Students participating in the event. Photo via the Milligan Libraries Facebook Page.
On Jan. 18, the Welshimer Library hosted an event called “Escape From Welshimer.” The event drew in 50 attendees including students, faculty and families of faculty members.
The game was created by Mary Jackson, research and instruction librarian of the Welshimer Library. Attendees participated in an escape room style game with a “decades” theme. The players were divided into groups and given a series of puzzles to solve; the completion of which revealed the code for the lock on a chest which contained prizes for the participants and signaled the team’s “escape.”
Materials used in the event were purchased with money from an Appalachian College Association grant. As a condition of the grant, the event required an educational purpose. As such, the game required the players to utilize Library resources. In the course of the evening, players visited study rooms, used Welshimer’s MC search database, and retrieved books as they gathered their clues.
“We wanted you to not only have fun, but there was a learning component that was in there” said Jackson, “The emphasis was on fun.” After “escaping”, players were asked to fill out a survey that informed the Welshimer staff about what library resources the attendees were familiar with.
Jackson was inspired by a similar event she observed in August while attending an Appalachian College Association event at Mars Hill University. Jackson planned out the puzzles for the event over December and playtested the event with co-workers and some of their family members in January. The “decades” themed emerged when Jackson realized that it would help tie together the variety of media participants would have to search through. With that framework in mind, user services librarian, Jude Morrissey designed posters themed for each decade and “I escaped” buttons for the event.
“We’ll do it again, I mean, after doing all the work, we’re definitely going to do it again,” said Jackson.