Please Support IAML's Library Center Expansion

mclemore

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IAM Library – Arcade/Videogame Exhibition and Library Center Expansion

In short, let's grow the (physical) International Arcade Museum Library into a full museum.

As many of you know, and a few of you don't, the 501(c)3 non-profit International Arcade Museum Library was legally created on 09/09/09 as way to support the preservation of arcade and video game history, and opened its doors in 2010. It has a full board of directors and board of advisors (both groups unpaid).


We have raised over $35,000 to date for the Library, which currently has two chief goals:

- To support a major exhibition to be held in Southern California, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and/or Chicago

- To finance a fully interactive museum and library facility to replace our small library and exhibit center located in Pasadena, California.

Long term, a full 'done right' arcade and video game museum could easily be a multi-million dollar project. Let's build it in progressive steps. It begins with a foundation of moral and financial support from the collector community, and then follows with the support of the public at large, local communities, government, and business. The library was the first step in that direction, and our efforts are beginning to bear fruit. World leading archives and collections of arcade and video game history have been lined up. The next step can be a major exhibition and/or a transitional facility.


Special thanks to all the donors already


We ask for your support to make this dream a reality. The world's ready for it now.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/index.php
 
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A lot of people have asked how they can help out. There are quite a number of ways, be it being a moderator, manual uploader, image queue helper, text submission helper, tech section coordinator (any volunteers), forum tech question answerer, etc., etc. etc.

There is also financial help. We've received emails from members asking how they can help this site out financially. Help wise, the site needs volunteer help the most, and the more we can get the more we can do here.

While money can buy help, and we spend some (ie: image cropping for the main database) overall volunteer labor is the backbone of this site. Changes to how we administer the main database have helped and will likely continue to do so as we improve the processes here (and come up from under the submission backlog).

I've asked members wishing to make a financial contribution to consider contributing to the non-profit instead, and towards the goal of creating a special exhibition and towards a real arcade and videogame museum.

At least 47 forum members have already donated $10 or more over the last 5 months alone, and as the non-profit is the official charity of this site, we're going to start recognizing their contributions on here immediately.

(Some of you noticed and posted about these IAML donor icons when they appeared very briefly a month ago...same thing).

Thanks for your support,

Greg
(on behalf of our Directors, Advisors, Supporters, Donors, and the dream...)
 
I find a wealth of knowledge and information in this site, and I like to support that. This is a good community and, to me, deserves our support. I think the moderatiors are fair and balanced, and do a good job with this site.

I was happy to donate. I don't have alot of spare time that I would be able to donate, so I did it monetarily. I realise not everyone can do this, especially in this economic climate, but maybe there are other ways to help.

I think this is a great cause. An arcade museum would be a great thing, although it will likely be way too far away from me, LOL.

Thanks to Greg and ALL that make this a great forum.

Chris
 
I am happy to help out as much as I can. This place has been a great resource to me and a lot of fun. :)

If I were more of a tech guy, I would gladly help in that respect, but it isn't my field of expertise. :(
 
Thank you herbertsmart, and thank you john2654, and of course thank you to everyone that donated already.
 
I've been torn about 'donor benefits' on these forums.

On one hand I want to encourage people to donate to the official charity and reward people that step up and contribute, and on the other hand I'm very sensitive to the fact that not everyone is in a position to step up financially, or if so, at the same level.

I've basically gone with the plan to try and give donors some recognition here, and some extra benefits...the benefits being extra functionality or the chance to 'beta' or 'test' features before they role out or that I'm thinking about making permanent (thus, not all 'test' benefits may stay forever, though don't worry, animated avatars aren't going anywhere).

Besides the animated avatars, there are some other minor test features that are live for donors that I think I better mention before users discover and post about them. I'll do it in a new sticky in a few minutes.

I was hesitant to mention these benefits because I really people donate because they believe in the cause, not because they want the feature. It's one of the reasons the features are being tested sparingly, and spread out at each level (at levels higher than what one would hopefully ever 'buy' a feature at).

I have tried to make the most wanted features available at the lowest levels. At $10 it's recognition, at $20 its the animated avatars which is the request I probably hear most often. At higher levels its options that either few or no one has asked me for.

That's a few thoughts.
 
Just wondering about something and would like a bit of clarification. This may be spelled out somewhere, but do these donations go to support the online site? Or your museum that you have in Pasadena? For instance, do you actually purchase rare arcade games for your collection with this money? Or is it to keep these forums up-to-date and running smoothly? Or some combination of those?
 
To answer your questions, funds raised do not go to me. It's quite the opposite. I have and continue to donate significant time, money, and resources to this vision. Both I and other collectors have already offered to provide key pieces for display exhibits.

Donations go to the International Arcade Museum Library, which is an IRS approved 501(c)3 public charity. There are standard legal rules concerning charities and their operation.

This non-profit is run by five fiscally conservative directors (which all serve without compensation), of which I am one:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/library-boards.php

In short, the Library is working towards facility expansion, public exhibition, preservation, and providing related services.

These donations do not go to keep the encyclopedia or forums running. I in essence support those functions in many ways, and the key to keeping them running is volunteer labor and a user interface that makes database updates easy etc.

The Library can use funds for supporting its Library web pages. For example, if the Library got permission to put up 10,000 PDFs of a 1980s video gaming magazine, we would consider undertaking such a project. The non-profit has not spent any funds on its web pages to date.

Labor is donated, and so is the small facility where it is currently located so there hasn't been any facility related expenses yet.

While the library could purchase an artifact for its holdings, nothing has shown up that has been deemed to be the best use of limited Library funds.

While putting on a public exhibition is becoming within reach of this non-profit, a permanent exhibit space of stature is going to take substantial work and development. To operate a facility of note, but smaller than say the Computer History Museum, could clearly require tens of thousands of dollars monthly if costs included having to pay for its space. Thus we are and will continue to explore different avenues of community support while working on a plan to build up the non-profit's reserves. Having significant space donated to or purchased by the non-profit is likely key to long term viability.

The Library's current objectives are listed on the library home page:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/

On the 'Vision' page:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/vision.php

And on the 'About Library' page:
http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/about-library.php

Greg
 
Thanks for the clarification Greg. So is this separate from Penny Arcadia? It's not an arcade museum but more of a library of material related to arcades? I see pictures of arcade games on the library page. Are you saying none of those were funded through donations to the library? Obviously I'm still confused since you have so many different things going on. Just wondering how they all fit together.
 
Thanks for the clarification Greg. So is this separate from Penny Arcadia? It's not an arcade museum but more of a library of material related to arcades? I see pictures of arcade games on the library page. Are you saying none of those were funded through donations to the library? Obviously I'm still confused since you have so many different things going on. Just wondering how they all fit together.

None of the machine you see on the photos you refer to were funded through the donations to the library as in cash being spent. Items can be donated themselves. For example, the Ixiom prototype was donated by its designer. Also, multiple collectors have expressed a willingness to loan items for exhibition (even long term exhibition) so having things to display isn't the challenge in having the Library 'grow up'.

Why is the library a library? First, it is focused on an area preservation that needs to occur. Secondly, which might be closer to what you are asking about, it has to do with practicality.

This library project is sort of like 'training wheels' for a museum. Operating a library is much less expensive and complex than operating a museum, which could easily require a budget of tens of thousands of dollars per month.

Many libraries have museum exhibits and many museums have libraries.

If only forum members donated, the Library would always be a library with some extra exhibits and some temporary exhibitions. The more outside support there is, the more the library can 'grow up'. Whether or not it ever becomes the next 'Computer History Museum' [Google for those that don't know what that is] is based on whether society deems its worth supporting at that level.

If you still have more questions, it's probably more efficient to have a phone chat.


Greg, Just donated, very happy to be able to come here for questions, answers, and just to BS. Thank you sir.

Thank you for your support!

So uhh - how long does it usually take to get yer berries? lol

Officially, currently it can take as much as a week since its a manual process, though in reality its taking 1/2 to 3 days right now.

Hopefully in the next month it will be more automated in which case 95% of the people would see the credit within a few minutes.

Just donated. Thanks for all the hard work, Greg. It's the least I can do. For me, the hobby and VAPS/KLOV go hand-in-hand. :)

Thank you, and everyone else that is supporting this endeavor.
 
Another donor suggestion - Ability to see who wrote what tags. Seems to fit in with your other benefits, and you have a few gaps still $100 level for example.

Also knowing (a few) others could see who made the tags might slow some of the anonymous (except to mods) insults in the tags.
 
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