The NYU Game Center Open Library
The NYU Game Center Open Library is one of the biggest game collections in the world with a growing collection of over 2,000 digital and non-digital games. The library supports the Game Center’s undergraduate and graduate coursework, promoting game literacy, critical examination of play, and community engagement through hands-on access to the design history of games.
Location & Hours
370 Jay Street, 6th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Monday-Friday 11:00am-6:00pm
Saturday-Sunday: CLOSED
Library is closed during University breaks and holidays.
The Library is open and free to use for all NYU students. All games in the Library inventory are available to be checked out and played within the Library space, but games can not be taken home/outside of the Library.
Game Catalog
Our catalog is available online for researchers and/or anyone looking for particular game or set of games. The catalog is listed here.
Need to study a rare game or collection of games for a class? We gladly take inquiries and requests! To inquire about the collection and potential requests, please email gamecenter@nyu.edu or visit either branch and talk with a librarian.
Donations
A major part of the Open Library collection comes from generous donations from the game community all over the country. We’re currently accepting donations consoles, discs, cartridges, controllers, non-digital games, and print materials.
To donate or find out more information about donating, please email gamecenter@nyu.edu.
Events & Curations
The NYU Game Center Open Library is home to many events that celebrate the history, archival, preservation, and play of games. Open Library events aim to explore new and interesting ways to use the library’s collection and resources in unique and playful ways.
Past Library events have included:
- Pressing Restart: Community Discussions on Video Game Preservation: a day long conference put on by Rebecca Hernandez-Gerber and NYU’s MIAP Program which explored some of the unique issues facing video game archiving. For more, check out this response to the conference on the Atlantic,“How Will Historians Study Video Games” written by MFA Alumni Ilya Zarembsky.
- When Games Went Click: The Tennis for Two Story: a premiere of a documentary on the game Tennis for Two followed by a Q&A with some of the lead historians who contributed to the documentary. Before the premiere, the library featured a curation of tennis games from throughout history put together by Professor Bennett Foddy.
- Artemis: A Night on the Bridge: the Library was transformed into the deck of the Enterprise for an evening, when librarians, students, and Artemis fans took advantage of the library’s many PCs and TVs to run a twenty-person, three ship game of the part LARP, part action game space-ship simulator.
The Open Library frequently features curations put together by NYU Game Center faculty, students, and NYU Game Center Librarians. Curations create conversations between the games in the collection by exploring a particular mechanic or theme or highlighting a particular genre, trend, or moment in game design and history.
To see a few of the past curations check out:
- Bad is Beautiful by Owen McLean, Game Center Librarian
- C’est la Video Game by Andy Sebela, Game Center Librarian
- Gender Play by Gwynna Forgham-Thrift, Game Center Librarian
- Swords in Games by Harry Rabinowitz, Game Center Librarian
Curations and events are always posted on our events page and announced through our mailing list. Check out both to catch exciting events and curations happening in the library.
Work at the NYU Game Center Open Library
The NYU Game Center hires undergraduate students in the Game Design program at the start of the Fall and Spring semesters.
Being a NYU Game Center Open Librarian is a unique opportunity to be at the center of one of the most active collections of games in the world and the growing NYU Game Center community. Ideal candidates are students who think deeply about games and the contexts in which we play them. Librarians have opportunities to add their voice and perspective on games and the meaning of a game library in the form of curating game collections, creating events, exhibitions, and programs, and helping shape the library’s archive system and inventory.
More information about the position can be found here. To apply, please send email gft213@nyu.edu for the application. The position is only open to current Game Design BFAs.