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This article examines research on academic library user preferences related to five communication media used to facilitate two forms of library instruction. The corresponding study began with a survey instrument administered to forty-two participants over a three-week period during the fall of 2006. The authors subsequently applied three nonparametnc scaling methods to the data set. Data analysis indicates an overall preference for the 2D webpage approach, as well as notable enthusiasm for the 3D immersive graphical user interface, the principal user interface throughout current digital gaming technologies. An overall lack of preference for the audio-only communication medium is also evident in the results.
This article expands upon recent library and information sci- ence (LIS) discourse related to digital gaming by investigating user perceptions of digital games (i.e., video, computer, and online games) relative to other communication media currently used by academic libraries to facilitate library instruction.1 Adapting previous definitions for the purposes of this discussion, library instruction describes the collective educational efforts - formal and informal - of an academic library2 The primary question driving the present research is, Do aca- demic library users prefer digital game systems over other comparable communication media (i.e., information presentation formats or delivery approaches) for engaging library instruction?
Current digital gaming technologies, such as Blizzard Entertainment's massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft, provide users with functionality far beyond the traditional competitive aspects of games. They also exemplify social computing. Because of three primary factors, modern digital games are significantly different from their predecessors. These three factors are (1) the exponential increase in computing power, leading to (2) the development of more realistic gaming experiences (i.e., three-dimensional direct manipulation user interface), and (3) the Internet. Increasingly, digital game users expect both immersive and collaborative systems in which meaningful game play experiences include user-to-user communication through text, voice, and even virtual body movement. Ultimately, modern digital games are not just competitive environments; through the Internet they fundamentally act as communication media. Interdisciplinary literature on various sociocognitive aspects of digital-game use reinforces this assertion.3
This article begins by discussing two components of library instruction - providing users with spatial (directional) information on physical library layout and educating users on information literacy topics - and considers how the...