Tools and toys in new technologies have burgeoned over the last 20 years, and so has our understanding of what literacy is and can be. Awareness of what it takes to be an active and engaged participant in society has changed; so libraries have changed the way they understand, promote and support literacy. Libraries have provided collections, programs and services in support of traditional literacy skills for centuries. Today, ideas of what literacy is include digital, information and communication technology (ICT), media, programming, and visual. Reading and understanding information is vital. In all these literacies, users are required to produce new knowledge from their informed conclusions and to share that new knowledge with their communities. Libraries of all types promote the development of literacy skills in numerous ways: information literacy classes in colleges and universities, gaming programs to promote problem solving and the development of higher order thinking skills in public libraries, and other services that improve technical and literary fluency. Regardless of the type of service libraries may provide, they are all important in strengthening these multiple literacies. There is no doubt that gaming and literacy go hand-in-hand. If you canât read, you canât play. Games come with instructions, menus, and more. Learning the language and mechanics of any game, from chess to Little Big Planet, involves acquiring a new vocabulary.
