Alcohol, sugar and caffeine aren't all that good for us either, but still serve a purpose in our lives

What's "bad" and what's "good" are really subjective and personal designations. I think librarians have traditionally always refrained from passing judgement on different works and allowing their own personal opinions influence the titles they acquire and recommend. Johnson's book reminds us how we have to extend this position beyond books now and to other forms of media and information. Whether or not we think a particular movie, show, game, etc., is "bad" or "good", each has some inherent value (and Johnson makes the strongest case I have ever heard/read as to how worthwhile and complex that value actually is.) I once had a customer come up to me in the library and ask me to make a young girl get off a library computer because she was "only" playing a video game on it while she herself had "real work" to do. I told her I couldn't do that using the old "equal access" policy, but a part of me wishes I could relive the scene and throw a line about how video games contribute to people's cognitive development into my denial of her request.

Libraries are already including DVD's and video games in their collections and I'm sure this is a trend that will continue and expand. Understanding the value of different types of media will aid librarians in their collection development decisions.

As far as educators go, I think they should be more aware of the educational value of movies, tv shows and games. (Someone earlier blogged about making them read Johnson's book, which I totally agree with.) My 5th grade son told me their school librarian made a statement to them that computers should be used for research and not video games (and also proudly added as an aside that she never played a video game in her life. I was astounded, and asked him how old she was. He answered, "Older than you," which, in his mind, is REALLY old!) Dismissing any of the media our children use and enjoy without understanding it is very counterproductive and widens the gap between us. I was never a huge video game player myself (things got a little too complicated for me after the Atari system) but these past two weeks' class materials and Johnson's book really helped open my mind to their inherent value. Educators must realize this too, and should work on making learning scenarios more engaging for students, the way games are.