BLAINE, Minn. – (May 11, 2017) – The role of local libraries has changed a lot in the last 30 years. There has been new additions of technology, resources and online learning, while still keeping the books. Anoka County Library recently made a fun new addition, that is wildly popular.
Board games are now all the rage at Northtown Library. Collective Strategies Manager, Andrew Wylie said the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
“We were blown away by the response of this, actually we had thought it would be popular, but we did not think it would be this popular,” Wylie said.
So popular that all 30 board games have already been checked out, and it hasn’t been that long since they were first introduced.
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So in this new technology and internet age, why push for board games?
“We decided to add the games because our patrons are always asking for new and innovative services, so one of our staff members actually is a very big gamer and took the initiative here and developed a proposal got some logic outcomes, did some research on what other libraries are doing in this area,” Wylie explained.
Besides just being fun to play, board games actually help reach different learning outcomes like critical thinking, problem solving and communication.
“That interaction piece is something that you can’t always get on electronics, that talking to the person across the table from you, working on a cooperative game together are things you don’t always find on electronic media so they have that unique appeal,” Wylie said.
So let’s say you and a group of friends wanted to check them how would you go about it?
“Well you check it out just like a book, you can come to Northtown or you can go to any other library branch and request it be sent there and we’ll send it on up and hold it for you at that building. Once you get the item there’s a barcode on each one and an RFID tag on each one which is how we check things out electronically,” Wylie said
Although the games are targeted to teenagers and young adults, they seem to have a pretty wide appeal. some of the indie games include Exploding Kittens, Forbidden Island and the most popular, Ticket to Ride with 5 hold for the next checkout.
Wylie, however has a different favorite.
“My Favorite game that we have probably Splender. It’s a game about being a gem dealer in Venice so you buy mines, collect gems and you get all these gems in front of you and you start hoarding them up and then you spin them to buy more mines and it’s just about building a bigger and bigger capitalist base,” Wylie explained.
With all the buzz, community members will develop their favorites very soon.
