Holy shelving games, Batman!
January 20, 2008
A Facebook status update from Amy Buckland lead me to this flash-based cataloging classification/shelving game. Developed by someone at the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, you have to shelve the LC-labeled books in the right spot – and then it gets harder…the call numbers go away and you have to go only by titles on the books. There are some helpful cheats for those of us who aren’t geniuses: a basic LC classification poster and a "hint" option, but it is still HARD. I did really well when there were call numbers, and then failed miserably. It was still fun though, in all its geekfoolery.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Sadly, not everyone feels that way Sarah.
Sigh…
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:33 pm
This is great! I am making sure everyone in my library who supervise students who shelve know about this!
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:06 am
Thanks for the review. As a team member working on the games, let me just say that the version you played isn’t the final release. However, not much is going to change in the difficulty but instead with presentation and assistance. Keep an eye out for updates and changes. Thanks again.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:21 am
Thanks for the background John! I really, really enjoyed it – if only in concept. It would be a great training resource for new pages/shelvers (if only for fun)
January 24th, 2008 at 7:51 am
Too bad it is a Classification Game and not a Cataloging game. Maybe if wii made it a we game, then wii could make it cataloging.
Sigh.
There is a difference.
Really.
January 24th, 2008 at 9:02 am
You’re absolutely right. My apologies. I do know the difference, but after three weeks of 12 hour days, 4 hours in the car round trip each day, and trying to fit in some blogging and emailing and writing (oh yes, and sleeping), my brain apparently doesn’t work as well as it should. The error has been fixed, and the author duly humbled.
January 24th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I agree, an excellent resource for our work-study students!
January 24th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
It’s great that the “Library Arcade” continues to get the coverage it deserves. Thank you for the post Sarah.
If you are interested in more details on the development of the games, I had the chance to talk with Dan Hood who worked on the game’s development. Here’s the link: http://researchquest.blogspot.com/2008/01/since-there-has-been-some-recent-blog.html
Congrats to John and all those involved.