The Library as Playground: How Games and Play are Reshaping Public Culture

by Dale Leorke, Danielle Wyatt

Digital and analog games have long served modern public libraries as educational tools and as drawcards for new patrons – from dedicated gaming zones and children’s spaces to Minecraft gaming days, makerspaces, and virtual reality collections. Much has been written about the role of games and play in libraries’ programming and collections. But their wider role in transforming libraries as public institutions remains unexplored. In this book, the authors draw on ethnographic research to provide a rich portrait of the intersection between games, play, and public libraries. They look at how games and play are increasingly spilling out of designated zones within libraries and beyond their walls, as part of a broader reconfiguration and “reimagining” of libraries in the digital era. The library’s association with play has historically been understood through its classification as a “third place”: somewhere to relax, socialise and experiment outside of the utilitarian demands of work and home. But far from just offering patrons an opportunity for detached leisure, this book illustrates how libraries are connecting games and play to policies agendas around their municipality’s economic and cultural development. Attending to the institutionalisation of play, the book sheds new light both on the contradictions at the heart of play as a theoretical concept, and what libraries are in contemporary public life.

164 pages, Hardcover

Published April 13, 2022

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting perspective of libraries which is important to consider. Examples were mostly from Finland and Victoria with few others. This is a comment rather than a criticism. Very interesting examples of play and libraries. Useful references to explore more about play, libraries and games.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

The library continues to be an ever-reaching space of community and culture.
How can the library continue to shift and mold itself into a place of play and gaming.
It doesn't have to be as elaborate as VR or as immersive as creating an indoor interactive STEM wall for young learners, but there are options.
Whether it be Minecraft or simply creative an immersive space for play/exploration/fun, Dale's book does a great job of addressing this.
Now, for obvious reasons, the book does tend to show off the super fancy offerings of certain libraries who are incorporating play in a BIG way, which can feel a bit disheartening. It does provide plenty of examples of incorporated play that will get the cogs turning for every public, private and even school library that serves a youth audience.

The pictures and programs really make me want to integrate all of these ideas into reality at my library.
What will you add to bring an element of play?

[Bill]

My review for this book appears in ALA CHOICE magazine in early 2023.