Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Publication Title

Evidence Based Library and Information Practice

Volume

12

Issue Number

1

First Page

2

Last Page

17

DOI

10.18438/B84C96

Keywords

games, gaming, collection management, play

Disciplines

Collection Development and Management | Library and Information Science

Abstract

Objective – The purpose of this study is to explore collection development, cataloguing, processing, and circulation practices for tabletop game collections in libraries. This study used the term “tabletop games” to refer to the array of game styles that are played in real-world, social settings, such as board games, dice and card games, collectible card games, and role-playing games. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 2017, 12.1 3 Methods – An online survey regarding tabletop games in libraries was developed with input from academic, public, and school librarians. Participants were recruited utilizing a snowball sampling technique involving electronic outlets and discussion lists used by librarians in school, public, and academic libraries. Results – One hundred nineteen libraries answered the survey. The results show that tabletop games have a presence in libraries, but practices vary in regard to collection development, cataloguing, processing, and circulation. Conclusion – Results indicate that libraries are somewhat fragmented in their procedures for tabletop collections. Libraries can benefit from better understanding how others acquire, process, and use these collections. Although they are different to other library collections, tabletop games do not suffer from extensive loss and bibliographic records are becoming more available. Best practices and guidance are still needed to fully integrate games into libraries and to help librarians feel comfortable piloting their own tabletop collections.

Comments

This article was originally published in Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, volume 12, issue 1, 2017. It can also be found online at this link. CC 2017 Slobuski, Robson, and Bentley. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons‐Attribution‐Noncommercial‐Share Alike License 4.0 International (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the same or similar license to this one.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

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