As soon as we saw it, we fell in love with the North Carolina State University Libraries’ amazing “Mobile Scavenger Hunt.” It represents the perfect application of mobile technology (iPod Touch devices networked with the Evernote content sharing system) to engage students while they learn about NCSU’s wealth of library resources. But NCSU is a very large institution (34,000+ students) with a reputation for cutting-edge library initiatives. How could we make their program work at a smaller institution like ours (< 5,000 students)? By working really hard, refusing to take ourselves too seriously, and being willing to try things out before they were completely perfected, we were able to treat our first-year seminar students to “Library vs. Wild,” a fast-paced, active-learning game in which students work together to explore the far reaches of the information wilderness. We’ll share how we adapted NCSU’s game to work for our library, our learning outcomes, and our personality.
