As of January 2019, Hunt Library’s Game Lab has been upgraded with entirely features, including a new screen. This is the first such upgrade since the lab’s inception in 2013.
David Woodbury, department head at NCSU Library’s Learning Spaces & Services, explained that an anonymous foundation’s grant allowed them to renovate.
“The grant covered the majority of project costs to upgrade the space, which helped pay for changes in game labs and data space,” Woodbury said.
According to Hannah Rainey, the lead librarian for academic technology, the technology at the Game Lab was reaching closer toward the end of its life span.
“Technology has a pretty short lifespan, and the Hunt Library has been open for over five years now,” Rainey said. “The Game Lab was a part of the original design of the Hunt Library.”
Rainey explained that the video wall has been upgraded from a MicroTile wall to a Direct View LED.
“One of the features of the MicroTile wall was the bezels in between the actual tiles, which interrupted the flow,” Rainey said. “The LED walls have been around for a while, and the technology has been upgraded in the last few years. Since we wanted to upgrade the technology, we thought of this as a good opportunity to try LED walls.”
According to Woodbury, there have been minor upgrades prior, but this was the first technological major upgrade.
Rainey also explained that there have been several other upgrades to the Game Lab in addition to the wall.
“The switching behind the scenes and switching between sources has been upgraded,” Rainey said. “A new panel interface has been made to make it easier to use, and we increased the space by removing the large console.”
Rainey explained that NCSU Libraries’ goal is ultimately to support teaching with gaming rather than merely gaming alone.
“I have colleagues working with faculty to develop some digital humanities projects where students can explore a manuscript using the touchscreen with high resolution images,” Rainey said.
According to Woodbury, an important element of the upgrades is the proximity between the Game Lab and the dataspace.
“The dataspace was created to support students, their data visualization, data analytics and other high-end computing needs,” Woodbury said. “We saw that the Game Lab could have workshops and other kinds of training, and the proximity will help in using both these facilities in conjunction.”
Rainey explained that they are planning an upgrade for most of the technology in the Hunt Library.
“We have had over five years to learn about the spaces and have done our best to incorporate some of the known use cases and goals of the space that were harder to achieve in the original iteration,” Rainey said. “The lab is open for everyone to use, and we want people to use the technology as it is ultimately for the benefit of the students.”
