Burke, Lai, and Rogers Receive "Innovation in College Librarianship" Award

The NCSU Libraries added to our already impressive list of major awards this week when Anne Burke, Adrienne Lai and Adam Rogers were named the 2012 recipients of the Association of College and Research Libraries  College Libraries Section ProQuest In novation in College Librarianship Award for their work on the NCSU Libraries Mobile Scavenger Hunt.

This annual award honors an ALA member who has demonstrated innovation in work with undergraduates, instructors and/or the library community. ProQuest will present the $3,000 award and plaque on June 23 during the CLS program at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim.

Starting last summer, you've probably noticed the happy hordes of composition students scurrying around D. H. Hill Jr., each with an iPod firmly in hand.  That was the Mobile Scavenger Hunt in action.   According to Rob Rucker, Head, Research and Information Services, "this dynamic activity has radically transformed how undergraduates are oriented to our library’s spaces, services, and collections. Rather than following a librarian on a traditionally one-sided tour of the physical building or a website-centered computer lab session, the Scavenger Hunt throws students into a fast-paced game using iPod Touches and the cloud-based multimedia notetaking app Evernote. As a result, they don’t just learn about the library; they interact with it by exploring spaces and the website, asking questions of library staff, taking photos, and texting information back to librarians. It presents our library in a fun, low-stakes way and reduces library anxiety by using situated, problem-based learning."

Congratulations to Anne, Adrienne, and Adam (apparently our "A" team)--and chalk another one up to adventurous use of technology, attention to the real needs of our students, and the sense that learning can have a little zip in it--hallmarks of the NCSU Libraries.