Daniel J. Flynn‘s recent article “Library as Amusement Park” published by City Journal, challenges the modern public library’s embrace of video games as a method of drawing in younger patrons and keeping the masses interested in the life of the mind.

“In the midst of branch closings and budget cuts, public libraries have acquired a new product for loan: video games.”

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Ryan Donovan, senior librarian at the New York Public Library’s Mid-Manhattan branch and point man for its National Gaming day events states, “A library is no longer just a place for books but a dynamic institution that offers a multitude of services and a variety of programs to our patrons.”

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“Donovan contends that ‘a high degree of literacy and problem solving skills are developed during game play for both children and adults alike, which makes library gaming programs worth doing.’

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The image of the urban public library as a citadel of culture and quietude shielding patrons from the noisy, dumbed-down, digital world outside has taken a hit in recent years.

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Libraries have become comfortable hosting many activities unrelated to the life of the mind. Indeed, libraries have been lending popular music and movies for decades. And one can hardly blame libraries for exhibiting the problems of the society that surrounds them. But there is a difference between tolerating vice and indulging it.

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Whether video games serve as a gateway to books is an open question. Settled is their role in further inching libraries from centers of enlightenment to places of amusement…”