Nestled in the basement of the Duderstadt Center is the Computer and Video Game Archive, managed by librarian David Carter.
Shelves line the back wall, holding 6,000 different video games. A large television is in the corner where a student sits, controller in hand, engaged in beating the level. Old and new computers with 60 different gaming systems surround the room.
It’s a gaming enthusiast’s dream.
“If you come here on a Friday afternoon, this place is packed,” Carter says.
Carter’s position has evolved over time. He came to U-M in 1988 to earn his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, continuing on to earn his master’s from the School of Information in library science.
He worked at the library as a student, first hourly then as a university library associate. Leaving the library system for about seven years, Carter worked for the School of Information on the Internet Public Library project.
He returned to the library in 2002 as an engineering librarian, though his position has evolved over time. Today he works at the Art, Architecture and Engineering Library at the Duderstadt Center as a video game archivist, programming librarian and reference librarian.
Carter has several major areas of responsibility and he says there is no such thing as a typical day for him. He coordinates reference services for the AAEL, working as part of a library-wide team to answer any questions people may have. He manages three graduate student university library associates. He also teaches a digital research class through LSA.
Another large component of Carter’s job is the Computer and Video Game Archive, which he and some colleagues proposed and created. Carter does the collection development and strategic direction for the archives, as well as outreach, instruction and management related to them.
He also does collection development for the library, buying the comic books, graphic novels, and video games for their collections. Originally managed by the art librarian, the comic collection was handed over to Carter after he helped her decide which books to buy due to his personal interest in comics and graphic novels.
He laughs at the idea of being a “comic book expert.”
“I’ve been reading comics forever, so I’ve got a good feel for what’s going to be worth getting for the collection.”
In addition to those responsibilities, Carter works on many special projects and library initiatives. One such project includes an annual pre-conference for the Ann Arbor District Library’s “Kids Read Comics” convention, in which librarians, educators, cartoonists and others come together for a day and explore how to bring comic books into the classroom, use them in teaching, and how to get kids interested in drawing and expressing themselves.
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Another project is “Mini-Comics Day,” where students and local cartoonists come together to create mini-comics for a day.
In addition, Carter and his colleagues are putting together a symposium on gender and gaming this fall, capitalizing on a popular topic of discussion in the gamer-sphere.
Though his job keeps him busy, Carter finds time to sing bass with the Ann Arbor Civic Chorus for fun. Although, he can’t deny that his job is fun, too.
“It’s funny that my job is dealing with comic books and video games,” Carter laughs. “If you would have told 12-year-old me, I would have been like, ‘You can get paid for that?'”
