Forgive me breaking into a debate which isn't in my immediate remit, but a
couple of points occur to me.
- this group is one of our hard to reach customer groups that most people
would agree we want to encourage use of. It seems strange that increasing
use by a hard to reach group should be viewed mainly or solely as a
problem - I would say those of you who are experiencing increase in teenage
use of libraries should be celebrating your success first and treating the
challenges it throws up as incidental problems that can be overcome
- I wonder if the best approach would be to split off the use of games etc
from the problem behaviour issue. By doing so, you won't tar all teenage
gamers with the same brush, and I'm sure some, if not the majority, do not
cause problems. You could address issues such as length of use separately -
PCs in the teenage area, with different access rules perhaps, possibly drawn
up in consultation with the users? Problem behaviour by young people is an
area that a lot of library services have experience of and deal with/manage
so best practice could be established - eg look at some teen-oriented
services such as Moss Side Powerhouse in Manchester as exemplars
Best of luck with it and - because everyone always seems to interpret the
latest CIPFA stuff only in terms of bad news, we should big up those library
services who are getting the youth in!
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Andrea Stephenson
Sent: 08 June 2005 09:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Online games
At North Tyneside we would not at this point consider banning games, partly
because they are a legitimate use of the system by young people, and also,
as you say, they bring young people in. However, we do increasingly have
problems with challenging behaviour, and are looking at various ways of
dealing with this, such as working with the youth service. I'd be
interested to hear if anyone has had success in dealing with the behaviour
while not removing access to gaming.
Andrea Stephenson
Children's Services and Reader Development Manager
Wallsend Library
Ferndale Avenue
Wallsend
NE28 7NB
Telephone: 0191 200 6975 Fax: 0191 200 6967
Mobile: 07940 410 282
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Unless otherwise stated, opinions, conclusions and other information
expressed in this message are personal, and not those of North Tyneside
Council.
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