NCompass Live: Library Lockdown - How to Build an Escape Room in Your Library

L I B R A R Y L O C K D O W N - H O W T O B U I L D A N

E S C A P E R O O M I N Y O U R L I B R A R Y

NCOMPASS Live

10.5.2016

CURIOSITY CREATES

ALA/Disney Grant for $7500

79 public libraries across the US

Program admins were from ALSC + an external evaluator

Hadani, H. & Jaeger, G. (2015). Inspiring a Generation to

Create: Critical Components of Creativity in Children

WHY????

Repurposing of library space: exploring ways to use spaces in the library in new

and unusual ways

Psychological ownership: fostering a sense of ownership of the library and library

spaces among kids

Structured creativity: giving kids the opportunity to be creative, but within a

framework that ensures overarching goals are being met

Community engagement: making connections with members of the community

who can offer skills or knowledge (or celebrity) to the project

Repeatability/Modularity: being conscious of scope and approaching the project in

a way that allows for easy scaling up or down dependent on resources, time, and budget

PROJECT TIMELINE

1 month of puzzle solving

2 months of puzzle making / storytelling / prop building

2 weeks of testing

BUT THEN ZOMBIES

ATTACKED!!! ! ! ! !

WE SURVIVED

HOW TO SURVIVE

You have to like puzzles or get staff/volunteers involved that do

Market it to schools, so you know people will show up

Make pre-sign up mandatory

90 minutes is a lot of time! 45 minutes + snacks and debriefing is

probably enough

Robots and tech-stuff is really cool, but takes time to learn and

prepare

HOW TO SURVIVE PT2

Have at staff/kid ratio of 1/4 or higher

Structure it! Unbound creativity is great in theory … a little less so

in practice

Ask for help

Always have a plan for the entire session and have simple back-up

tasks ready in case something falls through

THE SHOESTRING SOLUTION

Breakoutedu.com is a great resource!

Normal craft supplies

Repurpose what you already have in storage and ask for donations

Modularity with software that is already written (you are welcome)

• Discrete puzzles and customizable difficulty levels

Use what you already have in your collection for puzzles

OH NO! WE ARE TRAPPED

NUMBER LOCK

How many people came to Swansea, dressed up as smurfs, in 2009?

DIRECTIONAL LOCK

WORD LOCK

I come without being fetched at night, hide

away as soon as daylight strikes. Although I

may look small, I am much mightier than

what you can imagine. What am I?

THANK YOU

Rthoegersen@nebraskacity.com

Curiosity Creates video for inspiration

Library Journal Article more about our project

NLA October 20th @ 2:30pm – come say hi!

Upcoming article in ‘In The Library With The Lead

Pipe’