Attendees:
Shannon, Hoover
Justin, Hoover
Leslie, BPL downtown
Debbie, Leeds
Deidre, Bessemer
Laura, Trussville
Maura, Trussville

Topic:  Gaming in the LibraryPlease Note:  Because Hoover seemed to be the only participants at the meeting that currently do a gaming program in the library, notes are primarily from those spokespeople.  (I did not want to give the impression that this roundtable is at all Hoover-centric!  If you have a program, please add notes to these minutes.  Thanks!)

Hoover Library started having after-hours Friday Night Game Night in December 2012 with beer offerings and videogames (Wii & Xbox), along with adult board games.  Attendance grew from 35-40 people to a steady following of about 60-70.  As time went on, it was decided to get rid of videogames (more trouble, less people per game, less interest) and focus instead on board games.  As the process for obtaining vendors to donate beer grew, it was also decided to discontinue this practice.  By this time, however, everyone was hooked!

Today, Game Night is offered every other month, usually on the the fourth Friday of the month from 7 - 10 pm.  Families are not discouraged at all but it remains an adult focused gathering. (We usually have about 5 staff members to handle security and events but it can be staffed by volunteers and less staff too.)  Small door prizes make for even more excitement -- no matter what it is, people love door prizes!

This is a very passive program because many people will bring their own board games.  Basically, you are just providing the space and encouraging game playing.  Games ranges from Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble to the newer Settlers of Catan, Munchkin and Exploding Kittens.  Hoover, over time, has developed a separate circulating adult designer board game collection but also a collection of games used at Game Night only. Some of these have been donated, some are bought through Amazon or other game websites.  (2nd & Charles also has a collection.)  We have partnered with an area game shop (Excelsior) for advertising and promotion.

Because of our ongoing focus on adult designer board games, other opportunities have come to us.  We hosted "Magick:  The Gathering" tournament for the area in our library in conjunction with Excelsior Game Store.  We've also taken advantage of other "official" days such as International Tabletop Day on April 29, 2017 (http://geekandsundry.com/table-top-day/) and International Games Day at the Library sometime in November (http://igd.ala.org/about/faq/).  These events have been very successful.

Hoover has developed a YouTube channel where they include Game Demonstrations for users (https://www.youtube.com/user/hooverpubliclibrary)  They also do demonstrations at Game Night.  This encourages the use of different/new games and generates more interest.  The success of such things have led to the now annual Science Fiction/Fantasy Festival (http://www.hooverlibrary.org/sci-fi-fantasy).  2017 is going to be off the hook!

For libraries wishing to try out this passive programming, Hoover will gladly check out to the library our various adult designer board games.  Checkout details and more were discussed at a previous ASRT meeting (http://asroundtable.blogspot.com/2016/09/please-take-moment-to-vote-for-next.html).  Replacement cost would have to be paid if any pieces are missing, but it might be worth it to try out these games before investing in them yourself.  If you have further questions about the best games to start with contact Madalyn Cohron at madalync@bham.lib.al.us or more about Game Night specifically, contact Justin Rogers at justinr@bham.lib.al.us.

Got more ideas?  Share them here!  Your opinions, suggestions, tips and tricks are always welcome!

Some resources for our upcoming meeting, Thursday, March 16 at 10 am, Homewood Library, Room 102.  Be there!

Resources:

TechSoup for Libraries:  Gaming in the Library
http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org/planning-for-success/innovation/gaming-in-libraries

ALA Tools, Gaming in the Library
http://www.ala.org/tools/atoz/gaming/gaming

http://kotaku.com/5164768/librarians-explain-why-video-games-at-the-library

Gaming in Libraries Building Relationships between Communities & Libraries
https://www.cde.state.co.us/cdelib/teengamingpack

http://www.programminglibrarian.org/programs/grown-gaming

Game Making Interest Group Wiki
http://gamemakinginterestgroup.wikispaces.com/

Don't forget:  Thursday, March 16, 2017 at 10 am in Room 102 of the Homewood Public Library to discuss "Gaming in the Library".
Until that time, read a bit about what ALA has to say about gaming in the library at http://www.ala.org/tools/atoz/gaming/gaming