OSSINING - Loud music blasted from the top floor of the Ossining Public library. In the basement, about 60 kids roared, yelled and stomped.

A librarian went from one room to the other.

But she wasn't "shushing" the kids. She was searching for more batteries for them.

Dusty tomes took a back seat to high-def, high-volume video games tonight as the library took part in a coast-to-coast National Gaming Day sponsored by the American Library Association.

While video games are often criticized as taking kids away from the knowledge that can be had in books, the ALA says gaming in a library encourages socialization in a setting that is geared toward learning.

Socialization and knowledge might be the goal for the adults who came up with the idea. But it was the games that brought the kids.

Nicole Zavarella and Kieran Colleran, both 17, said the last place they'd usually be on a Saturday night was at the library - and they work there. But there they were, hoping their score would be good enough to hold up for second place in the Guitar Hero competition on the library's top floor.

"Guitar Hero," Colleran said, "it's just like, so..."

"Amazing," Zavarella interjected.

"It's addicting," he said.

Librarians are hoping the video games they played on big screens tonight might lead some of the participants to become repeat patrons at the library, and to sample some of its other offerings: compact discs, videos and, yes, books.

"It's a great opportunity to bring people into the library who may not normally come into the library," said Tamara Stewart, the library's teen services co-ordinator.

Libraries have gone multimedia in a big way in recent years, she said. CDs and DVDs outstrip books in terms of circulation. And libraries that offer video games for circulation do a brisk business, she said.

"Circulation statistics don't lie," she said. "Today's library is not the library of your childhood."

In the basement theater, the Smash Brothers Brawl video game was played on a jumbo screen with four players at a time occupying the chairs in front of the screen while everyone else screamed at every kick and knockout.

A bank of computers on the first floor was packed with Halo players. Guitar Hero rockers packed a room on the third floor. A dozen other kids were in the next room, where Wii was the attraction.

More than 70 kids were in the library an hour after its usual closing time. The noise from the gamers bounced off the stacks of books all around the building.

But come Monday, it will be back to normal at the library. The calm will return. So will the quiet.

"Noise," Colleran said, "is frowned upon."