Mycelial Libraries (or, My Silly Libraries)

I enjoyed the opportunity to draft a proposal for a Library Game Night for my Strategy & Roadmap report last week. It was helpful to get some of my ideas  on the page where they could be scrutinized and reorganized as necessary. Now I feel even more prepared to get the ball rolling in my library — fingers are crossed!

The resonance and overlap between games and stories is obvious even on their face: games, as often as not, are propelled by narratives, be they supplied by the content and “game world” of one in particular, as in classic boardgames like Catan, Risk, or Candyland; stories are also created merely by the act of playing, in something as simple and abstracted as chess or poker. There’s not plot or storyline in these games, but as we go through the motions of play and feel the tension and release of competition, there is still a narrative being woven and expanded, even if we do not realize it.

Games allow us to live out stories–timeless, strange, fantastical, even horrific–and to create stories of our own. In no medium is this intimate, interwoven relationship between games and stories more essential than tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs). Epitomized by now-classic titles likes Dungeons & Dragons and Pathfinder, the form is currently enjoying a boom unparalleled even by its initial rise to power in the 70s and 80s, heralded largely by independent publishers pushing their own systems that serve either as loveletters to the early heavy-hitting titles, or as radical departures in form and content — or somewhere in-between.

Dungeons and Dragons, 1st edition. TSR Games (D&D is now published by Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro). Cover.

Pathfinder, 1st edition. Paizo Games. Cover.

At their roots, TTRPGs are games rooted in imagination. Random chance and some player skill also feature prominently, but the heart of these games lie in the players’ abilities to use their wits to navigate the environments and hazards they are greeted with. Dice rolls should never outweigh a player’s cunning and ingenuity.

In essence, these games are a living story told in dialogue between the Game-Master/Dungeon-Master (GM/DM) and the players-characters (PCs), who together compose “the table”. There are no boundaries except those negotiated between GMs and PCs, nothing is impossible (but that the dice say is so), and the rules are as flexible as the table wants them to be.

Since early June, I have been running a weekly TTRPG table on Thursday afternoons for Teens while they’re out of school. A coworker of mine is doing the same on Monday evenings. She runs 5th edition D&D, whereas I run a newer system named Shadowdark which seeks to emulated the high-risk, high-reward dungeon crawling of Old-School D&D. Attendance has been all over the place: I got 10 players the first week, and four the next. Some weeks see no players at all. The silver lining of an empty table, though, is a solid two-hour opportunity for me to devote myself to TTRPG session prep and nothing else! 

Shadowdark RPG’s “Player Quickstart Guide”, which is available as a free pdf online! The Arcane Library. Cover.

Though geared towards and advertised for teens, I’ve had players from 9 to thirty-something join in the fun. The best part: ever player, of every age, brings something different to the table. It is my responsibility and solemn duty as GM to meet all players where they are at, make whatever they imagine at least a possibility if not a reality, and to see them strive and hopefully succeed within the game world.

And by the grace of the gods we have been successful! Whether a session has had one player, or eight, my players have gamely met the challenges I have thrown at them: rats and traps in dark cellars, a bog witch hiding in the city sewers, toxic mushroom spores, and numerous other hazards both environmental and monstrous. Not once, blessedly, have I heard a groan or a gripe (at least not dramatic enough for me to recall).

I will not lie: it is a time-intensive endeavor. If your plate is full, as so many library staff’s plates are, then this is not the program to add to your roster. I’ve had to juggle a lot of things since making this part of my weekly program rotation, and have struggled with my fair share of deadlines as a result. But if you feel an itch for creativity and storytelling, and are looking for a program for potentially all-ages involvement as well as a dedicated following, this is the program for you!

I will say that one need not dive completely down the TTRPG rabbit-hole to leverage the narrative appeal of these games. A new subgenre has sprung up in recent years of “story games” that are less mechanics focused, instead positioning the narrative squarely as the focus of the game. I read online somewhere the  difference between TTRPGs and story games, put succinctly: in TTRPGs, the GM says “This happens,” and players say “I do this, I do this, and I do this;” in story games, the GM says “This happens,” and players say, “then this happens, then this happens, and then this happens.” The story unfolds in one continuous movement, rather than moment-to-moment or action-to-action, and it is not hampered by skill-checks, with randomness taking far less precedence than in your usual TTRPG. Indeed, many story games do not require GMs, or are “GM-agnostic”, meaning that the game can be played with or without a guiding referee figure.

As I shared in my Strategy and Roadmap report, the Heart of the Deernicorn has great resources in this area, particularly when it comes to story games. The have a wonderful list of game recommendations for community game nights, broken down by GM-requirements, prep time, and content/age restrictions. I trust their resources implicitly, seeing as they are both a critically awarded game development studio, as well as a long-time game night runner in their home city of Olympia, Washington.

Check them out, use or buy some of their stuff, support indie publishers, and have fun!

Roll high, and don’t die!

I was intrigued and entertained in equal measure perusing the colorful models for library services on offer in the “New Models” module for the Hyperlinked Library.

I also found the Q&A with Eric Klinenberg to be very intellectually fruitful, and even slightly frustrating when it came to certain service models in cities with an “anti-tax ideology” like San Jose. At first I couldn’t believe that San Jose’s public libraries would be cracking down on late fees, then I realized that this interview was from 2018 — in other words, pre-pandemic, and before the ALA’s landmark “Resolution on Monetary Library Fines as a Form of Social Inequity,” which hit the ground in 2019. Ever since then, there has been an avalanche of libraries, and other public institutions, that have ditched the fines and fees model altogether. A quick search online revealed SJPL is, in fact, fine-free as of 2024, which perhaps places it as one of the stragglers of major public libraries to have adopted such policies. Once I started investigating, I couldn’t help but trying to form a chronology of the fine-free library movement, chaining along the major libraries that have taken up the banner since the ALA’s radical rallying call in early 2019.

Nashville public libraries went fine-free way back in 2017, being at the time the the largest, most influential library system in the country to do so. Many other metropolitan library systems followed suit in the ensuing months, from San Diego, to Salt Like City, and most notably Chicago Public Libraries in September of 2019, the first of the “Big Three” most populous cities in the US to do so. Clearly the shockwaves were being felt from coast to coast, with Phoenix Public Library going the same route mere weeks later in November 2019, and Seattle Public Libraries on January 2nd, 2020, only a few months before COVID turned the country and the world completely upside down.

Indeed, for all the havoc it wreaked, the COVID era proved to be the nail in the coffin for most metropolitan-area libraries’ late fees: L.A. Public Library went fine free in Spring of 2020, as did the Free Library of Philadelphia, and in 2021 LA County Library and New York Public Library adopted the same model.

Now that the smoke has cleared somewhat, it seems there’s hardly a major public library system in the US that isn’t fine free! I assume at this point it comes down to the smaller regional libraries to keep the system in place; perhaps they’re just not willing to take the risk. Whether that comes down to not trusting their patrons enough, or being too strapped for cash, or whatever else, I can’t say.

For my part, I can say that the independent village library at which I work is fine-free, and is doing fine (pardon the pun). We don’t have a fancy webpage announcing as such, but we try to communicate the policy as loudly and often as possible — I can tell you that patrons really appreciate it!

 

 

 

What is the idea?

My plan is to implement an all-ages, family friendly game night at the library. Depending on staffing and schedule availability, this could be a weekly or bimonthly offering. My idea is to have it open to as many different game genres as possible, with patrons either bringing in their own or using those from the library’s collection, ranging from classic group games like bridge and mahjong to tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons or Pathfinder. I envision everyone from senior’s to toddlers with their parents and families taking part, each finding the game that speaks to them. We can’t forget about our teens and young adult audiences either–this service is for them, too! A game night would highlight the library’s status as a keystone of community engagement and connection.

(Full disclosure: this is a real-life program I’m trying to get started at my library in the Fall, so this assignment is a great opportunity for me to get all my ideas about it written down!)

Mission & Institutional Context

Broadview Public Library District’s Mission and Vision Statements are as follows, from our website:

Game Night at the library will serve both cultural and education functions, fulfilling both aspects of the library’s Mission statement. Furthermore, following the Vision statement, the resources made available at the Game Night may support patrons’ personal and collective learning journeys as well.

Action Brief Statement –  Label this section clearly—it’s a cornerstone of your strategy. Create an action brief of your own as part of this process focused on the user population you want to reach. For example: convince {a certain group} that by {utilizing the new or improved service or technology, etc} they will {discover a new or cool thing about the library or service} which will {create the outcome you are aiming for} because {this is what the library is about}. If part of your plan involves staff-buy in, write a second Action Brief statement for staff.

Convince Broadview residents and library patrons that by joining our Game Night, and contributing their own games and participation they will have a great time, meet new people, and learn new games which will strengthen their bonds as a community as well as their participation and engagement as library patrons because the library’s mission is to serve as both an educational and cultural hub, serving patrons at every stage of life.

Where did you find inspiration?

“The Heart of the Deernicorn“, an Olympia-based game studio that partners with library and educational institutions to present game nights and related programs, has a wealth of resources for getting a game night off the ground. Even better, they have a comprehensive list of games broken down by content, age groups, and themes that library programmers can tailor towards their audiences.

Guidelines & Policies

Of course, as with any public program, there have to be certain behavioral guidelines and policies in place. All participants would need to abide by the Library’s Code of Conduct, and games and content would need to be approved. Not everything would need to be family friendly, mind you, but library staff would need to make sure to have adult and teens separate from youth and family groups. I certainly wouldn’t want to bar the D&D group just because it includes violent themes for example–but let’s try to make it so that the toddlers can’t hear the description of the goblin’s head getting cut off…

At the same time, certain themes would be off-limits for any and all games and groups. While some degree of fantasy violence is tolerable in a library setting, anything with sexual themes or involving identity-based discrimination would be a strict no-no. A comprehensive list would be made by library staff and provided to participants; signs with this information would also be posted around the event.

Timeline for Implementation, Marketing 

Ideally, this program would need a handful of months in order to be fully fledged and ready for the public. In the early stages of preparation, for example, I would reach out to local game stores and similar venues to help market the activity, while also saying that the library gratefully offers any game supplies donation and would happily post any promotional material for the donor business or organization. Basic library partnership stuff to help build our audience and game collection!

Beyond that, flyers, newsletter blurbs, and social media posts would all be mobilized to help generate interest and participation in the community.

Time would also be required to order supplies through the proper budgeting channels; perhaps I would have to make several orders out of my own programming budget over several months, though the game collection could also be bolstered by collection development budgets if approved by the Library Services department. Ideally, patrons would also bring their own games, so it wouldn’t be entirely dependent on the library’s collection, though we would want to start off with a strong enough stockpile that Game Night could run without any game contributions from the public.

Staff Training & Readiness

I would want to communicate with coworkers to gauge their own personal interest and participation in this program. Some of them maybe have always wanted to try DMing, perhaps others are experienced Magic: The Gathering or Pokemon TCG players. Or maybe we just have a dedicated poker player who’s eager to teach others the rules!

With such a fun, free-form program, I like to think it wouldn’t take much to light a fire of enthusiasm amongst my coworkers. I don’t think that actual training would be necessary; if someone wanted to try something a little more challenging, like DMing, maybe I would share some resources them and encourage them to explore actual-play TTRPG podcasts like Critical Role,  Dimension 20, or Glass Cannon to get familiar with the style and format. Again, I am assuming that if they are volunteering to fill in these roles, then they have some familiarity with the game, its format, and the style assumed for running it. If not, that’s no problem: it makes for an exciting learning experience for them, and their players!

Evaluation & Future Expansion – What performance benchmarks or usage metrics will guide your evaluation? What success stories do you hope to tell? How will feedback be gathered and shared? How might the service grow or evolve over time?

Beyond the basic metric of how many participants register and show up to the program, it would be important to track the number of games brought to every session, as well as the average amount of time participants actually stay for the event; ideally we would have folks staying for the entire duration, whether that be an hour, two, or even more. We might boost registration and attendance by providing light snacks and drinks, as long as there is an understanding of cleanliness throughout the program.

“Heart of the Deernicorn” has a nice template for opening and closing circles for Game Nights which we would implement:

Introductions – 3 Things About Story Games (10 minutes):
Use these three simple principles to introduce the concept of story games. This segment is led by the host or experienced participants and is meant to demystify roleplaying games for newcomers and foster a welcoming atmosphere.

• 1) Games Are Like A Conversation: 
  • Emphasize that playing games involves the same skills used in conversations, such as listening, questioning, and collaboratively building on ideas. Remind participants to respect each other’s speaking turns.
• 2) Think Small:
  • Encourage participants to start with simple concepts and to pay attention to the details. Not every idea needs to be grandiose to be impactful.
• 3) X Card / Safety Tools:
  • Explain the purpose of safety tools and the X-Card, a simple tool allowing anyone to remove uncomfortable content without explanation, ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for all participants.

Pitches:

• Participants eager to play a specific game will take turns introducing themselves, present the game by holding it up, provide a short description, and mention the required number of players.
• Attendees will then select their preferred game from among the pitches, forming smaller groups to play.

Note: Pitch presenters should indicate if the game requires a Game Master (GM), specifying whether they can assume this role or if they are seeking someone with the necessary experience.

Closing Circle:

• Signal a 15-minute warning before regrouping everyone into a closing circle.
• Ask participants to reflect and go around the circle one at a time, sharing from these options:

-An experience they had
-An appreciation of another player
-Something that was challenging or difficult

I was genuinely touched, not to mention impressed, while reading the various articles in this module relating to State and Public Libraries Victoria, in Australia, and their initiatives regarding community wellbeing and combating loneliness. It is a standard for considerate, humane, community-oriented policy that I think any library should aspire to and try to incorporate into their mission, values, and vision statements. And that goes beyond public libraries, though of course it is of paramount importance to them: Academic, research, and other libraries serve communities too, of all shapes and sizes, and all have their role to play in combating the loneliness epidemic that we have all heard so much about over the last decade.

Indeed, the ways in which libraries help people feel less lonely, or give them a “booster shot” for their social immune system to protect against loneliness, are myriad. On the one hand, we provide community-oriented services and programs with the explicit intention of bringing people together and forging social connections. This can look like anything from book clubs, to communal arts and crafts, or yoga and meditation sessions: the only limitation is the creativity and imagination of the library. Establishing and strengthening social relationships is critical to helping combat feelings of loneliness and social isolation, and thereby helping to mitigate or prevent the avalanche of negative physiological and psychological outcomes that are so highly correlated with both, ranging from early mortality to risk of essentially all forms of dementia. Such robust findings paint this equation of loneliness’s lethality in a stark light and are enough to give anyone pause, and might just inspire you to go out and take up a new hobby to meet new people, or even just call a friend or family member to check-in — or start a new program at your local library!

But programming is not the only way for fostering feelings of social connection, and thereby mitigating feelings of loneliness. Research suggests that small moments of sociality can be as potent as more explicitly social experiences like spending time with friends or meeting new people. Pop psychology and wellness blogs helped coin the term “micro-moments“, while established researchers have begun to use write about “positivity resonance” and the importance of “weak ties” and “minimal social interactions” to an individual’s wellbeing.

You don’t have to be an expert in this field of research to see the applicability of these concepts to libraries and how they interact with their communities. It is inspiring to think that we provide the rich, fertile ground for so many different kinds of social connection and interaction. It’s hard not to extend this into a garden analogy: our public programs are like resplendent trees that spring forth bearing fruits and beautiful flowers, carrying obvious benefits; at the same time, there is lush, soft grass underneath, and beneath that are fungi, soil, and all manner of beneficial organisms, not cared for as painstakingly as the trees and flowers above, but no less critical to the beauty of the whole garden and to its flourishing. The foundational services we provide, our mere presence, is this ground. Just a warm smile or asking how someone’s day is can make all the difference to a person, to their day, and how they interact with others and the world generally going forward. I can certainly think of times when it has for me, where a comment or compliment has turned a bad day on its head. If a library is open 6 or 7 days a week, 8 hours a day or more, how many opportunities does that add up to? Working at public libraries, it isn’t long before you start to recognize the folks that have been patrons for decades, or the kids that literally grew up in the library. Before your eyes is the living tapestry of connections that are formed over the course of years as a library is embedded and interwoven within a community.

Before I wrap up this reflection post, I want to briefly introduce a topic that is not represented in this module’s materials, yet bears heavily upon their themes. Within the fields of sociality and loneliness research, an interesting new topic of study has emerged within recent years: solitude, and its possible positive effects as a foil (or counterpart/counterbalance) to loneliness. I had the privilege of doing a deep dive into this burgeoning area of study during my final year of study at Reed College, culminating in my Bachelor-level thesis in psychology. I won’t provide an exhaustive literature review here, but suffice to say that empirical evidence is mounting the case for solitude as a positive, nourishing dimension of the human experience that complements our social lives rather than standing in opposition to them. In fact, one’s perceptions of alone time might be a critical factor in their risk for and experience of loneliness. Dr. Thuy-vy Nguyen’s Solitude Lab is a great introductory resource for any overview of this research, be it exploring the theoretical and empirical foundations for study, or understanding the current state of research in the field.

All that is to say that libraries support people by also letting them be who they are–to be complete in their individuality, apart from other people. Libraries should remember that socially oriented programs are not the key to every patron’s personal flourishing. A public programming librarian myself, I find it enjoyable to contemplate programs in which people can simultaneously congregate for a common person while being free to keep to themselves. My library’s Knits and Knots Nook is a great example of this: people are free to show up and start or continue working on all manner of crafts projects, from crocheting to quilting and beyond, and are invited to socialize or keep to themselves as they please. Other libraries and coffee shops do “Silent Bookclubs”, which I would love to implement at my own library, and self-care workshops that prioritize individual wellbeing.

I think many of us current and/or aspiring information professionals can easily conjure the image of the solitary, studious patron hunched over a book at a library desk, or lounging in a chair with newspaper in hand. Today, perhaps it’s simply a patron at their computer with headphones on and phone at hand. Such library models may seem old-fashioned or insufficient for our modern digital age, especially in light of the Hyperlinked ethos. I wonder if there might yet be value to these rather dusty, antiquated ideals, though; if they can inform how we adapt our services in this rapidly evolving age. Not all libraries need be silent, scholarly catacombs; nor do they all need to be buzzing, cacophonous commons. Space can be made for both sides of the spectrum and spaces can be made for both models of service. In the end, I would just love to see solitude mentioned more in all of these hyperlinked conversations: it is wonderful to see all the ways people are connected to each other, but let’s not forget about how people are connected with themselves.

Introduction

The days of MySpace are long past, but the library landscape in which Casey & Stephens (2008) wrote “Embracing Service to Teens” remains uncannily similar today, almost 20 years on. Public libraries like my own in Broadview, Illinois continue to struggle with providing adequate services to teens and accepting them as a valuable cross-section of the library community rather than a problematic offshoot. Resources are limited based on a fearful mentality where every proposed program or service comes back to the same question: “What if the worst happens?”

The New Guy

I’m one of the newest employees at my library, as well as one of the youngest, falling below the average employee’s age by multiple decades. I’ll never know if these factors combined to make me the library’s current co-lead of teen programming (which was not mentioned in the job posting to which I responded, nor in my initial interviews), or if it was more incidental, but that’s the position I found myself in upon being hired. My previous job was at a community college library, assisting patrons from ages 16 to 80 and everywhere in between of every conceivable background and educational level. Though this gave me some exposure to college-age library patrons, the difference between college library and public library services is vast: programs are an afterthought of the former, and the lifeblood of the latter.

On my first day at Broadview Public Library District I was greeted with a project: I would need to create a suite of Teen Programs for Broadview’s newly inaugurated Teen Room, enough to last the teens through the remainder of the school year and gradually ramp up their engagement for more fully fledged offerings in Summer. In all this, I was truly and unironically starting from square one. For inspiration I had my own niche interests and hobbies, and the bottomless depths of the internet. I would draw from both as the months went on.

The State of Teen Services

Before I go into our current programs and hopes for the future, I should make it clear that I have little to no idea what teen-centered programs looked like before I got to BPLD. I assume that there was “no there there” and that they simply existed in an awkward programming limbo between youth (6-11) and adults (18+), only to finally be made into a serviceable population with their own space in the form of…

The Teen Room, which was an encouraging enough space when I first laid eyes on it: enclosed, with dimmable lights and large glass windows that provided good visibility, and a big TV to boot. Most of the YA book collection was housed there, though specialized collections like graphic novels and manga spilled out into the main stacks. Most encouraging of all were the game consoles it held: a PS5 (ooh la la!), a Nintendo Switch, and a PS4. Little did I know that there was essentially no procedure in place for how teens checked out games and got game consoles set up for them, and god forbid we get into the actual console settings and security issues of having all these things out essentially unmonitored. But these things come with time….

Eight months later, and we’ve made many promising steps towards a more cohesive teen service model. Programs are more regular, both on weekdays and on Saturdays, and attendance has been gradually increasing. I won’t lie, our first few months were rough and saw little to no participation, but it made the first successful programs all the sweeter. To be fair, we’re talking about the dead of winter–the Midwest Winter no less. Teens wouldn’t have come out if we had paid them (believe me, we tried).

One “secret” for better engagement? Snacks and beverages. Make an announcement over the Library PA about an event in the Teen Room with free food and drinks and they’ll come running–literally. Once they’re in the door, then you can try to hook them into the program. Maybe bribes really do work!

Another not-so-secret-secret: listen to the zeitgeist and follow your TikTok-sense for what is trendy and popular. My “boba-making for teens” program was such a surprise hit that it ran out of supplies–folks had to make do with plain milk tea sans boba by the end of it! I had teens tell me they came simply because I put matcha on the poster. But, to hear it from them, they don’t actually like tea, they only like matcha…sigh….

All that to say: if it is popular online, there’s a decent chance that it will be popular in the library. And what’s the worst that could happen when trying out an unusual program? Far better to take a risk on a program that might only draw a handful of people than the same old program that never draws anybody. Regardless of inspiration, regardless of intent,  creativity, or vision, all programs and programmers fear one thing: zero attendance.

Hopes for the Future

Now, Summer is upon us (happy Summer Solstice!), the days are longer and warmer, and the teens have plenty of time on their hands. The library is hosting two teens as seasonal employees through the Summer, and we’re hoping their input and participation might lay a groundwork for a permanent Teen Advisory Board (TAB) to help guide teen programming in the library. That way it’s not solely up to old-timers (or shall I say “uncs”) like myself.

Programs are gaining more traction and dedicated attendance. My coworker and I have started a twice-weekly Tabletop Roleplaying Club for teens and tweens that we hope will allow new players to dip their toes in the medium and get a taste for the game systems. With luck, and enough good rolls of the dice, we hope it will become a fixture of Teen programming that will last through the school year. I’ve gotten players from ages nine to eighteen, and each one brings something unique to the table and to each encounter.

Add to that a weekly Knits & Knots Crafts Club for the more artsy, hands-on members of our teens and youth populations, and we have some very promising programming to take us through the coming months. I’ll reflect more in future blog posts on what programs we’ve tried, what has worked and what hasn’t, how things are going, and whatever inspiration I’m feeling for the future.

Until then, all scheduled programs will continue as usual….

Greetings!

I’m Nathanael, joining for my first and last Summer session course here at the iSchool. In fact, this will be my last traditional course of the program, as I will be interning to complete my remaining units to graduate this December and completing my e-portfolio this Fall–a bittersweet thought!

I currently live in Chicago after moving last Summer from my hometown of Monterey, California. It has been a dizzying, exciting change to adjust to living in a global city after spending much of my life in a town inhabited primarily by tourists and retirees (though I did spend my undergraduate years in Portland, OR from 2016 to 2020–shout-out Reed College!). This too is a city of libraries, being home to ALA (with its conference in just a few weeks), as well as a sprawling public library system and numerous college and university libraries.

I myself work as a Public Services Associate at Broadview Public Library District in the West Suburbs, a small and relatively under-resourced library that is a lifeline to its local communities. The work is gratifying on the whole, and has helped to push me out of my comfort zone and expand my professional skillset, though it is not where I would like to settle in my career. My hopes extend towards academic libraries and archives, and to that end I’ll be an archival intern at University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures through the Summer and Fall semesters. I’ve only worked there a few days, but already it has proved a perfect foil to my public library work–quiet, working in the back with minimal supervision and no distraction, completely of my own initiative. Combining that with the heady, intoxicating atmosphere of University of Chicago, and I am left refreshed and excited for my future prospects as an information professional.

I’d love to reflect more on the two informational worlds I currently inhabit, and how the Hyperlinked Library model may (or will) apply to both of them. That will be for future posts, I hope, and in the meantime I wish you all a productive and rewarding Summer!