Video Game Guidelines

Douglas County Libraries sees the acquiring of video games to be an important extension of its policy to offer popular materials of interest to the community and to provide for the recreational needs of patrons.

Video games will be selected for the most popular consoles, presently Playstation 2 and XBOX 360. Only those that carry ratings of E (for everyone), E10+ (for everyone 10 and older) or T (teens) by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) will be purchased. Games rated E have content designed for age 6 and above and may contain cartoon, fantasy, or mild violence. A rating of E10 is designed for age 10 and older and may contain more cartoon, fantasy, or mild violence and mild language. The T rating is primarily designed for teenagers ages 13 and over and may contain violence, suggestive themes, and crude humor. The library will not purchase games given the rating of M (mature audiences) or AO (adults only).

The Collection Development Office will make all video game selections. Preference will be given to award winners such as the Interactive Achievement Awards, the Game Developers Award and those that receive high ratings on gamerankings.com.

Occasionally new game consoles are introduced into the market place. In the future these will be studied carefully to assess their popularity and sufficient time will be allowed to determine whether they will receive widespread and lasting public acceptance before collections of new game formats are added to the library.

The District will not be responsible for any damage to patron’s game systems that occur while using DCL video games.