Fifth and final (draft) clue for induction escape box

A sheet using British Sign Language fingerspelling

This is the final clue in the series, as I'm hoping 5 fairly easy clues should be reasonable for most groups to solve in a 30 minute time period....

This one is a coded question, using British Sign Language finger spelling - though please note I haven't checked it properly yet! It asks a simple question about opening hours, which they should be able to work out from the materials in the room. To get to that point, one of the posters on the walls of the room (maybe hidden behind another one?) will be the BSL finger spelling alphabet.

By the time they've finished all the clues, they will have covered roughly the same material as we cover in a "standard" induction, but in a very different way. They will be rewarded (if they solve this last puzzle) with a congratulatory message and the chance to help themselves to a 38mm pin badge - I've posted a couple of examples below.

Badge artwork saying I played the @hublib induction

Badge artwork saying I escaped the induction @hudlib

Fourth (draft) clue for induction escape box

A grid to work out the required code. Looks like a cryptex

Another puzzle! This one is a series of fairly simple questions they need to work out the answers to, combined with the grid above that allows them to work out a five letter word that unlocks the next puzzle. For example, the question below should give them the letter Y. (Answer is "4" - then look at the 4th column in the row labelled with the icon shown on the question sheet! This gives "Y".) I've only given one example of a question below as the trick is in the code grid above...

Sample clue about reading lists

I've got a small lockable box to use for this one and I think Mike at work did a lovely job on replicating it with the grid at the top! It is just large enough to fit a small key and a bit of paper in, so when they open it up they will get a key that fits a padlock on the box with the next clue in.

Third (draft) clue for induction escape box

I think this clue will need to be A4 in size to work... hidden in the text shown by this image is a secret message that says:

(Paragraph 1) number of digits username

(Paragraph 2) print cost black and white

(Paragraph 3) minimum space student drive K

That secret message will be revealed by a template with holes cut into it to match the words / letters in the hidden message above! I may leave the template elsewhere in the room to make it slightly less obvious than giving it at the same time as the text above...

The answers will be found in our standard miniguide we'll leave in the room.

Second (draft) clue for induction escape box

Second (draft) clue done for the escape room induction! I'll try two versions of this - one like the image above, and one where the sentence "Can you visit the Musics Library..." is replaced by "Can you visit these areas of the library" so they need to work out from the images that we mean Music / design / etc. The image will be printed on jigsaw pieces, so they need to assemble it themselves.

One of the materials left in the room will be a library floor map, which they will need to use to work out the answer! It will then give them a 4 digit code for the next padlock.

First (draft) clue for induction escape box

Getting together my clues for the Escape Room style induction as pitched at the Lagadothon at LILAC...

Mike at work is putting them into a nicer looking format than I can manage, so this is the draft version of the "jumping off" point for the induction. Alongside this there will be a UV torch hidden in the room (the clue emoldens time to show them where to look).

On the back of the above clue will be the real puzzle! It will be written in "invisible ink" that is only visible when the UV torch is shone on it.

a)      How many items an Undergraduate can borrow x Floor where the DVDs are

b)      How many items a Postgraduate can borrow / Floor where you take out books

c)       Where the reservation shelf is

With materials in the room that will help them work out the answers. This gives a 3 digit code to open a padlock in my "special box" that will reveal the next clue...

Escape rooms and the Lagadothon

George trying my sample escape room puzzle.

At the LILAC conference recently (I've also done a quick reflection on the conference), there was a new thing... the Lagadothon!
It was a chance to bring along prototypes of information literacy interventions, show them to a group of people, get feedback on them, plus be in with a chance to win a prize to develop them further.
I took along something I thought was a slightly batty idea, to create an escape room style induction. Much to my surprise, I won!
So I now have a small pot of prize money (£500) to go towards developing the idea further.
I'll use this blog (seeing as it's about games in libraries!) to post occasional updates on how I'm doing with the escape room induction ideas, and either include details of puzzles I've set, or links to where else they can be found.

A quick LILAC 2016 reflection

(Photo of winning game board from @LILAC_CONF twitter account)

This might be a slightly odd place to stick a few brief thoughts about the LILAC conference 2016 in Dublin, but seemed appropriate just because of points 1 & 2 below!

LILAC is always a good conference, I've been to it now every year I've been a librarian... so just missed the first one! It was the 3rd conference I've been to in a 3 week period, so I was tired before it started, but it was by far the best. These are the things that stuck out for me this year...

1) The keynotes were great. Keynote speakers are often a highlight of LILAC, but some years are better than others. This year was particular good in terms of "performances"! The first Keynote was non-traditional - Alex Moseley and Nic Whitton had us playing and interacting throughout their slot, introducing ideas around play and learning in a practical way. Second was an absolute star - Char Booth. She talked a lot about critical librarianship, reflection and teaching - insightful, incredibly engaging and a great speaker overall! Finally was James Clay. His subject matter was a bit more run of the mill, talking about digital capability rather than being as free as the other two with topic (he is currently working for JISC on a project around this, hence the focus of his talk). Even so, James is an old hand at this sort of things and put on a really engaging, amusing and lively performance... just what was needed on the final day after the conference dinner!

2) A strong theme of play and games pervaded the conference. There were a fair few talks that touched on this (including mine and Jess's talk), including one of the keynotes. In addition, we had the first Lagadothon this year. The idea was, people would present a prototype  of an information a skills / literacy teaching resource and a winner would be selected who would get £500 to further develop the prototype into a finished resource. Surprisingly (to me!) everyone presented a game of some sort! (Pleased to say it was me that won, with an escape room idea.) Finally, we had a conference game (#lilacgame) running throughout the conference, ably run by Rosie Jones (and hindered by her evil alter ego, @PIofEVIL) I might have been a little competitive with this...GO TEAM #GREENPI!!!

3) There was stronger undercurrent of critical information literacy running through the conference than ever before, which was great to see... I couldn't help wondering whether this marked the point where larger numbers of people are starting to think about this sort of thing. I could see it ending up as the major theme next year, as play was (for me) this year.

4) As ever, the people at LILAC were great. Lots of old friends and colleagues to meet up with, but also some new ones (to me!) too who really made an impact on me. I've never been to a conference other than LILAC which has such an amazing bunch of people (from all over the world) attend.

5) Finally, apparently posh hotels don't appreciate librarians playing the piano and singing in the early hours of the morning. Who knew?