Eyewitness News reporter Lucy Yang explains.
Rock on! At the Bronx Library Center, it's not just books and "please be quiet." It's also video games, and making noise is allowed.
"It's really fun because it brings people together,"
It's called "Game On," a new program at various branches within the New York Public Library system. A few times a week, neighborhood kids can play X-Box, PlayStation and the Wii.
In one room, cue the guitar solo. They're singing and drumming to X-Box's Rock Band.
And next door, tennis anyone? A group of teens is volleying with Wii.
"I enjoy myself playing the games here, the books, the computers, you know, it's the library,"
"Some people can't exactly afford these games so they come here and they get to play with friends and make new friends,"
Video gaming is one of the latest offerings in libraries all over the country, making these institutions popular local hangouts.
"I see it as instead of being in the streets, we're in the in here safe,"
In an age where technology rules, libraries have come up with a game plan to bring kids in and keep them coming back.
"The idea of literacy is evovling and changing and we can't really reach our constituencies only by just books anymore,"
It's hoped that being surrounded by so many will get more teens to cross over the digital divide into the world of literature.
For more information on where you can game at the library, click here.
