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Aims to review some new developments of virtual online environments and their potential for use in library environments.

A review of use of gaming, virtual world simulations and online environments in libraries.

Presentations on the state of gaming in libraries presented by library school faculty, librarian and industry professionals.

Reports on research and implementation of gaming systems in libraries.

For the last two years the prices of Atari's games and computers have dropped so much that the company was forced to dump—literally—thousands of dollars worth of games and equipment. According to an article in The New York Times (September 28, 1983), faced with a major slump in the sale of video games and a loss of $310.5 million in the second quarter of 1983, Atari dumped 14 truckloads of games and computer equipment into a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. However, in spite of the decreasing sales of video games and decreasing attendance at arcades, attendance and circulation are up at the handful of libraries around the country that own/loan video games.

The purpose of this paper is to present a case for including and expanding the use of video gaming in the library to support the educational, recreational and democratizing goals of the institution.

An examination of traditional models of the understanding of libraries and how video games fit into the picture.

Video games can be seen to support educational, recreational and democratizing goals of the library.

While many public libraries in the USA use video games for a variety of purposes, there are still many librarians who resist the trend. Even those who see the value of gaming in the library often have a limited view about how video games can be used in the library setting.

This paper examines video games in contexts beyond the recreational and young adult uses.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impact a games-based curriculum can have on library and information science (LIS) curriculum.

This is a worked example, using a case study and iterative design approach. Each iteration of this course and the reports are from the respective opinions of the instructors.

The authors found that once students looked past games as being pleasant distractions and were able to see them as both context-rich and well-designed learning environments, they were conducive in bringing games to libraries to spur interest-driven learning. Some students tackled analog and digital game design, while others would play historical games and tie those back to available books, and still others used board and video games to bring parents and their children together through play. While these findings do not dictate that this would work in all situations, presenting games and play as an inclusive practice that spans topics and interests was successful.

This research focuses on an LIS course and its development. Research and best practices in this course better inform future designs on how to take games-based design and interest-driven learning into broader areas to use games to spur interest and learning. The authors do not claim that our individual approaches to this class are the best methods in any course using games-based learning. Yet instructors in other fields can take what the authors learned, and the different approaches used to teaching games-based learning, and augment based on the authors’ experiences.

This worked example demonstrates that a games-based curriculum can help generate interest in informal learning spaces, such as in libraries.

The value of this paper is to emphasize the impact that games and games research can have on other disciplines. Games-based and interest-driven learning are broad enough that their usefulness in other fields is worth consideration. Libraries have been commonly looked at as “old” spaces to acquire knowledge. Combining “old” and “new” technologies to serve a more technologically savvy demographic not only helps the field of games-based learning, but also helps those in LIS how to better service a new generation of learners in collaborative relationships.

A makerspace has recently been identified as an essential learning field for cultivating students’ creative and thinking abilities. Creating a makerspace service within a university library is vital, as it fosters innovation, interdisciplinary learning, practical skills, entrepreneurship and career readiness while transforming the library into a dynamic centre for hands-on education and collaboration. Nevertheless, the wide-ranging functions and uses of makerspace equipment can potentially lead to a situation where librarians are overwhelmed by their duties due to manpower constraints. Therefore, this study aims to develop a novel game-based augmented reality navigation system (GARNS) based on the Octalysis gamification framework and scaffolding theory to support makerspace user education, hoping to promote learners’ learning motivation and their immersive experience and to enhance the learning performance of makerspace user education.

With a true experimental research method, 24 grade 11 students from a high school in Keelung City, Taiwan, were recruited to participate in the experiment on makerspace user education. Among them, ten students were randomly assigned to the experimental group using the GARNS and the other seven students were randomly assigned to a control group using the Web navigation system. The remaining seven students were assigned to a second control group using the narrative guided tour with a librarian to conduct makerspace user education.

Analytical results show that learners can achieve significant learning effectiveness using the GARNS, Web navigation system or traditional narrative guided tour with a librarian for makerspace user education. There were no significant differences in learning effectiveness and motivation neither between the GARNS group and the narrative guided tour with a librarian group nor between the Web navigation system group and the narrative guided tour with a librarian group. However, there were significant differences in learning effectiveness and motivation in terms of the value and expectation dimensions of learning motivation between the GARNS group and the Web navigation system group, and the GARNS group was significantly better than the Web navigation system group.

The study’s practical implication on makerspace user education is to reduce the manpower of a university library with makerspace services by the proposed GARNS that can offer a practical solution to enhance the learning effectiveness and motivation of makerspace through immersive game-based autonomous learning. Additionally, the study’s theoretical contribution lies in its innovative combination of game-based learning and scaffolding theory, while its practical significance stems from its potential to revolutionize makerspace user education, enhance motivation and performance and influence the broader landscape of educational technology.

This study combines game-based learning with augmented reality tools to develop a novel GARNS, which provides an innovative and effective learning tool suitable for the characteristics of makerspace and contributes to promoting makerspace user education and diversified learning modes. Additionally, most interviewees believed that using GARNS for educating makerspace users could assist them in consistently evaluating, choosing and discovering educational tasks in a library makerspace. This study contributes to promoting the popularization of makerspace user education.

This paper aims to investigate public library staff engagement and perceptions of video games and video game services.

Quantitative and qualitative data on staff video game experiences, perceptions and confidence were collected through an online questionnaire.

The results indicate an overall positive perception of video games in public libraries, with 87% of the respondents supporting video games in public libraries. Video game players appear to think more positively about video games and have more general knowledge about them than non-players. They also appeared to be more confident in delivering related services and were more likely to be running gaming-related events. It was concluded that staff attitudes towards video games are not a barrier to their inclusion in public libraries, as found in previous research.

Encouraging staff engagement with video games may improve their knowledge and confidence in delivering video game services, although further research is required to confirm this. There is a potentially underserved population of those aged 46–84 years, nearly half of whom play video games. Evaluation of this potentially underserved population is an interesting topic for future research.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this was the first survey of public library staff views towards video games in Aotearoa New Zealand, and it updates previous research in light of developments in gaming, gaming technology and the increased focus on public libraries as providers of digital technology and sites of community engagement.

The main purpose of this paper is to explore implications of the illusion of reality in the gaming world for libraries, aiming to uncover the challenges and opportunities they face in adapting their services to the gaming context.

Through a comprehensive exploration of the topic, various sources, such as Scopus, Google Scholar and ResearchGate were used. This study draws upon existing literature to analyze the impact of the illusion of reality in gaming on libraries and their offerings.

The findings emphasize the crucial role of libraries in comprehending the illusion of reality in gaming to remain relevant and effectively meet the evolving needs of patrons. It also emphasize the impact of the illusion of reality on user engagement, information-seeking behaviors, digital literacy challenges and the evolving gaming landscape. The findings highlight opportunities for libraries to leverage the illusion of reality, thereby enhancing user experiences, fostering community engagement, promoting information literacy and creating immersive learning environments.

This paper contributes a unique investigation into the impact of the illusion of reality in gaming on libraries, underscoring its significance. It offers practical recommendations to enhance library services, user experiences and community engagement within the gaming domain. The study provides valuable insights for library professionals, researchers and policymakers seeking to understand and adapt to the changing dynamics of the gaming world.

This study aims to analyze the construction of gamification service in university libraries in China and to help university libraries improve service and user experience.

This study took 147 university libraries in China as research object, analyzed the gamification services announced by these libraries on official websites, Weibo, WeChat and other platforms during the period from July 1, 2021 to August 20, 2022, and investigated the gamification services from the four aspects of functions, forms, game elements and mechanisms.

The results show that the gamification service of university library in China is often used in the popularization of scientific and cultural knowledge, information literacy education, reading promotion, library service promotion and library entrance education. Questions and answers, points contests, passing the game level and treasure hunting are common forms of games. At the same time, many gamification services combine game elements such as points, leaderboards and grades with the game mechanism to enhance readers’ participation.

This study investigates gamification services of university libraries in China and provides suggestions for optimizing gamification services, which can provide reference for libraries in China and other countries.

Gamification is a growing field of study that has not been touched by Nigerian academic librarians. This study aims to explore the awareness, perception and readiness of academic librarians on the application of gamification to library services.

This study adopts an interpretive research design and a qualitative research approach. This involves using semi-structured interviews to collect data for the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 20 participants but only 15 participated in the study. Participants were interviewed on their lived experience as to gamification; hence, phenomenology research method was adopted for the study. Thematic analysis was used to analyze collected data.

The findings of the study show that most of the academic librarians in Nigeria were not aware of gamification to library services. However, the few that were aware knew about the gamification of library service through their personal academic reading. It was shown that there is a link between awareness and positive perception of gamification to library services. It was found that most of the academic librarians did not have a positive perception of applying gamification to library services in Nigeria. Results show that important factors to consider in readiness towards application of gamification to academic library services in Nigeria include library management support, librarians’ technical know-how and IT compliance.

The findings of this study will provide insights as to academic librarians’ awareness, perception and readiness in applying gamification to library services in Nigeria and may provide insights into other developing Africa countries at large.

The purpose of this paper is to describe how Utah Valley University Library staff created two games to orient students to the library and library services.

Library staff developed and marketed the Get a Clue game, which used clues placed throughout the building at the beginning of the Fall semester to orient new students as they solved a mystery. During the Spring semester, the library staff introduced library services through LibraryCraft, an online game where students used library resources to slay a dragon.

In post‐game surveys, students found the games entertaining and informative. The results show students saw the orientations as a good use of their time and their comfort levels with library services increased.

As a means of engaging and informing students, games offer a new means of orienting students to the library and library services. The self‐paced game approach allows students to learn valuable information with minimal impact on staff.

This paper offers practical information about using games as an academic library orientation. Assessment data support the effectiveness of games as an effective, asynchronous method of introducing students to a library facility and services. This information can be used by other libraries to create their own self‐paced orientation games.