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Video Games and Board Games @ UIUC Library: Work Hard, Play Harder Exhibit

Introduction to the video game and board game collections at the University of Illinois Library, including information about location, circulation, and organizations at UIUC related to games.

Work Hard, Play Harder: Video Game Collections @ the University Library

Work Hard, Play Harder: Video Games @ the University Library was viewable in the Library Gallery throughout April 2023. The exhibit highlighted the library’s video game collection as well as select scholarly titles in Game Studies. The goal of the exhibit was to bring awareness to the video game collection and demonstrate its breadth by featuring games from different eras and consoles. Examples of both popular games and “hidden gems”  that are well-regarded but less well-known were displayed in the exhibit. The Game Studies books displayed in the exhibit featured analysis on some of the games in the exhibit and discussed video games in relation to history, philosophy, and LGBT studies.

Work Hard, Play Harder was selected as the 2023 Graduate Student Exhibit Contest Winner. The exhibit was designed, submitted, and curated by MS/LIS student and Pre-Professional Graduate Assistant Meli Taylor.

Exhibit Photographs

exhibit featuring code: realize, the sims 2, and saints rowfront of exhibit case with video games story of seasons, sega genesis classics, and nintendogsexhibit featuring video games story of seasons, sega genesis classics, and nintendogsexhibit featuring video games final fantasy 7, folklore, and the witcher

Exhibit Signs

work hard, player harder video game collections @ the university librarythe university library's video game collection contains over 1,000 games on 16 different platforms published between 1992 and 2023. The Library has a particularly robust collection for games on the Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Wii. The games collection was located in the Undergraduate Library until Fall 2021, when it was relocated to the Main Stacks. Additionally, over 300 games are stored at the Oak Street Library facility. The collection is managed by Global Popular Culture Librarian Mara Thacker of the International and Area Studies Library.Want to browse the full video game collection? Scan the QR code below. You can search for video games in-person in the Main Stacks. They are located in the Media Collection, just past the entrance to the Stacks on the second floor of the main library building.Game Studies is the study of games, including video games and the cultures surrounding them. Game studies scholars may focus on game design, gameplay, narrative, player demographics, or any other subject connected to games. Video games have also been used as objects of study in many other fields and disciplines, such as music, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and architecture. Use this QR code to browse Game Studies text s in the Social Sciences Health and Education Library.Why should I check out a video game from the University Library?: Discover a new favorite, revisit childhood nostalgia, find a hidden gem, write about a game for class, take a break from studying