This document discusses how libraries can use gamification techniques to improve patron engagement and experience. It describes common elements of games like goals, rules and feedback. Libraries can gamify experiences through scavenger hunts, alternate reality games and leaderboards to track stats. The ultimate goal is to create opportunities for "Epic Wins", described as unexpected victories that people achieve through discovering new abilities. Examples provided include libraries that implemented scavenger hunts, an alternate reality game and a persistent online game world for patrons.

1. Epic Win!
What Librarians Can Learn
from Gamers

2. (National Institute of Mental
Health, n.d.)

3. (Cognitive Therapy, 2004)

4. Depression is merely
brain chemistry.

5. (Danforth & Dehm, 2010)

6. (McGonigal, 2012)

7. (McGonigal, 2011)

8. Happiness is also merely
brain chemistry.

9. • Endorphins
• Opioids
• Dopamine
• Oxytocin
• Serotonin
• Endocannabinoids
• Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
• Adrenaline
(Breuning, 2011; Dell, 2005)

10. Focus on happiness,
rather than depression.

11. Games make us happy.

12. Four elements common to all games:
• A goal
• Rules
• Feedback
• Voluntary participation

13. Games provide us with
unnecessary obstacles
that we choose to overcome.

14. Games provide us with
unnecessary obstacles
that we choose to overcome.

15. Games provide us with
unnecessary obstacles
that we choose to overcome.

16. Intrinsic vs.
extrinsic reward
(McGonigal, 2011)

17. Gamifying the
Library Experience

18. Gamifying the
Library Experience
• For Librarians

19. Play Games!

24. Once upon a parsec, there lived a
Pixie. Her name was Dulcinea.
She was the shiniest Library worker
in the all the ‘verse. One day, while
jump-roping through the Labyrinth,
She met Darmok and Jilahd.
It was awkward. The end.

25. Gamify your stats!

26. Gamifying the
Library Experience
• For Patrons

27. Scavenger Hunts

28. QR code scavenger hunt generator from
Classtools.net

29. QR code scavenger hunt generator from
Classtools.net

30. QR code scavenger hunt generator from
Classtools.net
(Classtools.net, n.d.)

31. Port Angeles Library / Albertsons
scavenger hunt
(North Olympic Library System, n.d.)

32. “I think it’s an interesting, cool idea, and I like the link between a
grocery store and early literacy… I think in general,
the more present libraries can be in people’s everyday life
(like the grocery store), even if it’s just a sign advertising the
program is also a good thing, and might have long-term dividends
in terms of getting the library ‘out there’. ”
(Knight, J., personal conversation, July 18th, 2004)

33. Alternate Reality Games

34. Humans vs Zombies!

35. Bookworm
Erwin Magbanua
Programming and Special Events Librarian
San Diego Public Library
Aaron Vanek
Executive Director
Seekers Unlimited

42. “It was kind of unusual, because this fake character was
starting to develop relationships with the players. Nothing
serious, but I started to know a little about their lives, how
busy they were, where they worked … roughly what age
they were, etc. That couldn’t have happened if I scripted
everything ahead of time and let the software handle it.”
(A. Vanek, personal communication, August 7th, 2014)

43. (Vanek & Magbanua, 2014)

44. (Vanek & Magbanua, 2014; Ayersman, 2014)

45. “We had around 50 participants, but I believe such a thing is more
than just patron counts. When our library commission, Friends
group, foundation and others heard about the ARG the response
was one of pleasant surprise and excitement because of its
innovation and the possibility of bringing in people wouldn’t
normally come to the library. I can tell you that many people
started seeing the library in a whole different way…”

46. “… What other library programs have this kind of outcome?
In that sense, they are ‘converts’ to the idea that the library
is not a passive setting where they come to simply consume
information, but participants in how we provide programming
and content.”
(E. Magbanua, personal communication, August 7th, 2014)

47. The Epic Win

48. Epic Win:
• An unexpected victory from an underdog
• Something fantastic that has worked out unbelievably well
• The greatest possible way for man to succeed at anything
(from The Urban Dictionary, as cited in McGonigal, 2011)

49. Characteristics of Epic Wins:
• Discovering abilities we didn’t know we had
• Upsetting other people’s expectations of what’s possible
• Inventing new positive outcomes we hadn’t even imagined before
(McGonigal, 2011)

50. Examples

51. (Lorimer, 1931)

52. (LaRue, 2013)

53. Dave’s Vision for the
Future:
More Epic Wins!

54. Create Opportunities
to Achieve Epic Wins.

55. Embrace the concept!

56. Train!

57. Go on adventures!

58. Be excellent!

59. Continue to
Gamify the Library
Experience.

60. Create a persistent, extensible
game world.

61. ^ Broken Bat
< Grand Prix Racing Online

62. Allow users to create
characters.

63. (McGonigal, 2012)

64. Blackout Rugby

65. Give them games to play
(adventures / quests / missions)
(Maricopa County Library District, 2014)

66. Encourage user-generated content.
^ HabitRPG
< SocialWorkout

67. Make Epic Wins
your goal.

68. Create circumstances
under which Epic Wins
can happen.

69. Make them happen!
They don’t happen on
their own.

70. Celebrate them!