Gamification For Libraries: Improving information retrieval teaching through gamification

Abstract

Gamification, in other words the use of game elements in non-game environments, is a rapidly growing field in the past decade. It is often associated with increasing participants’ engagement in activities and attracting them to organisations. In modern society, libraries are seeing a decrease in visitors and users. Thus they are searching for new ways to improve their services and satisfy more patrons with new and innovative services..

The desired outcome of this thesis is to investigate whether the use of game elements in the information retrieval teaching provided by academic libraries can positively affect the learning outcome for the first year students. After investigating theories of play and previous research on the topic, a field experiment was designed to examine how the existence of gamification can improve the benefits of information retrieval teaching sessions. The results of this thesis were not what was originally anticipated. They are reflected on the tradition of play and gamification and used to propose ideas for future research on gamification’s effects on library services.