Gamifying Information Literacy: Using Unity and Github to Collaborate on a Video Game for the Library

Gamification, as a way to engage students in the library, has been a topic explored by librarians for many years. In this article, two librarians at a small rural academic library describe their year-long collaboration with students from a Game Design Program to create a single-player pixel-art video game designed to teach information literacy skills asynchronously. The project was accomplished using the game engine Unity and utilizing GitHub for project management. Outlined are the project's inspiration, management, team structure, and outcomes. Not only did the project serve to instruct, but it was also meant to test the campus’ appetite for digital scholarship projects. While the project ended with mixed results, it is presented here as an example of how innovation can grow a campus’ digital presence, even in resistant libraries.