Trying and Failing and Trying Again: VR Programming in Libraries

During the 2018 VILSC Conference we presented on the topic of participatory culture in libraries and used the Greater Victoria Public Library’s DigiLab programming as a successful example of participatory culture and community-led programming. Some of the feedback we received during that session was that what we were doing sounded great, but why was it only for teens?
We took that feedback and ran with it, creating a programming series entitled Welcome to the Future that features newer technologies than our traditional adult technology programming offered. Our VR programming for teens had been so successful that we tried to use the same model of programming for adults, and, through feedback from patrons, learned very quickly that that particular model did not work for them. We have since taken the patron feedback and recreated our VR programming for adults to better reflect how and what they want to learn about VR in programming, and we plan to share what we have learned in this session.