Library hosts board game collection

Family game night has more options than ever thanks to the Sweetwater County Library System's new game collection.

The game collection, which can be found at the Sweetwater County Library in Green River, offers a wide variety of tabletop games which library patrons can check out.

"This is something we wanted to do in order to have more offerings at the library," Alan Vaughn, the library's public services manager, said. "Also we really think board games are neat and it's just a good way to bring the family together."

Currently anyone with a library card can check out up to five games at once for one week at a time. Each game has a label with information about the game including age recommendations, number of players and the approximate time it takes to play.

"We've tried to do a wide variety," Vaughn said. The collection includes board games, card games, puzzle games and role play games. Patrons can find both classic games like Clue and Monopoly and newer games, as well as both kid-friendly games and adult games.

"There's so many games out there," Vaughn said, explaining the game collection gives people the chance to try games out and do a "test period" to see if a particular game is one that's fun for their family or friend group.

The game collection was the brainchild of Becky Iwen, the youth services librarian, who has been wanting to do a game collection for a couple of years and worked on making it a reality, Vaughn explained. Iwen collected all the games, some of which were purchased by the library while others came from donations from Iwen herself, other library employees and community members. She and some volunteers also went through the games to make sure they had everything they needed and were ready to go.

Many of the games which were purchased for the collection came from Desert Keep Games, a local game and toy store, which worked with the library and gave them a discount, allowing the library to get the games at a good price while also supporting local business, according to Vaughn. Desert Keep Games is also going to keep working with the library and help with hosting Dungeons and Dragons events as part of the library's summer reading program.

While other libraries have done game collections before, Vaughn believes Sweetwater County is one of only a few in Wyoming. And even though the game collection was only rolled out at the library last week, Vaughn said there have been several games checked out each day since it started.

The game collection is currently prominently displayed in the lobby of the Green River library. Vaughn said it may move to a more permanent location inside the library later in the summer. Ultimately, if things go well, the goal is to extend the game collection to the other library branches as well and have different games available at each library.

"We always want to do more for our patrons," Vaughn said. He also hopes people in the community understand they can come to the library for more than books, and hopes they see the library as a friendly, fun place.