Recent developments suggest video games will be critical tools for engaging twenty-first-century learners. One indication of this shift is the growing number of video game clubs being instituted in libraries across the country. Participant observation was conducted on a library’s video game club to determine the impact it made in the lives of the youth and to evaluate how the program met its goals. Using a grounded theory framework, data were analyzed for dimensions and themes related to the program’s two primary goals: improved learning and improved behavior. Three overarching themes emerged from the data analysis: staff, game club members, and assessment. Staff had a positive impact on youth using their strengths to create an innovative game program. Game club members improved academic, life, and game skills through game club interactions. Library video game programs have unique opportunities as informal learning environments. These programs have the potential to reengage disinterested learners in the educational process through a reward-based system of play. In addition to tracking attendance information, newer assessment tools could explore reading, library anxiety, and information literacy. Video game programs might be improved with respect to measuring literacy and learning. This case study builds on the foundation of previous work by suggesting additional measures that programs might track.

One of the problems that people have in using statistical information from government websites, is that the level of statistical knowledge in the general population is low. People's lack of statistical knowledge is a barrier to finding the statistics they need and understanding what the statistics mean and how to use them. We describe the Statistical Interactive Glossary (SIG), an enhanced glossary of statistical terms, and the GovStat ontology of statistical concepts which supports it. The overall goal of the glossary is to help users understand important statistical terms and concepts in the context in which they are used. We present a conceptual framework whose components articulate the different aspects of a term's basic explanation that can be manipulated to produce a variety of presentations. Developing the general explanation for each term involves three types of information: the content of the explanation, the context in which the explanation will be displayed, and the format in which the explanation will be delivered. Taxonomic relationships between concepts in the GovStat ontology support the provision of context‐specific presentations. These same relationships are also associated with explanation templates, which are patterns for defining or giving an example of a concept. We conclude by discussing evaluation of the SIG. The overarching criterion of effectiveness is whether the SIG helps users complete their statistical information tasks.

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The GovStat Statistical Interactive Glossary (SIG) is designed to allow users of government statistical websites to consult definitions of statistical terms while continuing their current task of browsing statistical websites. In this paper, we present results from two studies of the SIG that evaluated the effectiveness of the SIG presentations. We specifically focus on two areas: the effects of three presentation formats (text only, graphics + text, animation + text) on user performance and preferences, and the effects of three levels of controls for animations on user performance and preferences. Our findings have implications for designers of just-in-time help, as well as raising questions for future research.