Inside the game of Minecraft a small revolution is happening. Those bastions of books – librarians are building a world within Minecraft where teens can virtually visit their local library.
The Mattituck-Laurel Library in Mattituck, New York has built an exact ‘virtual’ replica of their library within the world of Minecraft. The game Minecraft was launched in 2011 and its users can build a 3-D virtual world with cubes. The worlds created in Minecraft are limited only by the gamers imaginations.
This lead Karen Letteriello and Elizabeth Grohoski, the children’s library co-managers to come up with the idea of a virtual library.
More from the School Library Journal:
Each room of the Minecraft library offers a clue inside treasure chests tucked into the virtual shelves. Clues provide students with a summary of the plot, title, author, and call letters—so children can locate the books inside the physical library. There are other activities as well—a maze, mini-games in which children can locate objects like sheep wool in multiple colors, and eventually a racetrack, which Grohoski hopes to build. Children can play a few notes on the virtual piano or ride up and down the virtual elevator—just like the one inside the real branch.
Letteriello said, ““I want them (children) to use [the library presence in Minecraft] the same as they would the actual library, take a book home and teleport into another world,” she says. “I want them to feel the gaming world is just another part of the library.”
