Much has been written lately (and, of course, actually done) on the value of gaming to libraries.
Gaming's advocates may find a sort of spiritual forefather in Graham Romeyn Taylor, whose address to the 1910 ALA Annual Conference was reprinted, along with the rest of the conference proceedings, in the September issue of that year (pages 668–671).
At the time, Taylor was associate editor of The Survey, a journal on social issues. While he wasn't, obviously, advocating for library Pong tournaments (let alone Dance Dance Revolution), it's not difficult to see how his themes, plus 97 years, equal the themes of today.
Taylor opened his speech, "Play and Social Welfare," with a simple recitation of the explosive growth of city playgrounds: 90 cities had maintained playgrounds in 1907, 185 in 1908, and 336 in 1909. "This recent widespread activity has been due primarily to a new appreciation of the value of play as a positive force.... The more extensive adoption of the playground idea by communities of every sort has come in recognition of the new idea that wholesome play is not merely a preventative of ill health and delinquency among children, but that it is an essential in the process by which all children grow up."
Taylor also spoke on the need for someone to reach teenagers, observing how most kids who got into serious, juvenile court–level trouble did so between the ages of 14 and 16—"the very period at which the small children's playground begins to lose its grip and its appeal." Notably absent from his speech is a call for libraries to be the ones to reach those people, but gaming advocates today (and others) have made that leap.
In fact, Taylor's speech really didn't cover libraries specifically. But he did welcome all comers: "The play spirit, in the opinion of those who attended the recent Play Congress in Rochester, should extend far beyond the playground or special occasion, and should permeate our whole life," he said, also noting that with the rise of commercial amusement parks and nickel theaters, "If the community itself is blind to the recreative needs of the people, commercial exploitation certainly is not."
The 1910 Recreation Symposium
The 1910 conference also included a Recreation Symposium (pages 666–668), although the procedings of that are, in my opinion, more amusing than interesting. Based on his introduction, I suspect ALA President N.D.C. Hodges felt the same way: "It seems to me a courtesy we owe to our speakers to be quiet before taking up the next number, although I am sure that the subject does not require such extreme concentration of thought probably as some other subjects that might appear upon the program at this time."
I wouldn't be thrilled about taking the stage after that intro.
The speeches seemed to live up to it, however. Samuel Ranck of Grand Rapids (Mich.) Public Library opened with a paper titled "Recreation for Librarians," although it really covered what he termed "Keeping Fit."
How to do so? "There are two elements which to me have always been of the greatest importance—eating and sleeping."
After that insightful announcement, 13 librarians gave five-minute talks extolling the virtues of their favorite recreational activities. I suppose there may be some historical interest in knowing that, say, Minneapolis Public Library Chief Librarian Gratia Countryman enjoyed sleeping out of doors, but an hour-plus session about the hobbies themselves? I'd rather do them than just talk about them, thank you.
—Greg Landgraf, American Libraries editorial assistant.
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