Playing in the “Third Place”: How Games and Play Are Transforming Public Libraries

Abstract

Games and play are a growing presence in public libraries, part of a suite of new spaces and services that respond to digitization and new urban policy imperatives. Drawing on observation of library spaces and interviews with library staff in Australia, Finland, and Singapore ( n = 27), we examine the myriad ways games and play are transforming the library: from its architectural design and furnishings to its daily rhythms, atmosphere, and acoustics. Games and play, we argue, are more than adjuncts to traditional library services. Often spilling out of designated zones and beyond the library’s walls, they mirror the wider integration of libraries into urban policy agendas and the city’s economic and cultural life. This trend underscores the growing tensions libraries face in balancing their conscription into instrumental objectives with their traditional role as “third places” bounded by the utilitarian demands of work and home.