{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T17:37:49Z","timestamp":1754156269187,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,15]],"date-time":"2023-06-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1686787200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["JD"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,1,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Purpose<\/jats:title><jats:p>Researchers in information studies have examined fictional depictions of libraries in various mediums because these images can reflect and influence real-life experiences and attitudes. Video games, despite being relatively overlooked, are increasingly culturally relevant and can indicate library users' real needs and desires. This study investigates the ways in which video games depict characters using libraries to seek and use information.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title><jats:p>A qualitative content analysis approach incorporating methods from information studies and game studies was applied. Tancheva's (2005) semiotic analysis of fictional libraries and Carr's (2019) textual approach provided the framing for the unique aspects of video games and their meanings. Carroll (2021)'s character analysis and Chatman (1996)'s theory on insiders\u2013outsiders dynamic underpinned the data collection and analysis. The purposive sample included 15 video games released since 2010.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>Video games depict game characters visiting libraries to solve short-term problems, to gain knowledge to improve themselves or to bond with others. Protagonists are often depicted as adventurers or outsiders who must adapt to unfamiliar places and situations to achieve their wider objectives. In these games, libraries provide useful documents, spaces or helpful guides and intellectuals who assist the protagonists. As outsiders, the protagonists seek information in libraries to help them learn about their environments and to immerse themselves in the local histories and cultures in their worlds. Overall, these depictions highlight both short- and long-term benefits of library use.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type=\"abstract-subheading\">Originality\/value<\/jats:title><jats:p>As with existing studies, the ways in which fictional library use appear in video games can suggest real needs and desires among library users. The findings from this study emphasise the importance of library services and spaces that help users both address short-term problems and immerse themselves in local concerns, with longer-term goals. Applying different research methods or lenses to analysing video games could deepen our understanding of what library users think and feel when they seek and use information in libraries.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/jd-03-2023-0046","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,14]],"date-time":"2023-06-14T02:46:31Z","timestamp":1686710791000},"page":"158-179","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Depiction of library use in video games: a content analysis"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"80","author":[{"given":"Emerson","family":"Taylor","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4293-4800","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chern Li","family":"Liew","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,6,15]]},"reference":[{"issue":"4","key":"key2023122312405022300_ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"239","DOI":"10.1007\/s40869-017-0045-4","article-title":"Fifty years on, what exactly is a videogame? An essentialistic definitional approach","volume":"6","year":"2017","journal-title":"The Computer Games Journal"},{"issue":"5","key":"key2023122312405022300_ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"429","DOI":"10.1177\/1555412011402676","article-title":"When keeping it real goes wrong\u2019: resident evil 5, racial representation, and gamers","volume":"6","year":"2011","journal-title":"Games and Culture"},{"issue":"7-8","key":"key2023122312405022300_ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"707","DOI":"10.1177\/1555412017728641","article-title":"Methodology, representation, and games","volume":"14","year":"2019","journal-title":"Games and Culture"},{"article-title":"Have you heard any rumors lately? 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(2007), \u201cGoing to hell: placing the library in buffy the Vampire slayer\u201d, in Buschman, J. and Leckie, G.J. (Eds), The Library as Place, Libraries Unlimited, Westport, CT."},{"issue":"3","key":"key2023122312405022300_ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"297","DOI":"10.1086\/660133","article-title":"What is library use? Facets of concept and a typology of its application in the literature of library and information science","volume":"81","year":"2011","journal-title":"The Library Quarterly"},{"key":"key2023122312405022300_ref013","article-title":"Expanding on the almost\u2019: queer world-building and institutional information worlds","volume":"3","year":"2021","journal-title":"Journal of Critical Library and Information Studies"},{"article-title":"\u2018Everyone forgets that knowledge is the ultimate weapon\u2019: information seeking practices in buffy the Vampire slayer","year":"2013","key":"key2023122312405022300_ref014","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.29173\/cais646"},{"key":"key2023122312405022300_ref015","unstructured":"Holmstr\u00f6m, R. 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