Keynote Address: Your Turn

Greg Niemeyer

Do you know the things you need to know to engage with your environment in meaningful ways? For Greg Niemeyer, this question becomes manageable in the form of games. Niemeyer, Associate Professor for New Media at the University of California Berkeley, was the keynote speaker for the June 08 LOEX of the West Conference in Las Vegas.

Born and raised in Switzerland where he studied photography and classics, Niemeyer received his MFA in New Genres from Stanford University. Teaching classes such as Game Design Methods and American Cybercultures, Niemeyer strives to blur the boundaries between art, science and technology.

Greg Niemeyer thinks that we live in mixed worlds, which are made up of equal parts of imagination and perception. Living in this mixed world we are in constant state of learning, in which we experience which imaginations connect to which perception in which ways. If we are attuned to this learning process, Niemeyer argues, we can continuously improve our relation with the lived environment. The mixed-world experience includes informative, performative and transformative elements. All of these elements and the learning process they configure can be enhanced through games. In fact, he says, games are “lab settings in which we try to relate to other human beings.“ (Edelstein, 2006).

Slides from this talk.

Composition Programs to Incorporate Information Literacy Across the Curriculum

Composition Programs to Incorporate Information Literacy Across the Curriculum
Sarah Fabian - First Year Experience Librarian, Eastern Michigan University
Suzanne Gray,- Information Literacy Librarian, Eastern Michigan University
Libraries play a pivotal role in insuring that our institutions’ graduates achieve essential outcomes in the realm of lifelong learning, writing, and critical thinking. We will propose strategies for leveraging a more information literacy-focused curriculum through collaboration with writing centers, first-year writing, and writing across the curriculum programs. Handout

A Portal to Student Learning: What instruction librarians can learn from video game design

A Portal to Student Learning: What instruction librarians can learn from video game design
Nicholas Schiller - Library Instruction Coordinator, Washington State University Vancouver
Our students are coming to the university having spent thousands of hours playing games. This presentation will analyze the learning techniques designed into the game Portal and provide practical instruction techniques that are familiar to a generation of games and also appropriate for the rigors of academic research.

Benevolent Blue: Playing with Information Literacy

Benevolent Blue: Playing with Information Literacy

Jerremie Clyde- Liaison Librarian, University of Calgary
Chris Thomas - Liaison Librarian,University of Calgary

Using Benevolent Blue, key concepts of digital game based learning and accessible game development will be presented through discussion and play. Benevolent Blue is a Half-Life 2 mod built to test the effectiveness of first-person perspective action games to introduce players to information literacy skills.

Fantasy Sports: The Road to Information Literacy Champions

Fantasy Sports: The Road to Information Literacy Champions (.pptx)
Paul Waelchli - Assistant Director for Library Instruction and Public Services, University of Dubuque
Sara Holladay - Electronic Resources Management Librarian, University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries
19.4 million fantasy sports players rely on information literacy to succeed, but do not realize it. This session provides a way of connecting fantasy strategies to academic skills to create successful, information literate students. In addition, one library's implementation and assessment of a fantasy football information literacy session are discussed.


Bridge to Info Lit (pdf)

Lesson Plan (pdf)

Toolkit (pdf)

The Library Arcade

The Library Arcade
Dan Hood - Information Literacy Fellow, Carnegie Mellon University

Discover Carnegie Mellon University Libraries' Library Arcade , starting with a brief discussion of educational gaming and ending with the marketing of their final product. Hear how the project addressed learning outcomes, assessment, information literacy, visual literacy, libraries and the "lame factor", gaming culture/millennials, working with outsourced game designers, user testing, and everything else involved in creating these information literacy computer games.

A Team Approach: Libraries and Athletics Develop the Information-Savvy Freshman Athlete

A Team Approach: Libraries and Athletics Develop the Information-Savvy Freshman Athlete
Erin Ellis - Social Sciences Librarian, U. of Kansas
The University of Kansas (KU) Libraries and Athletics partnered to address the needs of incoming freshmen athletes. In support of student-athletes arriving on campus as part of the NCAA Bridge program, the Libraries had an unprecedented opportunity to create and deliver a course, LA&S 292: Research Methods and Information Literacy.