NCompass Live - October 5, 2016 http://nlc.nebraska.gov/ncompasslive/ The story of how our library transformed an underutilized storage room into a zombie-infested escape room. Library Lockdown! tasked a group of children with the creation of their own devious room, full of puzzles and mysteries. Aside from creating the puzzles, kids had to create a narrative around the puzzles and design the props. Learn about the program we created and how you can incorporate puzzles in your library programming. We will also discuss how similar things can be done on a shoestring budget. Presenter: Rasmus Thoegersen, Library Director, Morton-James Public Library, Nebraska City, NE.

1. L I B R A RY L O C K D OW N - H OW TO B U I L D A N
E S C A P E RO O M I N YO U R L I B R A RY
NCOMPASS Live
10.5.2016

2. 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

6. 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

7. PROJECT TIMELINE
 1 month of puzzle solving
 2 months of puzzle making / storytelling / prop building
 2 weeks of testing

8. BUT THEN ZOMBIES
ATTACKED!!!!!!!

9. WE SURVIVED

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. OH NO! WE ARE TRAPPED

14. NUMBER LOCK
How many people came to Swansea, dressed up as smurfs, in 2009?

15. DIRECTIONAL LOCK

16. 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?

17. 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’