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Digital and analog games have long served modern public libraries
as educational tools and as drawcards for new patrons - from
dedicated gaming zones and children's spaces to Minecraft gaming
days, makerspaces, and virtual reality collections. Much has been
written about the role of games and play in libraries' programming
and collections. But their wider role in transforming libraries as
public institutions remains unexplored. In this book, the authors
draw on ethnographic research to provide a rich portrait of the
intersection between games, play, and public libraries. They look
at how games and play are increasingly spilling out of designated
zones within libraries and beyond their walls, as part of a broader
reconfiguration and "reimagining" of libraries in the digital era.
The library's association with play has historically been
understood through its classification as a "third place" somewhere
to relax, socialise and experiment outside of the utilitarian
demands of work and home. But far from just offering patrons an
opportunity for detached leisure, this book illustrates how
libraries are connecting games and play to policies agendas around
their municipality's economic and cultural development. Attending
to the institutionalisation of play, the book sheds new light both
on the contradictions at the heart of play as a theoretical
concept, and what libraries are in contemporary public life.
Far from heralding their demise, digital technologies have lead to
a dramatic transformation of the public library. Around the world,
libraries have reinvented themselves as networked hubs, community
centres, innovation labs, and makerspaces. Coupling striking
architectural design with attention to ambience and comfort,
libraries have signaled their desire to be seen as both engines of
innovation and creative production, and hearts of community life.
This book argues that the library's transformation is deeply
connected to a broader project of urban redevelopment and the
transition to a knowledge economy. In particular, libraries have
become entangled in visions of the smart city, where densely
networked, ubiquitous connectivity promises urban prosperity built
on efficiency, innovation, and new avenues for civic participation.
Drawing on theoretical analysis and interviews with library
professionals, policymakers, and users, this book examines the
inevitable tensions emerging when a public institution dedicated to
universal access to knowledge and a shared public culture
intersects with the technology-driven, entrepreneurialist ideals of
the smart city.
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