Last May, I spoke at the Bike Windsor Essex’s Pecha Kucha portion of their AGM. Today I did another 20 slides @ 20 seconds each repping libraries.
Hello. My name is Mita Williams. I am a librarian at the Faculty of Law of the University of Windsor.
My talk is called Libraries deliver the freedom that games promise.
This talk is a 6 minutes and 40 seconds summary of a scholarly article called “Play Where You Are” that I wrote in 2022 that was published by The Journal of Play in Adulthood.
If you have an exceptional memory, you might remember that I alluded to this talk in my last presentation for Bike Windsor Essex back in May about library tourism.
My article argues the position that libraries should develop, host, and encourage the community-creation of location-based games.
It has been said that playing a game is a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles. Libraries are similar. They exist as a gift, waiting for you.
Games have been a part of libraries for a very long time.
A precursor to the public library was the Mechanics Institute, and the San Francisco Mechanics Institute Chess Club has been in existence since 1854.
The American Library Association along with several other international library associations celebrate International Games Month each November.
It exists “to reconnect communities through their libraries around the educational, recreational, and social value of all types of games.
To support and celebrate games, some libraries hold their own gaming conventions. The Ann Arbor District Library hosted a lovely Game Con in 2024 at which they invited one of my favourite game designers, Avery Alder to speak.
Some of the most beloved games people play – Wordle, The New York Times Crosswords, Scrabble – are made of words.
The Toronto Public Library and The British Library (in real London) have both hosted the Wordplay Festival, which was dedicated to writing and words in contemporary games.
The New York Public Library celebrated their 100th anniversary of their main branch by commissioning a game from designer Jane McGonigal, which had 500 lucky players allowed to spend the night in the building as they wrote a book together from the game they played.
Getting back to my paper: In it, I wanted to explore how libraries use games to get people outside of the library and into their communities.
I am the not only one who is interested in this admitted niche topic. On screen is a book on this same subject published in 2020 by MIT Press.
In my paper, I look at a small set of games employed by libraries in this way and I assessed them using Scott Nicholson’s SNAKS model [PDF].
Scott Nicholson is a professor of Game Design at Wilfrid Laurier University. He’s done great work in board gaming and in escape room design.
The first game that I examine is Pokémon GO! which people still play. At the time when this game came out, many libraries supported those playing this game with special events.
Back in 2016, I was part of a group that helped teach kids and adults how to map local Pokémon GO stops.
The second “game” that I assessed for suitability for library-supported play was the “game” of Geocaching.
At that time, the Toronto Public Library had forty caches hidden at forty of their branches for residents to find. It doesn’t look like TPL runs this anymore.
And the last game that I shared in my paper – and to be totally honest – the real reason why I wrote this paper in the first place, was Ann Arbor District Library’s The Summer Game.
( TO AUDIENCE: How many people here know about The Summer Game? How many have played the game from home? )
The Summer Game started as a reading challenge, but that didn’t work very well so in 2011 it pivoted to a library using game.
Players could still get points from reading books, but also included going to events, using the library’s website, and discovering all the things that the library has to offer. The game took off and each year it grew.
“Points can be redeemed in the library shop for T-shirts, umbrellas and other merchandise, such as a very popular stuffed plushie animal that’s updated every year. (The 2025 animal is a small flamingo.)
In the COVID years, the game transitioned from The Summer Game to The Bummer Game, in which special game codes had to be placed outside.
This part of the game still continues. Now residents of Ann Arbor can offer their own Summer Game code lawn sign for players to visit and claim for points.
It is difficult to convey how popular this game is. Ann Arbor is a city of 160,000 people. More than 10% of the city played the game this summer. More than half the players of The Summer Game are adults.
The heart of the game is the same. To celebrate reading, using the library, and learning about the community.
I’m almost at the end of my talk. We are in the final seconds.
If you would like to try a location-based game I made for Jane’s Walk 2022, you can find it at my very modest game design page, copystar.itch.io.
If you would like to know more about how fostering play can restore your self and your community, there are many wonderful open access articles for you to discover and many books available about games that you can find at your local library.
And before I leave I should let you know at every first Wednesday of the month is games night at the Central Library Branch of the Windsor Public Library.
