Video games and prize giveaways are replacing inside voices and studying at the seventh annual library open house, which started Tuesday and will be held again today at all University Libraries.
The event, which aims to make the libraries less daunting to students, is showcasing several new activities to engage students while enabling them to learn about the services available, said Anne Behler, information literacy librarian.
"The campus Educational Gaming Commons are allowing students to play Rock Band in front of a green screen and make a music video in the lobby," she said. "The bottom line is that we want students to have fun here."
Media and Technology Support Services is also sponsoring a Dance Dance Revolution table, and the university libraries will be giving away prizes ranging from blue and white Dell laptops to free spring semester books from the Penn State Bookstore to students who participate in the library tour.
The event is expected to have an attendance of about 3,500 to 5,000 people, Behler said.
Some students were surprised by the efforts made by the University Libraries to make the open house an enjoyable experience.
"I'm actually really impressed," Emily Trump (freshman-economics) said. "When my professor told me that we had to do a tour of the library I was not too excited, but it is actually kind of cool."
Megan Albright (freshman-political science) agreed with Trump.
"You usually associate the library with being boring," she said. "Everyone here is excited, that's what's awesome, they are making it fun."
The theme of this year's open house, "Your Library, Your Penn State," was chosen to highlight the University Libraries as a "true Penn State experience," Behler said.
"We really hope that when students come here they will find that not only do we have great resources to offer them, but the staff are willing to be resources for them," she said. "If nothing else, I hope students take away that there is always someone here to help them."
Trump said she was looking forward to learning more about the libraries to make visits to the library less intimidating later in the year.
Other than helping students use the libraries to their full potential, Behler said the open house is also being used as a kick-off for Pattee Library's 150th birthday celebration to be held over the duration of the next year.
