Library Scavenger Hunt
USYD Welcome Week 2023
I organised and led the "Library Scavenger Hunt", along with another library staff member, created to enhance student experience and introduce students to the library spaces plus meet new people during Welcome Week 2023. This event displayed 307% more increased engagement compared to previous years (200+ student participants).
Client
The University of Sydney
Team
1 Designer, 1 Academic Liaison Librarian
Role
UX/ Interaction design, Ideation, User testing, Marketing, Event management
Duration
6 months (2023)
Event Summary
The theme for the Scavenger hunt was Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. We set up multiple clues in different areas of the library with our main aim to encourage students to explore different spaces and meet new people by working in groups. After completing the hunt, students would receive a limited-edition library pin.
Impact
This project allowed me complete flexibility and freedom to apply my creativity and utilise my recent student experience and perspective to create an engaging experience for new students. Gathering students and directing them throughout this experience enhanced and built my leadership skills, and truly pushed me outside of my comfort zone.
User Experience DesignIllustrationIdeating innovative ideas for student engagementMy roles and responsibilities
Project and budget management
Marketing & Advertising
Time managementLeadershipTeam collaborationProblem-solvingEvent planningUser testing
Risk management
Liaising with different stakeholdersSetting up
Starting point
I designed the 'Start here' poster in Adobe Illustrator. Students gathered at the starting point and signed in. They were then divided into groups of 5 (depending on how big the group was).
Challenges sheet
The challenge sheet was handed to each group with a pencil to write their answers.
Location & Clues
Level 2 Exhibition cases outside Rare Books Library
"Welcome to the land of the fairies. Find the seven fairies and write down their names."
Level 3 Foyer
"Hamlet’s quiet friend might be lurking somewhere amongst the Rare Books display. Find him and take a group selfie with him, and perhaps ponder the meaning of life and death as you do.
Upload your selfie to the Library’s Virtual Photobooth using the QR code nearby"
Level 3 Kitchenette
"Find the hidden message and write it down. Hint: Reflect"
Level 3 Printers
"Fold a paper flower as an offering to the Fairy King and Queen. It’s your souvenir from Fairyland. Take your beautiful creation back to complete the challenge.”
Level 4 Multimedia room
"Unlock the fairies’ safe and write down what’s inside.
Please close the safe and rescramble the numbers once you’re done :)"
Level 7 Stacks
"Crack the code to find the secret book and take a picture of what you find inside."
Marketing & Engagement
Prizes
The limited edition 'Shakespeare themed' library pin was handed out to students who completed the Scavenger hunt as a prize along with limited edition bookmarks.
Students were encouraged to complete a feedback questionnaire after finishing the scavenger hunt for evaluation which automatically entered them into a draw to win more prizes.
This boosted engagement and encouraged more students to join the event and invite their friends to participate.
Social media posts
I edited this image in Adobe Photoshop to experiment with a combination of black and white and colour to create a poster that represents mystery symbolising our event “Scavenger Hunt”. The image and description text were used to create social media posts for the University library’s Instagram and Twitter accounts, reaching a combined audience of 17,000 students.
Besides social media posts, posters were also put up around the library and the university to spark curiosity and discovery.
Word of Mouth & Curiosity
While setting up different locations for the event, students were fascinated by the decorations and sparked their curiosity to ask for more information about the event. I also noticed a more than usual increased attraction of students to the parts of the library with decoration.
Different variations of the image 
Original
B/W+Coloured pin & flower
B/W+Coloured pin
Final Image used
Evaluation
On completing the scavenger hunt, the attendees were asked to fill out a survey to provide feedback on their experience with the event. We had a total of 128 responses with some main findings listed below.
95% of attendees said they would recommend the event to other students
The top ways attendees discovered the event were through: (in order of most common to least)
• Welcome week planner
• Word of mouth
• Canvas
• Other (over the library intercom)
• Library webpage
• Social media
The attendees were asked to list 3 things they learned from the event. There was a total of 91 responses to this question.
The most common responses were:
• Discovering new spaces in the library
• Connecting to new people
• How to find books at the library
• Developing a new creative skill
• Learning more about Shakespeare
Out of all the attendees, 61% were domestic students and 49% were international students
Conclusion
This activity successfully achieved our main goal of encouraging students to explore different places and meet new people.