We have seen the range of games and gamification ideas we can use within our library environment and have understood the learning theory that supports effective use of these methodologies. Now we consider how we can use these techniques to promote our services either within the physical library or online. We explore how we can share our ideas and the implications of copyright.

The importance of creating impact within the school community

Just as a subject teacher plans their lesson to foster specific learning outcomes, even if we are only using games as a promotional tool, we need to consider the purpose behind our decision. In general, if we highlight a service or resources to others, we need to remember the impact it has on future use. We are again working backwards in relation to the design. The resources we promote and services we spotlight depend on our specific environment and the needs of our wider school community.

In countries where the concept of a school library is part of a new initiative to drive literacy, the focus may be on increasing knowledge about the content of our resources. Most library programs acknowledge that the priority is to have a qualified librarian, robust resources to support teaching and learning, and adequate accommodation as fundamentals, but next there needs to be some active promotion of reading:

We can see that the underlying objective was to promote the value of reading to students using a simple gamification technique.