Luis Aguilar, 11, watches friends play a game on the Nintendo Wii during a gaming day for youths at the Quincie Douglas Branch Library. He says that what he is learning in video-game play might translate to academics. A Tucson librarian agrees and will help with a national study of how well the games teach literacy skills.

Jill torrance / arizona daily star

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If you made a list of sounds you might hear at your local library, the rumbling of explosions and the loud hum of race-car engines probably wouldn't rank high on it.

But in a darkened room at the Quincie Douglas Branch Library, about 20 preteens and teens gather around two screens. It's a mostly soundproof room, to make sure their efforts to rack up points on Nintendo's Wii and PlayStation 2 don't bother the consumers of decidedly more static media.

It's a sight that could become more frequent at a library near you.

The American Library Association has announced a new project funded with a $1 million grant from the Verizon Foundation, the charitable branch of Verizon Communications.

Libraries that already have mature gaming systems in place will be studied to gauge how electronic games improve players' literacy skills.

Then, a dozen leading national gaming experts, including a Tucson librarian, will build a tool kit that libraries across the country can use to develop gaming programs.

Elizabeth Danforth, a freelance gaming artist and illustrator and a librarian at the Eckstrom-Columbus branch, will serve on the national panel.

There's growing evidence that games in general, from the traditional board versions to electronic and online ones, support literacy and 21st-century learning skills, she said, though libraries have been slow to capitalize on them.

Eleven-year-old Luis Aguilar was at the Quincie branch Wednesday for the weekly teen gaming afternoon, wearing a T-shirt slogan alleging he traded his sister for a video game.

Using "Guitar Hero," he recently filmed a mock rock-band competition the library hosted. And he's in the process of editing a five-minute documentary he hopes to post soon on YouTube.

Luis said he likes meeting other kids and feels he's developing hand-eye coordination, but also thinks what he's learning might translate to academics.

When other youths are better than he is in a game, he said, he learns from them. Sometimes he'll ask them for tips. Sometimes they'll just volunteer them. But it's similar to the sort of give-and-take that happens when he's assigned to groups in English class to write stories, for example.

Steven Lamphier, 18, who recently graduated from Alta Vista High School and will study math at Arizona State University in the fall, was watching his peers nearby play "Super Smash Bros. Brawl," featuring the character Super Mario.

He agreed that teens are developing useful skills and not just frittering away their time.

"A lot of games take focus, and that helps you pay attention in other areas, like reading," Lamphier said, adding it also enhances team-building skills.

Indeed, there are no older adults in the teen room, although the players are supervised through a large glass window. While a visitor was there, teens were orderly. Instead of mocking, there were words of encouragement. Everyone had a turn.

Teen-activities librarian Jennifer Nichols said that's routine.

"Adults are always asking how they can control it if they introduce gaming, and I always say, 'You don't have to control it at all. They self-police.' "

That's good news, given that for the first time ever this year, the American Library Association's annual conference had a gaming pavilion, showcasing efforts to reach a demographic — tweens, teens and 20-somethings — that's tough to pull into the library.

Nichols said she's heard libraries compared to church. Kids will go, but it's not usually very exciting. Games change that dynamic, she said.

"In this day and age, there are not a lot of public spaces left where people gather," she said. "We want them to know that this is their place."

It's not just about head counts, though, librarians are quick to add. Games fit into their overall mission of improving literacy and work skills.

Danforth said even games that don't have an obvious literary component can encourage literacy. Aside from reading the rules, players often jump online or buy books that will give them the tips and tricks they need to succeed.

Games can expose students to the roots of words, she said. In "World of Warcraft," for example, students familiar with the flaming monster Incendius might see a clear connection if they later come across the term "incendiary" in an assignment.

That same game has a group of characters called rogues. Kids who spell that like the makeup "rouge" in an online forum will promptly be corrected.

Then there's just the overall focus on puzzle-solving, Danforth noted. Unlike books, games often have multiple story lines, depending on decisions that gamers make along the way. In the overall scheme of things, deploying a warrior for one job and a wizard for another isn't that much different from a boss sending an engineer out for one task and a public relations professional for another.

"There are just so many cognitive processing skills that games teach," she said. And the fact that it's fun is a powerful incentive, she added, for students to learn that success comes with practice and risk-taking.

"Play is inherent in everything with a spinal column and a brain, even though our culture has been taught that having fun is something only children should do," Danforth said.

There are certainly ongoing concerns about the gaming industry as a whole.

Greg Czekaj, a reading teacher at Doolen Middle School, said he understands the need for schools to tap into technology, and he uses computer software programs to help students work with reading, writing, spelling and speaking.

The kids who are successful at reaching the desired level have a chance to play an electronic game as a reward.

But Czekaj said he is gravely concerned about the content of some games, such as "Grand Theft Auto IV."

"Millions of males in the country, ages 7 to 37, are learning something," he said. "They're learning how to become homicidal sociopaths."

So far, he said, the gaming industry hasn't seemed as interested in sinking development money into games that will help students learn, although he thinks it's coming.

The library branches here that have teen gaming days use non-violent games rated "everyone" or "teen."

Danforth has an answer for many other concerns she's heard over the years.

The mouse-potato phenomenon? Set limits and make sure kids have a balance. Besides, some games, such as "Wii Sports" and "Dance Dance Revolution," revolve around physical activity.

Libraries aren't for entertainment, but for learning? Not everyone sees the intellectual value of romance novels, but that doesn't mean the library doesn't stock them.

And for kids, it's important that they speak the language of their peers so they aren't stuck on the wrong side of the digital divide.

"Games are the medium of choice for the millennial generation, and for libraries to ignore that would be foolish," Danforth said.

There is still plenty of room for traditional games, too.

Brian Gross, a 53-year-old IBM engineer, has run a "Lord of the Rings" role-playing game at the Dusenberry-River branch for the past year.

Electronic games are complex and interesting, he said. But they all share the same inherent flaw: They can only do what the planners designed them to do.

So when he told his group of preteens that one of their Hobbit friends had been unjustly framed for livestock rustling while the troll who did it roamed free, he watched as they got down to plotting how to break him out of prison.

They settled on creating a diversion with a fake argument while slipping lock picks to the Hobbit.

"The online and computer games seem to have taken over, but there are strengths to table-top games," Gross said.

"They're limited only by the imagination of the player and the person running the game."