Library opens its video game section

By MorinvilleNews.com Staff

Morinville – Game controllers and consoles are not something most people think of when they think of a public library, but that may change now that the Morinville Public Library has unveiled its new video game collection.

The collection of 16 games unveiled last Thursday afternoon was purchased through a donation from the Friends of the Morinville Public Library.

Friend April Heppleston said through research into other libraries, it was discovered video games are becoming a more and more common item on library shelves. “In the past libraries contained books,” she said. “Then they moved into audio books, computers, movies and things. Now libraries have moved into video games.”

But the decision to move into the fast-paced realm of video games was not merely a matter of the library deciding if you can’t beat them, join them. Heppleston explained many of today’s video games are based on books and the library is hoping to marry the two mediums for young patrons.

“We really liked that we could support a book with a video game,” she said. “The hope is that it will encourage a child to read the book and become more familiar with the storyline, too.”

But parents need not worry about the games available to library patrons. There will be no splitting of zombies’ heads with axes and chainsaws or cutting opponents in half with an endless supply of Gatling guns. All the video games in the collection are family-friendly titles.

A variety of games have been purchased for the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation 3 consoles.