Beyond Hope 2025

Libraries are continually evolving third places for the communities they serve, and one vital way in which libraries have developed as third places for people from all backgrounds is through gaming.  Though one may assume in 2025 that these gaming experiences are purely digital or electronic, there is now a growing return to older ways of gaming – whether old in terms of time since its inception or a gaming medium viewed as only for those of an older age – what was new became old and is now new again. This session will explore the use of video games, analogue gaming such board games to jigsaw puzzles, to pen & paper games such as Dungeons & Dragons or the daily crossword, and how the inclusion of these tools into your library spaces fosters cross-generational social development.