A University of Calgary student tries her hand at a classic video game in the school's library on Monday. The library says its video game collection will be the biggest in an academic setting in the country when it's unveiled next year. (CBC)

Plato, Shakespeare, Freud ... Lara Croft: Tomb Raider?

The fictional archaeologist-adventurer isn't so out of place as you might think, as the University of Calgary library will soon unveil the largest collection of video games for academic study in the country.

The Interactive Digital Media Collection will help students learn in a whole new way, the university believes.

"Most people think of video games as frivolous or just for entertainment or just for fun," said librarian Jerremie Clyde.

"So bringing them into a library, [you get] the same criticisms you'd have for movies or a television or even fiction — it's not work, it's not scholarly, it's not study — but of course they're great objects of study."

'It certainly makes coming to the library cooler'

The University of Calgary is installing six PC stations through which to play games on newer consoles such as the PlayStation 3. The collection will also boast half a wall of retro games reaching back to the '80s, many of which were all the rage before many U of C students were even born.

Students will gain access to the games and controllers by using their ID or library cards.

"Well, it certainly makes coming to the library cooler, and it's one more excuse not to study during finals," said student Tom Schlodder.

"It's another distraction. I come to the library because it's a place where I don't have Nintendo or PlayStation or anything like that. It's a place I come to work," said student Chris McMillan.

The academic community says studying games — and gamers — is a unique way to take a look at our culture.

"If people are interested in talking about feminist theory through looking at something like The Bachelor or looking at Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, then you have to be able to talk about feminist theory in that context," said communications and culture professor Dawn Johnston.

"It's no good to say 'no, we're going to sit down and talk about things the way we've always talked about them.'"

Simon Fraser University has a few video games for study, but the University of Calgary says its will be the first academic library in Canada to have such a full collection.

The collection will be completed next spring, with the grand opening the following fall.