Gamification

Slides from What You Need To Know Before Gamifying Your Library, a panel presented at the 2013 ALA Annual Conference.

This handout was distributed at the panel discussion. It offers more resources for those interested in learning more about gamification or connecting with the presenters.

Many libraries and archives are experimenting with ways to use gamification in their libraries. Here a few examples to inspire your own programs.

• Lemontree - Currently in use at the University of Huddersfield in the UK, Lemontree gamifies virtually every aspect of library use from studying in the library to using e-resources and more. Patrons can earn achievements, compete on the leaderboard and share their badges and awards with their friends via social media.

• Primary Source Corps - Created by University of Colorado Boulder, Primary Source Corps gamifies the process of adding documents to WikiSource and enhancing the information about existing items. Players earn medals for completing missions all while learning about primary sources.

• Summer Game - At Ann Arbor Public Library, summer means Summer Game! This popular summer program gamifies library activities, allowing users to earn badges, points and prizes by interacting with their library, whether by searching the catalog or attending an event. To foster a connection with the community, Street Quests get participants out and about around town as well. The game has been so popular that it has spawned two other games, the Points-O-Matic Click-O-Tron and Streets Quest

• Connect Your Summer - At Canton Public Library, the Connect Your Summer program allows patrons to earn badges for completing activities and using the library. The program has been extremely popular and has allowed the library to expand their summer program to those who are away for the summer and for families that live across the country.

In addition to gamifying patron activiites, some librarians have experimented with gamifying their own professional development. This can be a nice way of encouraging participation, learning the concepts of gamification and having fun!

• Level Up Book Club - Created by Matthew Winner and Jennifer LaGarde, members of the club learned about gamification by reading related texts and participating in games and competitions. For those interested in gamification, the group also collected a wide array of useful sources.

• YALSA Badges for Learning - YALSA has received a grant from HASTAC, the Mozilla Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation to use badges and gamification to teach YALSA's Competencies for Serving Youth in Libraries.

If you want to get started with gamification, there are a lot of available platforms to help you get started without having to hire a web developer to create a platform from scratch. Here are a few options:

• Librarygame - The platform used for Lemontree at the University of Huddersfield, UK, this platform offers options for both public and private libraries. It incorporates both in-person and online activities and allows users to share their achievements via social media. 

• Passport - Currently in beta, this tool from Purdue University allows educators to incorporate badges, achievements and gamification into their teaching with tools that are specifically designed for educational use. There is also a free iPad app to allow students to display their badges. Learn more in the video below.

• BadgeOS - This WordPress plugin in makes is easier to build and issue digital badges. It is already in use at a a variety of cultural institutions including the Smithsonian. Best of all, the site offers tutorials, help documentation and other support for users. You can see an example of how the YMCA of New York has used it in the video below.

• SCVNGR - This platform allows you to reward users for checking in at a location, completing challenges or participating in treks. While this tool does require that participants have the free SCVNGR app on their mobile device, the easy-to-use creation platform makes it worth considering. The video below shows how users can create rewards, challenges, and treks.

• Open Badges - Created by the Mozilla Foundation, the Open Badges platform is designed to be the standard in digital badges across multiple platforms, so it is free to use and is "an open technical standard." The related Mozilla Backpack is intended to allow participants to display and manage their badges. For Moodle users, Open Badges are integrated with Moodle since version 2.5. You can learn more about using the badges in Moodle with this post from Some Random Thoughts. The diagram below shows how Open Badges work.

If these badge creation platforms don't meet your needs, consider the tools below as alternatives:

If this has inspired you to learn more about gamification, start with these books and articles:

If you are still looking for more resources about gamification, here are some great guides, collections, and other materials: