Guitar Hero' and other games draw teens back to libraries

Saying they're going to the library may no longer be the standby excuse teens offer their parents for secretly heading out to a party or to hang out with friends. These days, more and more young people are flocking to metro Detroit libraries: not necessarily for homework, but to participate in one of their favorite pastimes -- video games." Getting teens to come to the library is right up there with getting them to go to church: It's not exactly the first place they want to go," said Christine Lind Hage, director of the Rochester Hills Public Library. That is, until now. age has stocked the shelves with 1,823 games for PlayStations 2 and 3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360 and other systems. And the free sources of entertainment are hot items among adolescents -- an average of 1,300 get checked out daily. The addition of the games largely contributed to the library's 12% spike in circulation last year, she said. The Rochester Hills library increasingly draws kids in with gaming events, like the one held Feb. 9."I think that pretty soon more people will be going to the library. It changed my whole opinion of it," said Phillip Lane, 18, who attended the gaming competition. And it's not just happening in Rochester Hills. The Clinton-Macomb Public Library's 300 video games rarely remain on the shelves. On a recent visit, there were only a handful of games in stock, one of them a poker tournament game. The games have contributed to the library's 7% circulation increase in 2007.And, at the Highland Township Public Library in Oakland County, the 55 games like "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," "Tony Hawk's Underground" and "Madden NFL 2007" were circulated more than 150 times last month alone. Do we think it's necessary for libraries to diversify in order to give people what they want? Yes," said Jude Halloran, Highland Township Public Library director. But carrying video games also brings some new challenges for librarians. The games, which cost an average of $50 a piece, are highly sought by thieves. When the Rochester Hills library first began carrying the games more than a year ago, about $400 a month was lost in stolen games. It wasn't until the library started storing the actual video game discs behind the counter six months ago that the crime rate decreased.