This past year the library has focused on reconnecting with students through creative displays, regularly scheduled presentations, and passive programming. During the 2025 fall semester, the IU East Campus Library rolled out two new programs centered around “games” to promote student engagement in the library: Banned Books Bingo and the Library Duck Hunt!
October: Banned Books Bingo
To celebrate Banned Book Week, we held a Banned Books Bingo on October 15th. We had a short presentation at the beginning by Instruction Librarian KT Lowe, who talked a little about why books are challenged or banned, why these practices are harmful to democracy and intellectual freedom, and how students can support the freedom to read.
After the presentation, we played Bingo! The board had banned book titles listed and we had a selection of wrapped banned books as prizes for bingo winners. The books were wrapped in black paper and had a short description about the book and why the book was challenged or banned. All student participants were also entered into a drawing to win gift card prizes as well.
We had six students participate and great conversation and questions were generated over the course of the program. Bingo is a simple game, often requiring more luck than strategy, but our participants were competitive and we played enough rounds for all to win a book prize.
November: The Library Duck Hunt
Throughout November, we hosted our most successful passive program to-date: The Library Duck Hunt! After buying a packet of Orb Ducks (tiny, colorful ducks made from resin) at a local candy shop and coming across TikTok videos on others hiding these cute ducks around their homes, library director Beth South was inspired to make a library program out of this.
The goal of the duck hunt was to get students into the library and exploring spaces they wouldn’t normally visit or notice. Students’ names were entered into a drawing for a $50 gift card for each duck they found.
We hosted the Duck Hunt program in November because 1) November is actually duck hunting season and 2) as we near the end of the semester, we wanted to provide a fun and easy activity for students to engage in. We hid ducks throughout the library, hiding them amongst books, study spaces, in display cases, atop charging stations, printers, and door frames. With the help of some poster putty, we also stuck them along window frames and shelves. Almost daily we had students bringing ducks that they found up to the circulation desk and we had to get more creative in hiding them all as the weeks progressed.
We really appreciate all who took part in the hunt and are so glad to hear from many that this was a fun event. With 43 individual participants, and 178 entries, Bryn Barlog was our winner of the gift card prize!
The Library will host this hunt again next November, but in the meantime, we’ll continue to run a similar duck hunt in the spring, but online! So, stay tuned…