Library Scavenger Hunt

Library Scavenger Hunt

One of the important issues in library services to children and young people is the need for this user group to receive adequate training and instruction on how to effectively research.  A library scavenger hunt is a fun and interactive way to help this group receive instruction and practice the skills that they need to develop. This program would be conducted in a public library by the Youth Services staff and will be targeted to students in upper elementary. The program will be held at the library and advertising will be done by creating flyers to be distributed at the schools by upper elementary teachers. The library staff will work with the teachers and the school librarians to market this program.

The rationalization for this program is the disconnection between children’s prior knowledge and their ability to create and implement adequate search strategies. As noted in the literature review there is research that indicates that while children may be very knowledgeable in a particular subject area they often lack experience and skills needed to effectively research further on their own Pattee (2008). The scavenger hunt would also include some digital activities as well since as noted by Bilal and Bichar (2007) children and young people often experience difficulties with digital research as well. The children would be allowed to work in groups, since as noted by Lippincott (2012) millennial or net generation students often work in groups, enjoy using technology and combine their social and academic lives. 

This goal of this program is to help children of upper elementary school age to develop the skills needed to do effective research on their own for both personal needs and academic purposes.  Allowing children to practice these skills through a fun program and work together in groups will also help to make children more comfortable in the public library.  The staff will provide a handout that offers tips and advice on conducting research that they can take home and use in the future.

Works Cited

Bilal, D., & Bachir, I. (January 01, 2007). Children’s interaction with cross-cultural and multilingual digital libraries: I. Understanding interface design representations. Information Processing & Management, 43, 1, 47-64.

Lippincott, J. K. (January 01, 2012). Information Commons: Meeting Millennials' Needs.Journal of Library Administration, 52, 538-548

Pattee, A. S. (2008). What Do You Know? Applying the K-W-L Method to the Reference Transaction with Children. Children & Libraries: The Journal Of The Association For Library Service To Children, 6(1), 30-39.