Minecraft in public libraries for teens and young adults @lgreenpd

Apparently Minecraft is appearing in lots of public libraries.

After Peter Green extended the curiosity of a colleague(?) to twitter I caught his blogged sharing of the three examples that were tweeted back: Minecraft bringing teens into the public library.

I suspected there would be quite a few more, and I wondered whether anyone has contributed case studies or analyses to the traditional professional literature. As Peter hasn't yet updated or received comments I went searching. EBSCO's LISTA offered articles that made glancing mentions, but nothing more. The blogosphere (new professional literature) was more productive, offering three perspectives for Peter's question on whether it will draw teens to the library:

On the YALSA blog, Jessica Schneider's helpfully detailed discussion of her program mentions that it was "a hit, with about 14 teens attending":

YALSA » Connect, Create, Collaborate…Craft! A Teen Tech Week Post Mortem: Minecraft in the Library via kwout

Back in 2011, NYPL's New Canaan Library's building competition in Minecraft apparently attracted a younger crowd; Gretchen Kolderup reported in her blog--again with wonderfully shared detail. (thank 8-Bit Library for the pointer)

Librarified » A Minecraft building competition @ my library via kwout

When Brenda Hough wrote about Silver Lake, Kansas' Minecraft offerings at techsoup for libraries, they were attracting mostly 'middle school students' apparently because the library set up with MinecraftEdu:

Minecraft at the Library | TechSoup for Libraries via kwout

Google listed a bunch more public libraries offering some sort of Minecrafting activity. Gathering them to add to Peter's list, could I gather an A-Z?:

• Amherst Public Library were seeking volunteers from their teens to administer a server for Minecraft this summer.
• Ann Arbor District Library not only offers a Minecraft server, but players have been discussing the project and Minecraft generally on the forum and Summergame participants can earn badges from Minecraft play.
• Anoka County Library list a Minecraft Monday in events for kids - July 15th.
• Austin Public Library Faulk Central branch are nearing the end of an eight week "Minecraft MOD" program. I cannot tell whether that means they are teaching MODding; or whether they made their own MOD that they're sharing.
• Baxter Memorial Library in Sharon, Vermont is opening a Minecraft competition tomorrow (best picture, best engineering, best creativity).
• Bellevue Public Library's Facebook page reported success at their Minecraft-a-thon.
• Benbrook Library have a page ready for Minecraft sessions, but the schedules is still TBA.
• Campbell County Public Library held a Minecraft Survival Brawl for teens.
• Carroll County Public Library's Finksburg branch had a Minecraft Mania event for teens in June.
• Cartersville Public Library of the Bartow County Library system have a couple of hours Minecraft play for teens on library laptops today.
• CH Booth Library will have a couple of hours Minecrafting for ages 10-14 this Saturday.
• Chicopee Public Library will have a Minecraft: One Hour Adventure Map on July 23.
• Clyde Public Library teens had/have a Minecrafters Unite club (no updates since December).
• Crete Public Library held a Minecraft Party earlier this year (apparently popular with tweens going by the news photo).
• Denville Public Library had a Minecraft event in May open to all ages, though registrations were under the 'teen' link.
• Detroit Public Library Teen Center HYPE program (Helping Young People Succeed) will be teaching (tomorrow, 10 July) how to set up and run a Minecraft server on Raspberry Pi amongst other fun hacking stuff.
• E ??? ... no events, but unless I find another E, Eisenhower Public Library gets credit for linking to the browser based Minecraft in a list of online games.
• The Fairfield Public Library, according to local newspaper: Fairfield Citizen, will host live-action Minecraft for teens in 4 days (12th July).
• Fairlee Public Library have a Minecraft tournament coming up August 7 (registrations closing July 24) age not specified
• Fayetteville Public Library have a teen Minecraft tournament coming up.
• Glenwood Public Library's teen volunteers taught the basics of building in Minecraft.
• Haggard Public Library are having a Minecraft Party on 18th July according to Dallas news.
• Hershey Public Library has 3 more Thursday sessions of "Beneath the Surface : Minecraft Mania (running since June).
• Holmes County District Public Library held 3 "Minecraft and Your Craft" evening events for teens in March to May this year - bringing Minecraft players together with other crafters - I wonder how that went?
• Indian Trails Library District had a Minecraft Marathon according to 93 XRT radio.
• Iowa City Public Library have a Minecraft meetup for teens today/tomorrow (July 9), found thanks to the Iowa City Patch.
• Janesville's GazetteExtra reported a Minecraft Contest held at Hedberg Public Library in February.
• Kent District Library currently have Minecrafting at East Grand Rapids and Cascade Township branches.
• Kingston Library's Children's Room have an ongoing (though registration closed in June) Minecraft tournament for kids.
• Kirkendall library of City of Ankeny had a Minecraft night in May.
• La Crosse Public Library's Gaming Assistant reviewed Minecraft, but apparently their "Teen gaming" is on hold.
• Lakeville Public Library have a Minecraft Club on Thursday evenings in the Children's Room according to events in the SAILS library network.
• Leavenworth Public Library's teen scene are having a Minecraft competition with entries due 15th July and winners to be announced at an Open Mic night.
• Lewes Public Library had a 3 hour Minecraft tournament in May.
• Litchfield Public Library have a tweens Minecraft @ Your Library event coming up (12th July).
• Mahwah Public Library are having "Minecraft Mania" on Thursdays, and a Lego Minecraft coming up on July 24.
• Mercer County District Public Library offer a Minecraft server : "Open Mine" Club.
• The New York Public Library Bronx center ('Children's Room') have a weekly teen Minecraft Club.
• Niagara on the Lake Public Library offer Minecraft for kids from 6yo+ in the computer lab, 4 Tuesdays from today.
• At Northbrook Public Library for teens Minecraft is the game "outside the box" for Monday 15 July.
• Oachita Parish Public Library have Minecraft for kids 7-12 every 2nd Monday.
• Online Leadership Program of Global Kids ran Hungercraft (a "game jam" based on Minecraft and The Hunger Games) in May, in collaboration with Brooklyn Public Library and Hive Learning Network NYC.
• Park Ridge Public Library have a Young Adult Minecraft Tournament this Sunday.
• Paul Sawyier Public Library are having a Minecraft Party on 22nd July.
• Prince Edward Island Library's Tyne Valley branch tweeted a (now past) Minecraft Event, but no details at their website.
• Puyallup Public Library has a Minecraft competition in the Summer Reading Program for teens.
• Queens Library Astoria branch have Minecraft gaming and craft for teens on Tuesdays
• Richwood North Union Public Library apparently "Dig Minecraft - Teens".
• River Forest Public library have Minecraft on the program for teens on July 23.
• Roanoke County Public Library also offer a server, and their webpage about the server is the most informative I've seen.
• Rogers Public Library invited young adults to "Minecraft at Geek the Library".
• Seldovia Public Library, Alaska's Summer "Minecraft Mondays" (with MinecraftEdu) was listed in events of the greater Seldovia community.
• Spruce Grove Public Library 's drop-in Teen Minecraft Lab began today.
• Stow Monroe Falls Public Library's summer Minecraft Mondays for teens seem to be full.
• Tacoma Public Library's Story Lab will be sharing how to make movies using Minecraft.
• Upper Moreland Free Public Library Minecraft Night for teens this Thursday, on laptops (library's or BYO).
• Virginia Beach Public Library held a Minecraft @ the Library session in May according to their Spring Teen update [pdf].
• Westland Public Library had a meeting for a Teen Minecraft Club in May, but no more online news on that.
• Westport Public Library appear to have a Teen Minecraft event on the library's server monthly.
• Whitefish Bay Public Library will have a Minecraft Party on 18th July, according to a local events website.
• Yellow Springs Teen Advisory Group of the Green County Public Library hosted a Minecraft LAN last year, and posted their photos on Flickr.
• 
• Z ???

Originally published at my experimental self-hosted Wordpress where it achieved 4219 views. Copied here 2020-12-23 as part of my Wordpress→Blogger journey

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Original post received 5 comments, and 1 pingback which I will append here: (but if any of you want me to delete yours from this republished version, please tell me)

Nicole Antal said:
10 July 2013 at 1:08 pm
I will gladly share the numbers of kids/increase of library use after a minecraft competition with you. Thanks for including us in your list 🙂 Baxter Memorial Library

Debbie Sternklar said:
15 October 2013 at 1:59 pm
Did the kids only print their pictures on paper, or send you screen shots digitally? I’m trying to have Tweens show off their creations on our big screen somehow. Files saved on thumb drives, loaded onto our laptop attached to LCD Projector? Think it will work, ideas anyone?

Gus Tsekenis said:
11 July 2013 at 7:05 am
Thanks for including the Astoria Library on your list as well! We’re trying to recreate our 100+ year old Carnegie building as our Minecraft “build” this summer. Beats dodging zombies in a torch lit cave 🙂

gus tsekenis said:
02 August 2013 at 7:21 am
Here’s some pics from our project – build a virtual library on a shared minecraft server. The first was destroyed by a 40 foot waterfall – the second was destroyed by fire. It was very dramatic 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.678941095453334.1073741826.118854318128684&type=1

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Head Tale - Minecraft Mania!said:
27 March 2014 at 3:04 pm

[…] Libraries are getting in on the action too and finding Minecraft is a great way to connect with otherwise hard to reach teens and other young people (I know it’s a huge hit in my branch – I often see as many people playing it as browsing Facebook which is saying something!) […]