Michelle Goodridge
Head, User and Access Services
Department(s) or Unit(s): User Services
Known as the "gaming librarian" Michelle Goodridge has been working with games in libraries for over 10 years and joined Laurier Library in January 2016. Michelle holds a Master of Arts in History (2011) and a Master of Library and Information Science (2014) – both from The University of Western Ontario – and has over a decade of experience working in academic libraries. Michelle focuses a large amount of her time and energy on outreach and teaching both on-campus and off and seeks to create unique and non-traditional partnerships such as her work with bringing together academic and public libraries. Michelle’s other (library) interests include gaming accessibility, SoTL, objective assessment, non-traditional library collections, game-based teaching and learning, social media, user experience, and using technology in information literacy instruction.
Selected Publications:
“Reaching Across the Disciplines to Build a Grassroots SoTL Community” co-author with Bruce GIllespie (Laurier) and Shirley Hall (Laurier) in Becoming a SoTL Scholar, Elon University Press, 2024 https://www.centerforengagedlearning.org/books/becoming-a-sotl-scholar/section-2/chapter-11/
“Cynicism in police simulation: A case study of Beat Cop” co-author with James Popham (Laurier), Andrea Corradi (Georgia Southern), Michael Ouellet (Ontario Tech), Sarthak Pal, Chris McDiarmid, and Jocelyn Booton, in Crime Games: Explorations of Crime and Control in Video Games, Routledge, 2024
“Librarian’s Guide to Games and Gamers: From Collection Development to Advisory Services”, co-author with Matthew Rohweder (Laurier), Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited, 2021
“Conversational Gamers: developing language skills and connections through games” in Supporting Today’s Students in the Library: Strategies for Retaining and Graduating International, Transfer, First-Generation, and Re-Entry Students, Chicago IL: ACRL Press, 2019
“Objective Assessment of Pedagogical Effectiveness and the Human Rights Foreign Policy Simulation Game” co-author with Andrew Robinson (Laurier), Journal of Political Science Education, July 2019, DOI: 10.1080/15512169.2019.1623048
Recent Conference Presentations:
“Critical Hit for Inclusion: Game Programs that Level Up Access, presentation, Saskatchewan Library Conference, April 2026
“Finding the Fun: Strengthening Discovery for Games in Primo” presentation, CANRUG conference, February 2026
“Evaluating the pedagogical effectiveness of in-class simulation in a faculty partnership”, presentation, Canadian Librarian Assessment Workshop (CLAW), October 2025
“Game Not Found: Addressing Discovery Challenges in Primo for Gaming Resources”, presentation, IGeLU, September 2025
“If I Weren’t Crazy I’d Be Insane: Mental Health Representations in Comic Books and Graphic Novels” paper for EUROCRIM Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology with Andrew Welsh (Laurier), September 2025
“Developing staff training resources for ILL in a consortial environment”, presentation, Northwest ILL Conference, September 2025
“Perceived and unpercieved barriers to access of gaming library collections”, presentation, OCUL Accessibility Symposium 2.0, June 2025
“Supporting EDI-AR through library gaming collections and services”, presentation, International Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Conference, May 2025
“Making library gaming collections inclusive, diverse and equitable for everyone”, presentation, LibLearnX, January 2025
“The search for the undiscoverable: the successes and challenges with non-traditional library materials in Primo”, presentation, ELUNA, May 2024
“Creating accessible and equitable gaming collections to support research, teaching and mental health through an EDI lens” , presentation, Conference on Postsecondary Learning and Teaching, April 2024
Office: L320
I typically work Monday to Friday: 9:30am - 5:30pm.
I try to respond to email requests by the next business day.
Service Area(s): Building Access, Study Space, Facilities, Access to Collections, Fines, Gaming Collection, Getting Items, Interlibrary Loan, Requesting Items, Library Services, Borrowing books and items, Due dates and fines, Help & research assistance, Online library instruction, Picking up books and items, Returning books and items, Subject librarians
Subjects: Game Design and Development
