Playful Learning at the Public Library? Of Course!

I'm enrolled in GSLIS because I want to be a public librarian. I am a public library junkie. I am a public library devotee. I can't get enough of public libraries, and the prospect of being employed in one is what gets me through graduate school - not just the motivation of having a reasonable income (and some time for myself) again, but the idea of being part of the everyday joy of the public library. There's something about them that makes people relax; that inspires us to be ourselves as we seek our own self-improvement and diversion from the Real World. Unlike work and school, the public library is a place for us to learn and be productive on our own terms, and this makes us happy. If I dare say it: it's a place for joyful learning.

As I read about play and games as educational tools last week, it seemed obvious to me that both fit very easily into this picture. It is at the public library, as the Third Place, that children and adults alike pursue continued learning and entertainment - and there's no need to keep the two separate. Learning done in the public library is Life Learning; it is self-education motivated by life events and the voluntary curiosity surrounding them. It is imperative, it is social, and it is inherently fun. And, perhaps most importantly of all, it happens outside the constraints of testing standards, due dates, and grades. Of course playful learning can happen in the public library. It already does!

If we start in the children's section, there's plenty to observe outside of story time. In my library, mothers and nannies bring in their young children during the day to play with the puzzles and toys along with the other children. Bartlett helps us see how this kind of unstructured play is already a form of early learning. Children will role-play with each other, and in this process of taking on new identities they experiment with new tasks and advanced vocabulary - all of which improve working memory and other "executive functions" (Bartlett 3). With his preoccupation with working memory, Jourdain would have high hopes for their ability to be "expert" listeners and learners as they grow up (Jourdain 265). And of course, they will.

But what makes this play in the public library different than the same play during school recess? In their white paper about "learning games," the Education Arcade makes their case for play by declaring the five freedoms it assures: the freedom to fail, to experiment, to fashion identities, to regulate effort, and to interpret (Klopfer 4-5). All five of these can be seen in the role-playing of young children, and the freedom to fail is of particular interest in public libraries. In short, there is no failing at the library. There's no grade, no teacher or parent to please, and no being late to return to class. It's all free in the truest sense, in a way that isn't even true on the school playground. There is no prescribed time or learning standard, just their own happy whims.

And once this kind of play turns into organized games, we really start to approach fertile learning territory. We can move now into the gaming section of many public libraries. Maybe there's even a Game Night at yours. As they attempt to define "game literacy," Buckingham and Burn emphasize the cultural, critical, and creative natures of playing and designing games, especially the ludic quality that is unique to them. The ludic dimension of games is what makes them imperative - it's what urges the player to take action in his world rather than just observe it (Buckingham 327). Even if a kid isn't designing her own game, she still has to make informed decisions to take action within it. She has to get enough points to proceed to the next level, or she has to make just the right move with her last rook piece. She has to understand that games involve rules (the bishops can only move diagonally) and economies (there are only 100 points in level 1). If this sounds a lot like life, it should. This can be some of the first Life Learning that young people take on, and where better than the public library?

But perhaps what I'm not emphasizing enough are the social and personal aspects of all of this playing. It is life needs - personal needs - that bring people to the public library, and some kind of socialization is almost an inevitable result. Games, especially, often require the presence of other players as well as an understanding of the broader social network behind them. Teamwork and collaboration are needed to complete some games. And all of this playful learning is motivated by very real-world relevant and personal events. The games that involve of an avatar or the drawing out of a long narrative - and the role-playing of younger children - all draw from life.

All of this comes together beautifully in a digital teen learning space at the Chicago Public Library called YouMedia. Described on their Web site as a space to "connect young adults, books, media, mentors, and institutions throughout the city of Chicago" in order to "inspire collaboration and creativity," this space draws kids from throughout the city who are curious about various digital media technologies. They experiment, they take on new identities (as graphic designers, music producers, authors, etc.), they learn independently and cooperatively, and they're always free to change their minds or fail. They're learning to become productive citizens of the 21st century, and they're learning about themselves. The program is so impressive that President Obama recently included it as a model program in his "Educate to Innovate" Campaign.

So there you have it. This is why I need to be at a public library. Life-relevant, social, and joyful learning all the way.

Bartlett, Tom. "The Case for Play: How a Handful of Researchers are Trying to Save Childhood." The Chronicle of Higher Education. February 20, 2011.

Buckingham, David and Andrew Burn. "Game Literacy in Theory and Practice." Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia (2007) 16(3), 323-349.

Jourdain, Robert. Music, the Brain, and Ecstasy: How Music Captures Our Imagination. NY: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1997: 236-268.

Klopfer, Eric, Scot Osterweil, and Katie Salen. "Moving Learning Games Forward." The Education Arcade of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2009.