On The Time Of Writing

LibraryCraft was created to convey communities together across Western Australia (WA) in a safe, structured and moderated manner so that gamers may stretch their creativity and imagination. LibraryCraft makes use of the options of Minecraft that stretch users’ innovation and creative considering, develops their STEAM expertise and builds social and life skills equivalent to collaboration, negotiation, economic management and civic engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

In late 2019, the Fremantle Library launched a small, local Minecraft server for the area people of younger individuals. After a number of months of testing and upgrades, LibraryCraft was made out there to all players aged 7-17 throughout WA, and WA native governments have been invited to participate.

Findings

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a cancellation of Fremantle Library in-particular person programmes; LibraryCraft, as a purely online programme, was scaled up, and in a few weeks, had greater than tripled its participant base. On the time of writing, LibraryCraft brings collectively 20 WA local councils, reaches over 100 gamers from Derby-West Kimberley to Albany and sees a whole bunch of play hours logged each week. Cats Gamers have created new friendships throughout the state and are often working collaboratively on challenges and exploration.

Originality/value

Whereas Minecraft servers operated by libraries are far from new, LibraryCraft is unique. No groups of libraries have run Minecraft servers collaboratively in Australia before, and none is available state broad. Cats The programme is highly valued with families in WA, offering a protected social outlet for gamers caught at house in isolation.