Last week was a busy week. I posted two posts that caught my attention. The first one was a LinkedIn post (recommended by Bill Gates) and this one about Creating eLearnign Games with Unity. The post was a tweet from the handle @TriLearning. other post that I found intriguing is from Twitter. The handle brands itself as a leading internet resource for trainers and instructional designers and has a website: Tri-Learning.com. The tweet was to promote a book Creating eLearning Games with Unity with the purchase occurring on Amazon.com. It's a book that focuses on teaching eLearning practitioners how to develop 3D eLearning games using gamication, system design, and gameplay programming techniques. It's written for the novice user and provides an easy-to-follow guide and source code. As a user, the book recommends having a basic understanding of Unity scripting and the Finite State Machine.
The author, David Horachek, has thirteen years in the business with video game development in a variety of platforms: arcade, home consoles, and handheld games.Â
I found this article post to be informative, even though it was a post to buy something.
I was intrigued to learn more about this language and create some really cool eLearning material for my job. However, I requested the book from the Denver Public Library through their request portal, since they don't currently carry it. I received the following reply from the Denver Public Library Collection Development Office:
Hello --
Since this title is 5+ years old, and in the computer field, we did not want to purchase it because it will likely soon be dated. No other libraries own this title, which is also an indication that this is not a book that has great demand. Since it is not owned anywhere,we are not able to borrow it. We hope this information is useful.
I found their response subjective and also filed with false statements. First, the book is not even four years old (punished May 2014). Second, a library in Wyoming does carry it -- hence the request. Third, their statement of being subjective in purchase is interesting for a public library that is suppose to encourage public consumption of knowledge. Fourth, as a public entity, they offered no assistance in other books of similar topics; which questions if they themselves know what the book is about or simply checked a box without properly researching the content.
Summation of the service I received from Denver Public Library: LAZY, SCRIPTED, and UNINFORMATIVE. #GovernmentAtItsBest
It's interesting how this blog about a book tweet turned into a bad customer experience. You can only hope that the Denver Public Library doesn't do this type of activity on a daily basis to its customers because that is shameful.
