TOLEDO -- Playstation, Wii and XBox have infiltrated local Toledo libraries. And it was done on purpose.
"The thought is teenagers haven't used libraries a lot and this is bait," Reynolds Corner Library Manager Marilee McSweeny said. "We are going to get them in here and when they don't notice, we are going to teach them things."
Reynolds Corner and the main library downtown opened up the very first video game rooms as an early Christmas gift to teenage library visitors. Any library card holder, ages 13-18 are allowed inside the video game rooms. The game rooms offer several games for the Nintendo Wii, Microsoft XBox and Sony Playstation 3.
"Gaming itself has prove to be more than just entertainment," main library, popular and teen department manager Tony Schafer said. "It has benefits for literacy. It has benefits for cooperative play. It has benefits for problem solving and studies have proven that."
Now some critics may question how Toledo libraries have funds for game rooms with such tight budgets.
"Contracts were signed and equipment was ordered and things were set up before the rug got pulled out from under us financially," McSweeney said.
Manager McSweeney added that the Reynolds Corner branch was also thinking of the local community whose financial means might not be as strong and may not be able to offer these games to their kids.
"Perhaps the few pennies a day they are paying in taxes for this is less expensive than buying the system for home use."