Library website scavenger hunt

R23–1103: SALC10411

Session delivered: 3/10/2023

This interactive activity is designed to immediately follow a Get Started presentation, to enable learners to familiarise themselves with the Library’s online resources and ask the Library staff member any follow-up questions that they may have at this stage.

The activity answers may require checking if this session is being run long after 2023, as the information on the Library website may have changed!

Supporting materials:

• Slides/materials: Facilitator notes with answers, Scavenger Hunt handout (one printed copy of the Scavenger Hunt handout per pair of students); a pen per pair; an Internet-enabled device per pair; an Internet-enabled PC and projector screen for the facilitator to demo answers to the students. Optional: a vegan-friendly prize for the winning pair, e.g. Oreos or chocolate!
• Practicalities: Ensuring that students are sat in pairs at the start of the session would be helpful for this activity.
• Group size: 30–40.
• Length: 30 minutes max.
• Room: Zochonis Lecture Theatre D
• Discipline: BA Liberal Arts
• Level: UG 1st Year

Learning outcomes:

By the end of the session, participants will be able to:

• navigate the Library website to find key resources and information, including where to find Subject Guides, book onto MLE workshops, understand the Dewey decimal system, and find the Ask a Question support service.

Suggested online resources:

Library Help FAQs, accessed via the Library website: https://manchester-uk.libanswers.com/

Session plan:

Note: The attached facilitator handout above contains comprehensive notes about the content accompanying them.

• Ideally after delivering the Get Started presentation (especially if students are in their first year at UoM), tell students that they are now going to complete an activity where they navigate the Library website and online resources to ‘hunt down’ clues. They will write these clues into a crossword-style box on a handout that we will shortly give them, which will eventually give them letters to rearrange into the final answer. The first team to write down this word and show it to the facilitator wins — they MUST write it down and not shout it out to show that they have gone through the activity and not guessed!
• Before handing out the worksheets, check that students are paired up and that each pair has access to an Internet-enabled device — you may need to move students around to make new pairs to enable this. Check that each pair has a pen to write their answers on the handout.
• Ask them to bring up the Library website on their device. Check for any issues with this before setting students off on the activity.
• Now hand out the worksheets and tell students they may start. Monitor the groups and check if there are any areas where they get stuck — use your judgement if you want to give hints! It should be quite fast-paced…
• Once students have the four clue words, the answer is a four-letter word.
• NOTE: If students need a clue, the word is something that is quite commonly associated with Manchester.

Answers:

1. ATLA — letter is A

2. THREE — letter is R

3. WRITING — letter is N

4. SUBMIT — letter is I

Activity answer: RAIN

• Once a team has shown you the correct answer, stop the activity and ask them to tell the group the answer. Give the winning team a prize if desired!
• Ask how the winning team found the clues so quickly to enable other students to see how to quickly access the Library resources (some students may have chosen to Google the key teams, e.g. MLE workshop names — this is ok!).
• Quickly show students how to navigate the Library website to find each answer.
• Wrap up the session with a reminder that these resources are there to support them all year round, both in person and online.
• If time, open up discussion for any follow-up questions.