Little Ways to Help With TTRPGs: Libraries
Jump to:
- Why should I read this?
- What are “little ways to help”?
- Little ways to help your library with TTRPGs
Why should I read this?
Sometimes, the world feels big and overwhelming.
We see problems that can feel too massive to fix or find out about an injustice and don’t know where to put the anger and sadness and fear.
And it is easy to get stuck here despite wanting to do something because you just… don’t know what to do.
Or it seems too big.
Or you don’t know if it will matter.
I’m here to tell you that there are things that you can do.
It is OK if they are small.
These things matter.
Our communities need small acts of support because that’s kind of what a community is. It’s many people coming together to support each other, and it gets stronger and more robust through individual members doing their part in what way they can.
We also need this for ourselves to release some of that overwhelm and prove that we can do something. It is OK to do something to just feel good about doing something, especially if it also helps others.
Individuals need this so they can see what you’re doing and maybe do the same too, helping their community and helping themselves in the process.
I think the world doesn’t need a hand, it needs many small hands working together… and those hands belong to us.
So, let’s pick a small thing or two and do something about that right now.
What are “little ways to help”?
This article is the first of a new short series of posts about finding small, manageable, and accessible ways that you can help your community using what you already have with your TTRPGs. This is for players, enthusiasts, publishers, and anyone else – it covers ways that everyone can help.
I’m using the phrase “little ways to help” to express that outreach and activism doesn’t need to be big and loud… because not everyone can do that.
While it may be great if you can be big and loud for a good cause, not everyone has the funds or self-confidence or safety or time or mental health or various other factors that would allow them to be big and loud in the ways that they see others being big and loud.
…And being big and loud doesn’t always amount to much unless you’re also actually doing something about things that you’re being big and loud about.
…And the things that you can do, can be small and important.
So, I want to show you a few little ways that you can have an impact.
Little ways to help your library using TTRPGs
Libraries are community hubs. They are places where people can find resources and peace without having to pay to access materials. In addition to having books and various other media available, they are often home to gaming clubs, workshops, and various maker tools that support both youth and adults.
Helping a library is an easy one-stop hub to being able to have a lot of impact on a lot of people with small efforts, like the ones below.
Ask your library if they have games
Est time: 5 minutes
Method: email or in-person
Impacts: personal understanding, noting community interest
Especially if you aren’t already a library regular, this is a GREAT first step to make contact with your library, either by going there in person or by sending an email, and can help with gaining a bit of momentum but doing your first small thing.
Asking if they have a gaming library or if your library is interested in getting more games lets you know what kind of possible opportunities are here and can clue your library in that there’s community interest in gaming resources so they can curate their content.
Donate to or tell your library about International Games Month (IGM)
Est time: 5 (tell) or 1 hour (donate)
Method: email or in-person
Impacts: overall community, library resources available
International Games Month is an event hosted by The American Library Association’s Games and Gaming Roundtable. During this event, creators and companies pledge copies of their games as donations to libraries. Participating libraries who want these games are chosen, raffle style, to get copies for their gaming libraries. Then, during the month of November, creators and companies send their resources out to the winning libraries.
This event can help a library build their first gaming collection or help a library who already has games to bring in new materials and stay up-to-date.
If you’re not a creator, taking 5 minutes to tell your library about the event and sending them the sign up link can clue them in to something they may be missing out on. My local library had no idea this was a thing despite having an active game library, and they are now pumped to join in for next year’s event.
If you are a creator, donating either physical or digital copies of your games can be a great way to support the community while also helping others find your works. It takes about 15 minutes to contact the organization and fill out the form. When they give you the list of winning libraries, you then email or mail your games out (and media mail can help manage shipping cost), which, for me, took about 45 minutes. From 1 hour of effort, I sent my Making a Tabletop RPG for YOUR Particular Kid book out to A LOT of libraries that normally would not have it.
Submit a request for a game/book you’d like to see or try
Est time: 5 minutes
Method: online
Impacts: overall community, creator, you, library resources available
If there’s a game book that you’d like to try out but can’t afford, you can request for your library to get a copy. These requests are usually through an online form, or you could email and ask that the request be put in.
Depending on how available the game/book is, they may be able to get a copy, providing that resource for the community and allowing you access it within your budget.
This also helps the creator in getting word out about their work, and… believe me when I say it is one of the highest honors as an author to have someone submit a request for your work at a library. It is such a massive confidence boost.
Donate spare books or game supplies
Est time: varies depending on your collection
Method: in-person
Impacts: overall community, library resources available
If you have TTRPG books and supplies that are in good condition but that you aren’t using, instead of having them sit around, see if your local library accepts donations!
Confirm with them first, either at the help desk or by sending an email, to see if this is something they would want for their collection. Libraries do need to manage their space and curate their content, so ask before you bring in all your stuff.
If they accept, this can have a huge impact! There’s now resources for people to check out and use for games, start a game club, or just explore and wonder… hm… that stuff looks cool, what is it? It lets someone take your materials on a new journey and let them live a new kind of life.
Who knows, maybe a spare set of dice that you drop off one day will give someone their first nat20 against a dragon… or their first critical failure leading to a laugh-out-loud moment that gets the librarian to hush the group.
Add a library donation reward to your crowdfunding campaign
Est time: 15 minutes + combo with the IGN event above
Method: online (for creators with existing campaign)
Impacts: overall community, library resources available
If you are a creator who runs crowdfunding campaigns for your works, consider adding a library donation tier or a stretch goal for library donations as rewards and add-ons for your campaign.
I’ve started including this with all my TTRPGkids campaigns, and it’s been a very popular add-on. I am also really excited whenever we hit a new library donation goal between some of the other book goals. It can help you to provide more rewards that you and your backers can celebrate.
Adding a library donation tier or reward to your existing TTRPG funding project only takes a few minutes to add since it is an existing campaign. When the campaign is over, to make getting the donations to libraries easy, you can couple this with the IGN event, listed above, since that will give you an ready and enthusiastic list of libraries who want games and will be adding it to their collections.
Post about cool games you’ve found at the library
Est time: 5 minutes
Method: online
Impacts: overall community, creator
If you find a game or book at a library that you thoroughly enjoy, post about it!
See if you can find your library and the author on social media and tag them with a picture of the book or game you just finished telling them how much you loved it.
This can give the author a HUGE confidence boost and helps others find their work, it highlights to others that libraries have games (which not everyone knows about) as a resource, and it can sometimes create an unexpected connection between the author and the library for future events.
Run a 1-shot or class (versus a whole campaign)
Est time: varies, but keep to 1 session (at least at first)
Method: in person
Impacts: 3-5 people… and the people they play with… and the people they play with…
It can seem daunting to start a TTRPG club at a library, even if you really want to do it because it can involve regular commitments, setting up a whole campaign, worrying about drop outs and drop ins, etc
So… if that feels like something you want to do but that you can’t make a big commitment for… don’t do that right now.
Instead, maybe try out running just a 1-shot as a special event and limit the attendance to what you can manage! Or run a short class about just making characters or going over some basic rules so people can make their own games!
See if your library accepts event submissions (not all do, but some welcome it) and find out what the requirements are. You can often do this by email or by checking the library website. If they accept your proposal, keep it manageable for yourself and go help some people learn about TTRPGs for just a 1 hour block.
This can satisfy your urge to set up an event and give you a chance to evaluate if you like it or not without committing to a month’s long campaign schedule.
This also gives a gift to a few people in the community who then impact others!
Teaching someone how to play a game for the first time can spark a new hobby, and then they can do the same for their friends or start their own library club. You may not see it down the road, but that’s a massive impact when you add up all the little ripples in how many people were introduced to TTRPGs because you showed someone how to make a character one time in a 1hr library event!
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To conclude this article, there’s a ton of other ways that you can do little things that help in big ways. Don’t try to do everything, just pick one, maybe two, things from here, and try it out.
Take 5 minutes to send an email to share about IGM or fill out a form to request a book, and then you can walk away knowing you made a ripple. It might stop soon, but… it might not.
And if you do these little 5 minute impacts once in a while, eventually one will reach farther.
When you do one of these little things, take a minute to think about how you feel and what kind of impact it can have. Then go on with your day, if you want, but still enjoy that little moment of having done something, even if it feels like it is small (though it probably really wasn’t).
Take care of yourself, and keep an eye out for future articles like this where I’ll look at other ways you can use your TTRPG collection or the games you’re making or your interest in the fandom to do small things that make a difference.
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