The Washington State Library and its counterpart in Wisconsin will work together for the next three years to encourage libraries at the public, tribal, and community college level to implement tabletop role-playing game activities.
The federal Institute of Museum and Library Services gave Wisconsin and Washington a $249,500 grant to make it happen.
Seattle nonprofit Game to Grow, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Heart of the Deernicorn, an Olympia-based gaming studio and workshop, will collaborate on creating a digital toolkit guide for libraries to implement games-based services. [For more on how Game to Grow is helping grow interpersonal skills, check out “Building worlds of connections” of Seattleschild.com]
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The Wisconsin/Washington project builds on an existing program that has awarded more than 50 grants to Washington libraries for tabletop game programs.
Wizards of the Coast donated 75 boxes of the popular tabletop game Dungeons & Dragons to the Washington State Library in March, so every library in the state could have a gaming kit for patrons to use.
Break from Reality Games, a Seattle-based company, also donated grip mats to Washington libraries.
“We are so thankful for the support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services,” Washington State Librarian Sara Jones said in the press release. “This project will provide libraries with recommendations for equitable and accessible games-based services that will greatly benefit the community.”
