Considerations and challenges for collecting digital games in academic libraries

Academic libraries face a serious obstacle that will inhibit their ability to continue growing robust video game collections. The gaming industry is increasingly moving toward the digital distribution of games, making games available as digital downloads licensed to single end-user consumers from online storefronts rather than releasing games on physical media like discs or cartridges. Libraries have adapted to similar shifts in the distribution of books and audiovisual materials largely by licensing content from ebook and digital video vendors, but there are currently no such vendors or platforms set up to license digital games to libraries in ways comparable to these other kinds of electronic resources. This paper reports on findings from interviews with librarians at 13 academic libraries in the US who are beginning to explore digital game collecting efforts, presenting some of the key considerations for how libraries might approach digital game licenses as well as the major challenges, issues, and factors that will influence digital game collecting. While digital game collecting will require engagement with game publishers and other stakeholders, this research seeks to establish a shared understanding among academic librarians of their own needs and priorities for this emerging collecting area.