With a mission of inspiring curiosity and connection, Kitsap Regional Library charts a path where we work to inspire future generations. With a strategic focus on priority areas including Early Learning, Making & Interest-Based Learning, Workforce Readiness & Development, Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM), and Community & Social Connectedness, library staff seek out valuable ways to expand and enhance collections and programs, ensuring they resonate with diverse age groups and learning interests.
New Kit Joins the Collection
In 2023, Seattle-based education research organization foundry10 published findings on COVID-19's impact on youth, noting heightened stress levels and fewer social opportunities. Their white paper, “How Youth Can Build Social and Emotional Skills with Tabletop Role-Playing Games,” highlights how tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) like Dungeons & Dragons provide young people with a safe space to practice and build social and emotional skills like regulation, collaboration, perspective-taking, and pretend play as well as foster a sense of belonging and community.
In mid-2024, the Library's Collections and Technical Services (CTS) team secured a $400 grant from the Washington State Library's Tabletop Role-Playing Games for All project, funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. With these funds, Youth Selector Librarian Rosie Bromberg led the creation of a new kit for kids ages 9-12, introducing them to turn-based storytelling games and includes the Questlings game, a guidebook, and all of the essentials. The tween-focused TTRPG kit joins a growing collection of TTRPG kits launched in 2022 and a more extensive kit collection established in 2014, offering uniquely themed kits with various content to help spur learning, including books, educational toys, and activities.
Since the tween-focused TTRPG kit was launched in mid-August, the six circulating kits have seen rapid uptake, checked out over 20 times in just two months, and remain checked out almost constantly.
Poulsbo Teen Services Library Kacy Smith noted the excitement of younger patrons exploring Questlings: "I've seen tweens gravitate to it, especially those finding the regular D&D kits intimidating. At our End of Summer Lock-In at Port Orchard, I watched a small friend group dive deep into Questlings—they didn't want the night to end!"
Browse our role-playing books and kits at KRL.org/RPGs. Whether you're an experienced player or want to join your first campaign, there's a D&D group for you. Find one today at KRL.org/tabletop.
A Different Kind of Club
One of the Library's newest team members, Adult Services Librarian Tyler Kassten, is already leveling up programming at the Bremerton – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr branch with the addition of Video Game Book Club and Young Adult D&D offerings.
Joining Kitsap Regional Library in April 2024 with eight years of experience as a librarian and hailing from New York City, Tyler has run programs spanning puzzle games, coding workshops, and a few engineering programs such as build your own ukulele and headphones. With a love for video games, Tyler was drawn to Kitsap Regional Library and shared, "I wanted to live and work in a more walkable city. Having a lot of nerdy places to hang out at was a big sell for me moving here. Once I got here, I fell in love with the community and the wonderful coworkers I enjoy working with daily."
As for the launch of Video Game Book Club, which has quickly powered up with new attendees joining each monthly session, Tyler is looking to entice community members of all ages—depending on the maturity level of the video game chosen for each month—to play games they may have never heard of and explore genres while making friends. Video Game Book Club is different from one of the Library's Book Club programs in that it not only allows people to learn how to play various video games but also encourages conversation around music, art, the evolution of the video game genre, the ethics of pricing video games, and more.
"I think it's important for people to have a way to discover new things while also having a safe place to talk and learn about what's out there."
Word is already spreading as Tyler has received emails from other libraries hoping to activate something similar in their communities. They add, "I think there are a lot of libraries doing exciting programming, and I'm glad I can be a part of Kitsap Regional Library because there's so many incredible folks here doing some really amazing things."
Learn more at KRL.org/VideoGameBookClub.
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