Abstract When first-year and transfer undergraduate students arrive at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, an urban four-year commuter college, they may feel anxious about using the library. To welcome students and showcase the library as a relevant part of their college experience, librarians created “Escape the Library!”, a murder mystery game based on a real 1921 crime. Students compete in teams to find clues and solve the mystery, drawing on primary sources housed in the special collections. The major objectives for the activity are to introduce students to the library building, foster a welcoming and fun atmosphere, and acquaint students with basic research skills. In partnership with another campus program, and with small grants supporting campus engagement, the library has offered this activity to over 600 students without an additional budget and without overburdening staff. This article describes the coordination, design, and narrative of this successful activity, including iterative changes made based on student feedback. A post-activity survey indicated that these changes resulted in improvements: 88% of students surveyed called the activity “fun” or “very fun,” and 92% stated that they gained a research skill or learned about a library resource.

中文翻译：

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介绍一年级学生并将他们转移到特殊收藏中具有历史奥秘的大学图书馆

摘要当一年级和转学本科生到达约翰·杰伊刑事司法学院（这是一所城市四年制通勤学院）时，他们可能会担心使用该图书馆。为了欢迎学生并展示图书馆作为他们大学学习的重要内容，图书馆员创建了“逃离图书馆！”，一款基于1921年真正犯罪的谋杀神秘游戏。学生们利用特别收藏中的主要资源，参加小组比赛以寻找线索并解决奥秘。这项活动的主要目的是向学生介绍图书馆建设，营造热情好客的氛围，并使学生熟悉基本的研究技能。与另一个校园计划合作，并提供小额资助以支持校园参与，图书馆已经为600余名学生提供了这项活动，而没有额外的预算，也没有增加工作人员的负担。本文介绍了这项成功活动的协调，设计和叙述，包括根据学生的反馈进行的反复更改。活动后的一项调查表明，这些变化带来了改善：88％的被调查学生称该活动为“有趣”或“非常有趣”，而92％的学生表示他们获得了研究技能或了解了图书馆资源。