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Gamification in Libraries The State of the Art

2014; American Library Association; Volume: 54; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

2163-5242

Kyle Felker, Eric Phetteplace,

Augmented Reality Applications

Gamification is undoubtedly a major trend: it was the topic of sessions at both of the previous ALA Annual conferences, has an interest group under LITA, and was mentioned in the last three NMC Horizon reports for higher education. While there is interest in creating games that are both engaging and educational, doing so is challenging and requires great investment. In this column, Kyle Felker relates the experiences of the Grand Valley State University library. His writing not only discusses how libraries can effectively utilize games but also the theory behind them as well.--Editor Libraries are currently grappling with an engagement challenge. Users have more choices than ever before as to where and how they obtain information, and the library is no longer the only game in town (if, indeed, it ever actually was) when it comes to doing research. Information provision services such as Google are often easier to use and access than library resources, and users often prize convenience over quality. The availability of electronic resources that students can access from home, combined with the ready availability of reference resources and free information on the open web, are resulting in fewer students actually coming to the library and using physical resources. The question of how to drive physical and virtual traffic into buildings, webpages, and library electronic resources in the face of such competition has become very pressing, and libraries have responded to it in a variety of ways. With regard to the web presence, user centered design has gained ground as a method for making library information more accessible. Discovery layers have been developed to provide a more google-like centralized search interface to library resources. Libraries have experimented with making physical spaces more attractive by installing cafes and art exhibits and offering more computers and study space. Many libraries are engaging in outreach programs, establishing service points outside the physical building in the hope of making it more convenient for users to take advantage of such services. A convergent trend is the interest in libraries as places for discovery, learning, civic engagement, and community. Libraries have always been places where people could discover new knowledge in books, but in the last ten years, libraries have been reinventing themselves as places for communal discovery, conversation, and exploration. The establishment of Makerspaces in libraries is one way this focus is being realized. More and more, libraries are partnering with people in their communities to bring in speakers, host events, and design spaces that encourage collaboration and stimulate learning. Gamification sits at the crux of these two trends. It can be both a strategy for engagement and a framework for immersive learning and play. Well designed games can offer compelling, educational experiences that can foster positive user interactions with the library. WHAT IS GAMIFICATION? Gamification is defined as the process of applying game mechanics and game thinking to the real world to solve problems and engage users. There are two broad ways the concept can be applied: in the first, game-like structures and systems are grafted onto existing systems or processes. An example would be using a badging or point system in a classroom teaching environment to supplement the final grade. This form of gamification is usually simple and easy to apply, but it often feels artificial and doesn't really change the nature of the underlying experience. In this example, students may well ignore the badging system in favor of the final grade if they feel it isn't offering anything meaningful. The second strategy is to design learning experiences from the ground up as games. This is requires more work, since it means rethinking and reworking the entire experience. Instead of attaching a badging system to the class, an instructor might redesign the entire class to be an extended game, with points, badges, level-up mechanics, and so on. …