Level Up: Achieve More At Your Library Through Gamification

Posted by Michael Curcuruto

Take an activity like going to the library to check out an audio-book before your next vacation. This may seem like a mundane activity for most individuals but imagine that this simple activity was suddenly to become a “quest”. Your ultimate goal is to check-out the audio book before some other competitor (patron) reaches the prized possession (audio book). Every traffic light, slow-moving vehicle, and pot-hole thus becomes an obstacle that you must defeat in order to progress through the quest and receive your prize. You ultimately achieve your goal and were awarded with a “badge” of honor for your valiant effort and you could display it proudly on your Facebook-Wall for all to admire your awesomeness. 

You just experienced a form of Gamification.

Image Source: http://weplay.co/more-than-just-badges-we-plays-definition-of-gamification/

What exactly is Gamification? 

Here's a definition:

Image Source: http://www.dashe.com/blog/lcbq-2/gamification-in-workplace-learning-the-role-of-play/

Gamification is thus adding game like dynamics (levels, points, achievements, badges, etc) to everyday situations. Gamification is becoming increasingly popular in corporate, academic and library settings. According to author Bohyn Kim (2013) in the article Keeping Up With…Gamification, “gamification can add an extra level of motivation and incentive to many higher education activities”. The motivation to achieve more “points” (higher grades) or “badges” (visual representations of acquired skills) can be strong enough to prompt an individual to study harder or learn a new skill in order to “win” the game of life (pass a class, get a new job, etc.).

One of the leaders in gamification and badge based learning is Mozilla. In the case study Mozilla Open Badges authors Erin Knight and Carla Casilli (2012) stated that, “Mozilla Open Badges is an initiative exploring alternative ways for learners to receive recognition for skills and achievements gained outside of the school environment, such as open credentialing and accreditation for all types of learning, including informal and interest driven” (p. 279). The digital badges can then be displayed and shared on various websites, personal resumes, or stored in Mozilla’s virtual backpack that is created for each user to store badges.

Here is an infographic on the Mozilla OpenBadges concept:

 

Image Source: http://openbadges.org/about/

 For more information please visit the Mozilla OpenBadge Project

Gamification and Libraries 

Much informal and interest driven learning takes place in a library. A library then becomes the ideal setting to develop and utilize gamification initiatives such as badge based recognition. A library could develop badges that represent the completion of various tasks and skills acquired through their particular institution. For example, there could be a badge issued for someone taking a computer class on how to use Microsoft Excel or a badge issued for library users who learn how to place an item on hold through an online catalog. The possibilities are numerous and are only limited by an institutions imagination. 

Examples of Libraries Using Gamification 

The University of Huddersfield Library in the U.K: Lemontree project
Students make their library card go from cold to hot by doing various activities at the library.

Image Source: https://library.hud.ac.uk/lemontree/about.php

Image Source: https://library.hud.ac.uk/lemontree/about.php

Nightmare on Vine Street (University of Tennessee)



A video presentation by Dr. Scott Nicholson from the Syracuse University School of Information Studies where he explains the concepts of gamification and the ways it can be used in libraries.


A list of further examples of gamification in libraries can be found here.

Discussion: Does your library have any type of gamification process in place? How have you experienced gamification in the past or is this your first time being exposed to this concept?  Do you see this as a valuable tool to use in a library/information setting or is it just a fad?


References:

Kim, B. (2013, May 21). Keeping up with…gamification. American Library Association. Retrieved October 17, 2013 from http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with/gamification

Knight, E., & Casilli, Carla (2012). Mozilla open badges. In D. Oblinger (Ed.), Education and information technologies (pp. 279-284) Retrieved October 17, 2013 from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/pub7203cs6.pdf