Library Discovery through Augmented Reality: A Game Plan for Academics

Abstract

In order to create innovative pathways to services and resources, the authors propose placing a "game-layer" on top of the library, luring new patrons with the potential of playing an Alternate/Augmented Reality Game (ARG). Using both physical and virtual library space a variety of "nodes" are created, drawing players to various library locales even regular patrons may be unfamiliar with and presenting them with story fragments and puzzles. Each node requires players to use library resources like databases and books, or engage library staff at known service points in order to move forward. Players contribute to the game itself in the form of puzzle solutions. Far more illustrative than a guided tour or required course/class, this library ARG encourages players to discover and utilize resources within the context of the game, generating fluency in library systems, places and platforms. But more importantly, the ARG invites a process of "meta-level reflection" invaluable throughout a patron's academic career.

No Budget, No Experience, No Problem: Creating a Library Orientation Game for Freshman Engineering Majors

“…Another library ARG, "The Lost Book", was developed at Kansas State University (Ireton, Pitts, & Ward, 2013). The narrative of this game is unusual in that it features a mystery without a crime.…”

Playful Information Literacy: Play and information Literacy in Higher Education

“…Those attempts to use play have been primarily using the more ludic, or structured end of the scale through games, sometimes with the emphasis on engagement rather than quality of learning. The more paidia (Caillois & Barash, 2001) end of the play scale, as opposed to more ludic games, used have largely been within the 'creative' subject areas, such as art and design (Francis, 2009;Gauntlett, 2011) and within the more complex game design of alternate reality games (Chess & Booth, 2014;Ireton, Pitts & Ward, 2014;Piatt, 2009). They do, however, show some ideas which can be used more widely to develop higher level information literacy within students.…”

“…These can be complex to build and difficult to entice learners into, but deliberately inculcate a sense of free play and exploration into the game. There is evidence to suggest that these are a suitable vehicle to improve students' media and information literacies in higher education (Chess & Booth, 2014;Ireton, Pitts, & Ward, 2014;Piatt, 2009) particular in induction settings as students learn to navigate a new information environment.…”

Augmented reality for library literacy: Collaborating for innovative instruction and content development

“…The proliferation and popularity of mobile AR applications for casual, playful engagement-witness the phenomenon of Pokémon Go or virtual museum apps like MOMAR-suggests that this technology may be employed to enhance a range of educational activities and bring high levels of motivation and engagement to what might be perceived as otherwise staid instruction (Radu, 2014;Kesim and Ozarslan, 2012). However, before such technologies can be deployed in learning settings, there is considerable development work that must be done, along with alignment of the activities with the learning outcomes of any instructional components where AR might be used (Giles, 2015;Ireton, Pitts and Ward, 2013). To explore the application of AR in an academic library setting, the authors of this poster developed a scholar-practitioner partnership to apply a theoretical lens to a practice-based development program.…”