In honor of International Games Month, held every November, these stories center games and gaming as community-building, teaching, and self-improvement tools. Learn how libraries are developing tabletop role-playing games and using new adaptive technologies to make videogames more accessible for all. Check out the 2025 Platinum Play, or “Platy,” Hall of Fame inductees—games honored by … Continue reading State of Play
While game jams—accelerated game creation events—started as a way to develop videogames, they’re also useful for creating tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs). The best-known TTRPGs, like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and Call of Cthulhu, include rule books that can run to hundreds of pages and have steep price tags, but there are a host of smaller, … Continue reading Jam Forever
“The only way to reach out to the world was through this very cool gaming setup that the hospital would bring into the room,” he recalled. An in-game friend “became my solace in a place where every day they were hurting me and I was scared.” Spohn, director of the Mount Sinai Back to Life … Continue reading Adaptive Arcade
The 2025 inductees are: Car Wars 2–8 players 30 minutes and up Ages 10+ Now in its sixth edition, the tabletop combat simulation game Car Wars has a simple premise: Each player has a heavily armed and customized vehicle, and the last one standing is the winner. The game has a rich history of add-ons … Continue reading 2025 Platy Hall of Fame Inductees
Harmeyer—who holds the 12th-longest consecutive winning streak of any player on the show—spoke with American Libraries about her longtime love of the game, her least favorite category, and how she blazed her path to the 2025 Jeopardy! Masters tournament. As an adolescent, you auditioned for the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament and weren’t selected. And now you’re … Continue reading Q&A with Adriana Harmeyer
Wellness and well-being The terms wellness and well-being are often used interchangeably. However, well-being includes social, spiritual, and other dimensions that go beyond standard definitions of wellness. Wellness programs promote healthy lifestyles and disease mitigation or prevention. They concentrate on physical and mental health through programs that promote exercise, improved eating habits, smoking cessation, and … Continue reading Professional Development Is a Wellness Program
His new cookbook, Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America (November, Clarkson Potter), written with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly, takes a region-by-region approach to Native ingredients, history, and cooking. Sherman spoke with American Libraries about this extensive collection, his early influences, and his love for libraries. Sample a recipe … Continue reading Newsmaker: Sean Sherman
Reprinted with permission from Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America (November, Clarkson Potter), by Sean Sherman with Kate Nelson and Kristin Donnelly. Squash and Pepita Tartlets Makes 10 to 12 tartlets Filling 2-pound piece Lakota winter squash, red kuri squash, or kabocha squash, seeded 1 cup boiling water 1 … Continue reading Recipe: Squash and Pepita Tartlets
The caller wanted to donate his father’s collection—not of boards or game pieces, but of the literature of checkers. “I’m thinking, ‘How much can this be?’” Sleasman remembers. The answer? Twenty-seven storage tubs. It’s all in a day’s work for Sleasman, who (along with two catalogers and two archivists) wrangles 260,000 library holdings, 3,000 linear … Continue reading Bookend: Playing Along
Her efforts drew significant attention, and this past May she received an honorable mention from the Miami Herald Silver Knight Awards, which recognizes local high school seniors for service projects. This summer, she participated in the National Coalition Against Censorship’s Student Advocates for Speech (SAS) Leadership Program, joining a nationwide network of young people fighting … Continue reading Newsmaker: Iris Mogul
Welcome to the 2025 Library Design Showcase, American Libraries’ annual celebration of new and renovated libraries throughout North America. Today’s libraries are places where people from diverse communities can connect, learn, and grow. The institutions featured in this year’s showcase embody the library’s role as a true third space while honoring local histories and cultures … Continue reading 2025 Library Design Showcase
