Your Library Instruction is in Another Castle: Developing Information Literacy Based Video Games at Carnegie Mellon University

Abstract

Being part of an institution possessing a world-renowned computer science school and a reputation for developing innovative new technologies, the University Libraries at Carnegie Mellon were motivated to explore a new method of information literacy instruction. This method was to be the creation of a web-based video game. Through a $50,000 grant from the Buhl Foundation, awarded in the Spring of 2006, the University Libraries began developing a series of “web-based instructional modules." [1] The University Libraries soon formed a representative group of three librarians, self-dubbed the Library Arcade (LA) Committee, to help define how to best transmute the goals of traditional "information literacy" instruction into a video game format. The committee began this process by investigating the past and current trends in video game culture.