To raise awareness of the library during National Medical Librarians Month, the St. Luke’s Library in Boise, Idaho held a virtual library scavenger hunt, which we promoted as an opportunity to learn more about library services and resources.
The virtual library scavenger hunt was created in Microsoft Forms and consisted of 13 questions; the final question asked participants to share their name and email address to be entered in the prize drawing. The questions asked participants to navigate around the library website and answer questions that prompted them to practice accessing different library resources (Figure 1). The full survey can be accessed at https://osf.io/yjrxe/files/osfstorage/654aa12ec9ac3f05a22f7191 [1].
Figure 1. An example of a virtual library scavenger hunt question.
Participants who completed the scavenger hunt were entered in a drawing to win a copy of a book called “The Empathy Exams” by Leslie Jamison [2]. While correct answers were included in the form, the form was not scored, and incorrect answers did not have any effect on a participant’s inclusion in the final prize drawing.
We were able to promote the virtual scavenger hunt throughout the health system during October. An announcement was posted on departmental Teams channels, sent out through the health system newsletter, and promoted via an email signature banner on all library staff email signatures. During a biannual leadership conference, postcards with information about the scavenger hunt with a link to the form were distributed to attendees and shared on the conference website (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Postcard distributed to leadership conference attendees to promote the virtual library scavenger hunt
The virtual scavenger hunt was open during the entire month of October and was completed by 23 participants. Sixteen participants also left feedback about the library and the scavenger hunt that indicated a positive experience:
- "Very great resource and I very much appreciate the content and review. I had no idea of the many services and resources available. Thank you!"
- "I have learned so much about the library!!!! This was a fun and amazing exercise. Thank you!"
- "Very excited to start using the services! This was a great learning opportunity."
Based on the positive feedback from participants and the low effort to launch and promote the virtual scavenger hunt, we plan to update and run the scavenger hunt multiple times over the next year as a fun and easy way to engage our users with library services and resources. We also plan to adapt the virtual scavenger hunt for use in St. Luke’s new employee orientation.
- Vela K. Virtual Library Scavenger Hunt Form [Internet]. 2023. <https://osf.io/yjrxe/files/osfstorage/654aa12ec9ac3f05a22f7191>.
- Jamison L. The Empathy Exams: Essays. Minneapolis, MN: Gray Wolf Press; 2014. https://www.graywolfpress.org/books/empathy-exams.
