SOUTH BEND -- A large-screen TV showing the Notre Dame football game Saturday afternoon appeared to be getting the most attention in the Sights and Sounds section of the St. Joseph County Public Library. But, on most days, the bookshelves on both sides of the big-screen are usually what attract the most people. One shelf is dedicated to dozens of Nintendo Wii games, while the other holds Xbox games. Since the library began renting out video games for the two systems in September 2008, officials say it has steadily grown in popularity. Renting video games at libraries nationwide has become more commonplace in recent years. Buchanan District Library also does it.

At the downtown St. Joseph County Public Library, there are about 150 different titles to choose from and about 300 total games, up from 58 when the program started. On most days -- with Saturday being no exception -- well over half of the games were gone. On average, between 350 and 400 games are rented out per month, said Julie Hill, manager of the Sights & Sounds section. "It's been working out really well for us," Hill said. Dawn Schoolman brought her three kids to the library Friday afternoon to rent a Wii game. The Schoolmans have had the Wii game system for a month and find renting games from the library economical. Buchanan has been renting out video games for about two years. The library offers games for Wii, PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. "Kids coming in sort of started a dialogue about it, so we sort of thought this was a need in the community," said Kate Scheid, director of the library. "We have a lot of adults that use this as well. I think it has been pretty popular."

Buchanan allows its members to rent up to two games at a time for one week. Scheid said there hasn't been a problem getting the rentals back on time. At certain times of the week, the library also offers slots for people to play the games on the Wii system it purchased a while back. Meanwhile, the downtown branch of the St. Joseph County library system is the only one that offers game rentals. Two months ago, a decision was made to limit the number of game rentals from five to two. Games can be rented for up to five days at $1 a day. The number is being reduced because a number of games haven't been returned, according to Hill. Patrons must be at least 18 years old to check out a video game. Hill said the change has worked out well. Staff writer Tom Moor: tmoor@sbtinfo.com (574) 247-7756