Thanks to Marilyn Fino of the Milton Library for sending these in!

KidLibCamp 2009 is a place for youth services librarians to get together and talk about topics that are important to serving children in school and public libraries. KidLibCamp is an unconference that asks participants to share their work, skills, or knowledge as active participants. Unlike more traditional conferences, KidLibCamp will be highly participatory. Sessions will be determined the day of the KidLibCamp by those in attendance.

If you’ve never been to an unconference, you’re in for a treat. Sharing knowledge and collaborating are what drive an unconference. Everyone has a chance to contribute and learn. This day is being organized by Linda W. Braun or Gretchen Hams-Casserotti. The meeting is being  held at Darien PL in southwest CT. If you’re in my neck of the woods (eastern NY) it’s an easy trip.

Gretchen and the Children’s Services Dept. did a really interesting reorganization of their collections when they moved to their new building in January – you can read about it at KidLit Reorg 2008 on Tame The Web.  And go to the unconference and see it first hand and share your own great ideas with your colleagues.

The kids and teens at the  Stillwater (NY) Free Library have a created a great set of READ posters as part of their summer reading program. Great example of a fun, creative project on a budget! And don’t you love the libraries motto? “If the light’s on, we’re home.”

Do you know kids who would like to create their own online games, stories, animations and more? Who doesn’t!

Then take a look at Scratch – a wonderful free programming tool “designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. As they create Scratch projects, young people learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also gaining a deeper understanding of the process of design.”

Get a bunch of kids together and join in Scratch Day – “a worldwide network of gatherings, where people will come together to meet other Scratchers, share projects and experiences, and learn more about Scratch.”

I heard about Scratch Day through the March 2009 Games in Libraries podcast.

For some examples, see my earlier post on Scratch.

But what I really loved about this, was the reaction of a couple of the librarians who started thinking about how they could use the ideas behind these games and have kids create their own games! Kids could make their own Top Trumps cards by using a big huge labs Trading Card making tool.  Use a photo from flickr, add some facts, print them out and play! Cool!  Pictureka-ish game boards could be created with clip art collections.  All themed around topics being covered in classes. Creative and fun.

More videos from Canal Point KECT

• John McCain Visits Miami
• Barack Obama Visits Miami

Though Glogster has been around for a while, I just heard about it today in a twitter post from Buffy Hamilton. Seems the Glogster for Education service has just recently launched.

For a great example of a class project using Glogster, check out Buffy’s 11th grade lit project on Thoreau and Emerson.