Through a Game Darkly: Student Experiences with the Technology of the Library Research Process

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of students’ library-research difficulties, especially difficulties rooted in technology, to describe how the BiblioBouts information literacy game helps students overcome these difficulties, and to discuss how BiblioBouts has evolved in order to reduce students’ difficulties with the technology of the library-research process. Design/methodology/approach – Data collection was multi-modal involving quantitative instruments such as questionnaires and logs of students’ game-play activity and qualitative involving game diaries that students voluntarily completed after time they played the game, focus group interviews with students who played and did not play the game, and personal interviews with instructors before and after their students played the game. Findings – The technology underlying the library research process is difficult to use. BiblioBouts helps students overcome their difficulties. BiblioBouts continues to evolve to enable students to reduce their difficulties with this technology. Research limitations/implications – Playing BiblioBouts gives students exposure to searching library databases but game play per se does not focus on searching. Practical implications – Students benefit from playing BiblioBouts. They gain first-hand experience and practice with library-research technologies such as the library portal for database selection, library databases for quality information, and Zotero for citation management. They are exposed to more sources than they would have found on their own and a logical, methodical process for evaluating the sources they find. Social implications – Online social gaming has been enlisted to transform library research from a solitary activity into a collaborative activity where students document their research activities and share in the research trail that individual game players leave behind. Originality/value – The research underlines gaming’s effectiveness for teaching incoming undergraduate students information literacy skills and concepts.