Catalyst Grant Final Report
“Play Together: Inclusive Community Gaming”
Please provide a brief narrative explaining your project and its outcomes.
The main mission of “Play Together” was to fulfill a need for free and reliable social activities for our patron population; particularly for adults with disabilities. I focused on 1) building a new collection of tabletop games for Soule Branch Library and 2) creating programs that utilized that collection. I purchased the supplies listed in the attached financial report, worked with a library clerk to catalog and process them into the collection, wrote-up documentation to help both staff and patrons understand the new collection, and coordinated with my collaborating partner, “Play the Game, Read the Story”, to plan and schedule the kick-off event.
My biggest obstacle was securing consistent attendance to the weekly drop-in game time for adults with disabilities. I worked with community partners like Advocates Incorporated and Exceptional Family Resources (EFR) to schedule and promote it. I tabled at Advocates Incorporated’s “Winter Party & Information Fair” and Arc of Onondaga’s “Family Resource Fair” in 2024, talking with their clients about Onondaga County Public Libraries (OCPL) resources and the gaming program. I gave a presentation to EFR supervisors about OCPL and the various programs, services, and resources we provide that might be of particular interest to their clients. I advertised the collection and programs throughout the year by distributing flyers, posting to the library’s Facebook page, reminding my community partners to post to their channels, and providing a guide to the tabletop games collection at the circulation desk.
To acclimate newcomers to the program, I always introduced myself, gave them a brief overview, and left them with written instructions for participating (ex: how to take out games, request coloring books and puzzles, and return items). I also demonstrated new games to attendees to broaden their choices. I made sure to record attendance at all events and any written or verbal feedback I got from attendees: attendance fluctuated throughout the whole year, but I always received positive feedback.
What is the most remarkable accomplishment or finding of your project?
Adults with disabilities desire a variety of free entertainment in their local community; I heard this sentiment almost every time a new attendee came to my weekly drop-in game time. Word-of-mouth is integral to advertising new offerings to people with disabilities, as this community relies largely on the positive experiences of friends. However, the biggest obstacle I had during this project was simply spreading the word to the right people. Despite all the outreach and promotion that I did, I still had attendees who commented that they wish they’d heard about it sooner and that I needed to tell more support groups about it.
How did your project differ from what you originally proposed?
The one-shot events I originally planned didn’t garner much attention: the kick-off event only brought in 8 people, and the trivia contest was cancelled due to no registrations. Puzzles have been very popular with our adult patrons (both historically and during the course of this project), so I started holding puzzle contests and used Catalyst Grant money to buy prizes and more puzzles for the library’s collection. I eventually opened the puzzle contests up to all ages. These became the most popular offering from this whole program.
Also, based on feedback from attendees of my weekly drop-in game time, I changed the days that the Nintendo Wii is offered to the second and fourth weeks of each month, to make it more predictable. I also expanded the scope of the program by adding movies on the first Wednesday of every month, in addition to the usual options to play games or do a puzzle in the lounge.
Please provide a brief summary of your evaluation activities and/or results, if available.
To evaluate the success of Soule Branch Library’s new tabletop games collection, I analyzed the circulation statistics. Out of 66 total items in this collection (62 unique titles), 15 were checked out more than twice each. “Hedbanz”, “Bananagrams”, “Spot It!”, and “Uno” were checked out more than 5 times each. The tabletop games collection circulated a total of 115 times (between 3/1/2024-1/9/2025), comprising 0.35% of circulating items during that period.
To evaluate the new programs, I recorded attendance and gathered feedback for each event throughout the year. I also created a follow-up survey using PLA’s Project Outcome and distributed it in September through December to people who attended more than 2 sessions of the drop-in game time. The results showed overall satisfaction with the game collection and programs, but unsteady attendance rates. Attendees of the drop-in game time consistently commented that they learned about the activity from a disability support group in the community: either on their social media feed or from their staff. I held 38 sessions of the weekly drop-in game time: there were a total of 122 attendees, but an average of 3.21 attendees per session.
The 1 kick-off event and 3 puzzle contests had a total of 34 attendees, with an average of 8.5 attendees per event. Attendees to the kick-off event reported they liked the selection of games but suggested some additional ones (which I later purchased some). Attendees of the puzzle contests enjoyed this new offering: one person commented “We had a great time! I liked that you had a prize for 2nd place as well. We are excited to try our mini-puzzles. Wonderful program! Hope to be able to attend again in the future!”
Sarah O’Neill
Adult Services Librarian, Soule Branch – Onondaga County Public Libraries
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