Gaming goes public: Philly libraries team up with Nerd Street for esports youth league

A new collab between the Free Library of Philadelphia and esports company Nerd Street is making gaming more accessible to Philly youth. 

Starting this fall, the library will be hosting Nerd Street teams across 10 library branches and offering participation in the Youth League for free, according to Rachel Hludzinski, library supervisor at the Field Teen Center at the Parkway Central branch. 

“I see so many teens that come into our teen center that are really passionate about gaming,” Hludzinski said. “I’m really excited to do a program like this, to give them a way to practice what it would be like to truly be on a team.” 

The Free Library will be hosting three teams at 10 branches across the city, who will participate in the program from Sept 22 to Dec. 8. Nerd Street’s youth leagues were previously limited to school programs or rec centers, according to Ben Beaver, the company’s head of programming, but starting this year, they’re open to any youth organization in Philly.

It will be completely free to register for the libraries teams. Signup is open to the public and will be held in person at each participating branch starting in mid-August. 

The teams are open to teens aged 12-18. Participants must have a library card and be willing to attend weekly competitions in person at their branch. 

Space is limited, per Hdluzinski: each branch will be hosting three teams of six. 

Expanding esports reach through in-person programming 

Nerd Street decided to expand its offerings this year by launching a league that any youth organization in the city could join, said Beaver, the head of programming. The partnership with the Free Library expands the opportunity even further. 

“The idea of activating libraries as these mini esports hubs makes so much sense,” Beaver said. “We want more kids having opportunities to compete in something like this and be part of a team.” 

Nerd Street already has a handful of schools signed up, and is hoping to get 16 orgs total involved, Beaver said. There’s a $600 fee to register up to three teams for this fall’s league. 

The libraries’ participation is supported by a grant from Philadelphia City Institute Board of Directors, which covers the league fee and equipment for each of the branches, per Hludzinski, the Field Teen Center supervisor. She declined to share the grant’s amount. 

The plan is to have all the teams compete virtually every week. Plus, there will be two major in-person competitions at Localhost, Nerd Street’s Center City space, one happening halfway through the program and the other a final competition at the end. 

One goal of the youth league is to increase in-person programming, Beaver said. The hope is that individual teams will be able to meet in person, even though most of the games will be virtual. 

“We’ve heard consistently, everybody wants to be together in person and competing,” Beaver said. “That just makes the experience.”