School of Education | Research, Discovery, and Innovation (RDI) | Digital Games in Libraries (DGIL)

Digital Games in Libraries (DGIL)

The Digital Games in Libraries (DGIL) project is developing strategies and tools for libraries of all kinds to collect, preserve, and provide access to video games released in digital-only formats. The video game industry is quickly moving away from releasing games on discs and cartridges and embracing digital-only distribution methods, such as direct downloads to consoles, PC gaming platforms like Steam, and app stores. These methods are convenient for players and publishers, but libraries and other cultural heritage institutions are left out of the picture. To broaden access now and to preserve these games for the future, libraries need to collect digital games.

Preserving Independent Digital Games

DGIL is especially focused on digital games made by solo game developers and small development teams. The independent (indie) game development community has exploded over the past decade, in large part fueled by digital distribution platforms that make it easier than ever to create and share games without huge budgets. Indie game developers bring new voices and perspectives into the video game industry, and indie games consistently deliver some of the most innovative play experiences to players.

Because many of these games only exist on digital platforms, indie games are at particular risk of becoming lost to history. Libraries cannot easily preserve these games because there are no discs or cartridges to stash away for future access. DGIL aims to equip libraries with strategies and tools designed to address the distinct issues and challenges involved in preserving digital-only video games. With these strategies in place, future generations of researchers, educators, and players will be able to appreciate the significant cultural value of indie games.

Project Details

DGIL consists of three major phases to accomplish our main goal: empowering libraries of all kinds to collect, preserve, and provide access to independent digital games.

Exploratory Research: The first step is learning more about the current issues and challenges that libraries will need to address to develop strategies and tools for collecting, preserving, and providing access to independent digital games.
National Virtual Forum: Building off what we learn from the initial research, we will organize a national virtual forum that brings together people from the library world and the game world to discuss these major issues and begin to collaboratively develop collecting strategies that work for everyone.
Working Groups: Finally, DGIL will assemble working groups representing key stakeholder groups to develop the blueprints for digital game collecting strategies and tools.

Get Involved

The success of this project depends on the involvement of many different communities and stakeholder groups that have an interest in seeing digital games in libraries. We need input from librarians, players, indie game developers, and other key stakeholders in order to develop collecting strategies and tools that meet these various groups’ diverse needs and priorities. We’ll be reaching out to these communities for their participation throughout the project.

Learn about major insights and takeaways from the initial research phase of DGIL, to be shared in Spring 2025
Sign up to attend the DGIL National Virtual Forum in October 2025, details available in Summer 2025
Look out for a call to participate in DGIL working groups to help shape the future of digital games in libraries, details available in Fall 2025

Updates

Initial research with libraries, game developers, and other communities is underway now. Check back in Spring 2025 for project updates.

Personnel

Dr. Colin Post is the Principal Investigator for the project. Feel free to contact him with any questions about the project: [email protected].

An advisory committee representing key stakeholder groups provides consultation on major project activities:

Kendra Albert, Harvard Law School
Phillip Penix-Tadsen, University of Delaware
Diane Robson, University of North Texas
John Scalzo, Irondequoit Public Library
Rebecca Slitt, Choice of Games

Support

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS): Building a Foundation to Collect Independent Digital Games in Libraries, LG-256637-OLS-24.