2023-06-09 SPLAT Curiosity Report: Volume 14, Issue 4
Featured Story
Games in Our Libraries
For many of us, the memory of renting video games and movies from the local movie place (Blockbuster, Hollywood Video, a mom-and-pop video store, etc.) and getting that treat of trying out a new game your friends were talking about, attempting to beat as many levels as you could before you had to return it on Monday, is one of happiness. As time has marched on and people could buy their own games to keep in their own homes, sadly those fun stores have closed. The ability to test drive games for a low price is thought to be lost.
But it is not lost. Local libraries across the country have been curating video game selections for years. Surprised? I know I was when I found out. Not only are libraries checking out video games (for FREE) some libraries also have amazing collections of board games. These games are not just the simple games of Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders but cover a wide range of from simple party-style games to intense strategy or intrigue genres.
Here at the University of Idaho Library, we have curated a board game collection that began with a small budget of $500 and a stack of donated games. From there, the collection has grown over the years. We actively take suggestions for what to add to our inventory from our patrons into consideration when the annual meeting of the board game standing group is underway. The UI Library works with one of our local game stores, Safari Pearl, for our annual purchase of games. By doing this we can support a female-owned local business and obtain a discount on purchases.
Our Board Game Standing Group has also established partnerships on the University’s Moscow, Idaho campus. These partnerships have been with the Vandal Gaming Convention (previously named Vandal Overnight Gaming) and the Tabletop Gaming Club. At the gaming convention we make our games available for students to play – games they may never have tried before. Our partnership with the Tabletop Gaming Club has been remarkably successful. Through our partnership, we can pass on our discount at the local gaming store so they can purchase gaming books for use with their club. We also partnered with them to co-host a large one-off Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) event. The club brought premade characters for people to use in one-off introductory adventures to get introduced to D&D, and we helped promote the event to the community. This opportunity gave our students, who had always wanted to try out D&D, an opportunity to play. There ended up being three distinct groups playing for hours at the event and we are looking forward to planning another event with them in the future.
As an extension to the game collection, puzzles have recently been added to our inventory. These started with a small set of non-circulating puzzles the library had in stock already in the staff break room where a few staff would work on them in the staff room here and there on breaks. During the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was socially distancing, and the library had to cancel so many in-person events, a few of our librarians had the idea to put out a couple of puzzles for the patrons to work on. This was enormously popular. Soon patrons asked if they could check the puzzles out and we would loan them out even though the puzzles were not in the library’s inventory. That interest in the puzzles has continued to increase to the point that they have now been added to the library’s actual inventory and can be officially checked out by patrons.
Games in libraries, from video to board, are underrepresented resources. This is something that any demographic and background can enjoy and make use of as part of their community experience at their library. We can now share a small measure of that giddy excitement of trying out a new game with the next generation.
By Jessica Fleener
Fail Forward
We’ve all been there. You pour your heart into a program, and no one shows up. You try something new, and you fall on your face. Sound familiar? Fail Forward is the place to share your failures, and give you the opportunity to share what you learned from them. Did you promote your program in a different way after no one showed up? Maybe you took a new approach to the new thing you were excited about? Awesome! Share your story via our online form so others can learn, and realize that failure is often part of the process.
The Right Hand Doesn’t Know What the Left is Thinking
My library recently visited an elementary school during a reading promotion event. We sent the school library card applications ahead of time, so students could get their own library cards during the event. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication my coworker and I believed that the applications would be waiting for us at the school. But the school had already returned them to our library and their teachers thought we would bring finished cards with us.
The mix-up didn’t become apparent until after the event started. As a workaround, we gave each student a blank library card, after writing down their name and the card number. After the event we paired the names with their completed applications and finished creating the accounts. That way students were able to walk away with their own library cards, none the wiser about our mistake.
By Simon Clifford
Crush Corner
Is there a library you follow on social media who is always doing new and exciting things? How about a blog you follow that inspires you? What about a new idea, book, or resource that you want to share? Library Crush Corner is a place for those working in Idaho libraries to share what inspires them, and who or what they’re crushing on… in a professional sense. Share your story via our online form so we can publish it in a future issue!
Mountain View Public Library, Mountain View, CA
When I lived in Silicon Valley I was a library student and my husband was also going to school. For the first couple of years that I lived in the Bay Area, I did my studying at a variety of libraries. We only had one car and sometimes we would carpool, especially since I was doing all of my education online. One of my favorite libraries to study at was the Mountain View Public Library.
I love this library’s architecture. The huge rooms are great and at least one of the rooms was dedicated as a quiet study area, so it was just peaceful and an easy environment to study in. I loved looking out the window in between writing discussion posts or textbook reading. I wish I had more time to explore more of the levels and areas, but I only could get in a couple hours of work at a time and the quiet space was so great for focus that I would very rarely leave my spot early.
I would often imagine myself working at one of these amazing libraries
and I finally did get to work at not one, but three amazing libraries in San Jose! Dreams sometimes do come true! I had also recently talked to someone from the Mountain View library about our makerspace as they were planning on getting something for their library. I think they must have figured out a solution that worked for their location, as I see on the website that there is a bookmobile calendar and it makes regular stops at various locations. I was so honored to have a conversation about outreach vehicles with someone from one of my favorite libraries in what seems like a past life.
The most interesting thing I read on the city website was the Safe Parking Lot MOVE Mountain View program which provides, “a pathway to housing through safe parking and intensive case management in Mountain View and Palo Alto, CA.” Check it out if you have time.
References:
https://www.movemv.org/
https://www.mountainview.gov/depts/comdev/preservation/living_in_vehicles_and_homeless_information.asp
By Monique Gaddy
SPLAT explores the ever-evolving library world and supports library folks as they adapt to meet the needs of their communities. Library folk throughout the state of Idaho volunteer to serve on the Special Projects Library Action Team (SPLAT). Learn more about SPLAT at https://libraries.idaho.gov/splat/
SPLAT is brought to you by the Idaho Commission for Libraries and was made possible, in part, by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LS-246156-OLS-20). The views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.