ARLINGTON — Audrey Randles has been visiting the Arlington Library since she was in sixth grade, but when the 12-year-old stopped by one afternoon near the start of this school year, she heard a familiar noise in the normally quiet library.
“They were playing Guitar Hero, and they had Sour Patch Kids out just for us kids,” Randles said.
Monthly teen gaming sessions are just one of the ways in which the Arlington Library is incorporating technology into its entertainment, education and employment programs.
On the afternoon of Feb. 2, Randles was back at the library playing Super Mario Smash Bros. with other regular library gamers, including fellow 12-year-old Jalen Profit and 13-year-old Triston Moses. Although she enjoys the video games, the library’s location and resources had already made her a frequent visitor.
“I come right from Haller Middle School in the afternoon,” Randles said. “I go on the computers to check my Facebook, but I also do research on them, especially for math problems. Plus, the computers have these free typing games where you have to type the words in time or else this frog gets eaten,” she giggled.
That same day was 13-year-old Emily Brandt’s first time playing video games at the library, even though she’s been checking out books there for the past five years.
“I just wandered into it,” Brandt said. “I didn’t even know they had it. I just like coming here so that I’ll always have books near me. I want to come back for next month’s video games, though, because they’ll be playing on Kinect, and I really want to try that out.”
The Kinect for Xbox 360 is on loan from the Arlington Boys & Girls Club, but the Arlington Library boasts its own Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2. Arlington Teen Librarian Jocelyn Redel reported that between 10 and 25 kids usually circulate through the makeshift video gaming area of the library once a month, which she finds endlessly entertaining to look in on.
“When the teens play their games, these toddlers will come up just to sit and watch them,” Redel said. “It’s funny to listen to the kids, because they’ll trash-talk each other while they’re playing, but it’s all in good fun.”
Redel noted that the Arlington Library is just as focused on using technology to help kids from kindergarten through 12th grade learn, which is why their “Study Zone” is available every Thursday starting at 3 p.m.
“Two tables are set aside for kids to do their homework,” Redel said. “One of our librarians, in this case me, will sit in with them, and while we don’t actually tutor them ourselves, we make our laptops available to them so that they can utilize our online tutoring resources. And if they’re doing research online, we can help them print out the information they find or e-mail it to themselves so they can look it up at home.”
Arlington Managing Librarian Kathy Bullene assured adult library patrons that kids studying for school aren’t the only ones who can use library laptops.
“It’s our best-kept secret, even though we don’t want it to be a secret,” Bullene said of the two laptops that are specifically reserved for adult job-hunters.
The only requirements to check out one of the two job-hunter laptops is that you be at least 18 years old, with a government ID and a valid library card. Unlike the library’s other laptops, which have two-hour check-out time limits, patrons can check out the two job-hunter laptops for any length of time up until half an hour before the library closes.
“As with our other laptops, you can’t take them out of the library, but you can use them to apply for jobs online and work on your resume,” Bullene said.
Patrons can even check out a USB drive to transfer documents to the library’s printer, and for those who don’t feel confident using computers, the library will be offering a series of computer classes this spring, covering subjects ranging from multitasking between windows and attaching files to using e-mail and the Internet.
“We’re a very busy place,” Bullene said.
