Bournemouth Library. Photo © Bournemouth Borough Council
libraries in schools, universities, hospi- tals, military bases and even the British Library have taken part.
Games for learning
For public libraries, games can be used to support most of Libraries Con- nected’s Universal Offers, not just the Universal Culture Offer in which board games are specifically listed.2
Word
games and storytelling games can be used to support literacy programmes and books connected to popular games franchises can encourage reluctant readers to read for pleasure. Digital skills can be supported through games development events and wider learning objectives encouraged through the careful selection of games. Board games can be used to bring diverse communities together and help combat social isolation.3
Community ties
An example of a library service using games to connect communities is Somerset libraries who have partici- pated in International Games Week for a number of years. In 2018, they ran events across four of their librar- ies – Priorswood, Somerton, Taunton
March 2019
and Yeovil. They regularly run traditional gaming events such as Mahjong, Scrabble and chess, primarily aimed at an older audience in libraries across Somerset. They have also established a monthly Board Game day event at Taunton library with the help of local Taunton Games group and Friends of Taunton Library. This caters for all the community with players aged from six to 60-plus. Relief Development Officer Christina Evans explains how they have benefited from the International Games Week “The week was a great way to show how gaming can bring communities together. Using games in libraries is a great way to strengthen community ties, by helping to build events that our local communi- ties want and help support their usage of our libraries. Games also are a tool to help reduce isolation and loneliness in Somerset – these events bring our com- munities together and to interact with one another.”
International Games Week – Nottingham
Nottingham City libraries participated in International Games Week for the
first time in 2018, as part of their wider games-based project – Storysmash, an Arts Council-funded project aimed at improving literacy and digital skills in 11- to 25-year-olds by teaching them to create interactive fiction games using the free software Twine. The wider project included workshops and masterclasses with a range of authors, games writers and scriptwriters including Charlie Higson and Ian Livingstone and a variety of video and tabletop gaming events. Specifically aimed at attracting new audiences, their Interna- tional Games Week event at Nottingham Central library included a range of tabletop games and Artemis Space Bridge Simula- tor, a multiplayer spaceship simulator.
Surrey
Another public library service utilising interactive fiction to teach writing and cod- ing skills to the public is Surrey Libraries. They have run interactive fiction writing workshops for adults, children (including looked after children), library staff, and creative writing tutors. Alongside these workshops they also run game jams, events in which individuals or groups create games in a set time period. The most suc- cessful of these events, Gothic Novel Jam
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