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Getting a clue: creating student detectives and dragon slayers in your library

Getting a clue: creating student detectives and dragon slayers in your library Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how Utah Valley University Library staff created two games to orient students to the library and library services. Design/methodology/approach – Library staff developed and marketed the Get a Clue game, which used clues placed throughout the building at the beginning of the Fall semester to orient new students as they solved a mystery. During the Spring semester, the library staff introduced library services through LibraryCraft, an online game where students used library resources to slay a dragon. Findings – In post‐game surveys, students found the games entertaining and informative. The results show students saw the orientations as a good use of their time and their comfort levels with library services increased. Practical implications – As a means of engaging and informing students, games offer a new means of orienting students to the library and library services. The self‐paced game approach allows students to learn valuable information with minimal impact on staff. Originality/value – This paper offers practical information about using games as an academic library orientation. Assessment data support the effectiveness of games as an effective, asynchronous method of introducing students to a library facility and services. This information can be used by other libraries to create their own self‐paced orientation games. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Reference Services Review Emerald Publishing

Getting a clue: creating student detectives and dragon slayers in your library

Anna‐Lise Smith; Lesli Baker
Reference Services Review , Volume 39 (4): 15 – Nov 15, 2011
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15 pages

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Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
0090-7324
DOI
10.1108/00907321111186659
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe how Utah Valley University Library staff created two games to orient students to the library and library services. Design/methodology/approach – Library staff developed and marketed the Get a Clue game, which used clues placed throughout the building at the beginning of the Fall semester to orient new students as they solved a mystery. During the Spring semester, the library staff introduced library services through LibraryCraft, an online game where students used library resources to slay a dragon. Findings – In post‐game surveys, students found the games entertaining and informative. The results show students saw the orientations as a good use of their time and their comfort levels with library services increased. Practical implications – As a means of engaging and informing students, games offer a new means of orienting students to the library and library services. The self‐paced game approach allows students to learn valuable information with minimal impact on staff. Originality/value – This paper offers practical information about using games as an academic library orientation. Assessment data support the effectiveness of games as an effective, asynchronous method of introducing students to a library facility and services. This information can be used by other libraries to create their own self‐paced orientation games.

Journal

Reference Services Review – Emerald Publishing

Published: Nov 15, 2011

Keywords: Gaming; Academic libraries; Orientation; Information literacy; Students; Learning; United States of America; Management games

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