An early-career project designing an escape room for a first-year business class sparked a new passion for Amber Sewell.

“I was hooked,” the teaching and learning librarian recalls.

Now in her role at the University Libraries, Sewell helps bring play into classroom assignments. Her endgame is to create innovative, memorable learning experiences that engage students in new ways.

Whether she’s collaborating with faculty to integrate gaming into coursework, facilitating the annual Game Jam competition where students design their own board games using Lied Library’s Makerspace, leading workshops that help students connect their passions with research, or hosting monthly gaming sessions in the library, Sewell is building space for creativity, innovation, and community.

Her approach aligns with the Libraries’ broader commitment to innovative, student-centered learning, where services like the Makerspace and Dreamscape Learn expand what it means to engage with research. Through play, she’s helping redefine how the library supports curiosity, critical thinking, and academic success.

How do you describe your role at UNLV?

A large part of my role is working with students in their general education courses and supporting them through in-class instruction, workshops, and one-on-one research consultations. We work through everything from developing research questions that reflect their interests, developing search strategies, and finding sources for class assignments.

Supporting students also means I sometimes use my instructional design expertise to work with faculty on incorporating games, fandom, or podcasts into their course assignments. I’m also really passionate about using play to build community for students in a non-academic way, so I arrange events like monthly tabletop game nights, game design competitions, and fanfic workshops.

What does being a Rebel mean to you?

My time at UNLV has really demonstrated that Rebels value community and thinking outside the box to achieve their goals. 

Tell us about your career before coming to UNLV.

I worked at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville – I was there for 10 years as a student, faculty, or staff (often in more than one role at a time). While I was there working on my Master of Information Sciences, I got a graduate teaching assistantship at Hodges Library. It was my first time working in a library, and my first project was designing a custom escape room for the first-year business class.

Luckily, I soon started a second master’s with a focus on instructional design, which helped spark new, creative ideas as I went about incorporating play and pedagogy. I did a lot of teaching and a lot of exploring how games can enhance the learning experience and build community. I designed an augmented reality mystery hunt through the library, made a choose-your-own-adventure virtual game for navigating library resources during lockdown, designed murder mystery events for students living in the dorms, and more. It really set me up for success in my role here at UNLV.

Tell us about your interest in gaming, and how you’ve connected that to your librarianship.

The intersection of games and learning is what first really sparked my passion for librarianship. I wouldn’t even say I was a huge gamer before it became part of my work; I was a casual board game player, but that was about it. But coming at it from the design perspective, and using play to create engaging learning experiences that resonated and were really memorable for students – that’s what got me hooked. Designing the escape room was just such a cool way to get students in the library and interacting with the space and resources.

Obviously game-based learning isn’t going to fit every instructional scenario, but I love to incorporate elements of play at every opportunity. Games intersect with pretty much every element of my role here at UNLV, whether it’s talking to faculty about how to incorporate games-based learning, using games in the classroom, or designing co-curricular opportunities to build community around games. 

What is the biggest lesson being a librarian has taught you so far?

The importance of curiosity and flexibility. My approach to my work has evolved into the motto “Teaching is improv" because I never know what topics students are going to be researching, what questions they’re going to ask me in a classroom, what creative connections they’re going to be making to bring their interests into the scholarly realm. My favorite thing is following a passionate student down the rabbit hole of research into their niche interest. Curiosity and flexibility are key to that.

As a Disney fan, what’s your must-ride attraction at a park?

What an impossible question. First off, I will skip all rides to spend time at the World Showcase in EPCOT; it’s been my favorite since I was little, and was only bolstered by working at EPCOT on two of Disney’s College Programs.

Ride-wise, though, I think I’d go with Kilimanjaro Safaris. I love getting to see the okapi!

How did you get into chainmail making?

I’ve been a fan of all things fantasy for as long as I can remember. Every time we went to Disney World, I begged for a sword from the UK pavilion in EPCOT (sadly, I was denied). So when I moved to Vegas and started attending renaissance faires, the crafter in me was immediately drawn to chainmail. I started following a group of lady knights who craft and go to faires, and when one (@laurendoescosplay) started offering tutorials, I immediately bought all the supplies and dove in.

What’s the most Vegas thing you’ve done since moving here?

For my two year Vegas-versary, a friend and I did a pretty Vegas tour. We started with yacht rock brunch at Red Dwarf, checked out Margaritaville in the Flamingo, and thoroughly enjoyed the key lime pie at Joe's Seafood Prime Steak & Stone Crab. I can’t remember if we ended the evening in the Arts District, but it seems likely. 

What’s one thing that people might be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a lifelong Parrothead. My first tattoo was a Jimmy Buffett lyric, and I caught his last show here in Vegas!

What program or service that the Libraries offers do you wish more people knew about?

This past fall, we piloted the GEM Knowledge Series, and I love it so much! There are so many topics we as librarians would love to dive into that we don’t always have time for in a class session, and this series lets us devote an entire workshop to things like: how to research things for class that you’re genuinely interested in (think The Pitt or K-pop), how to make sure you’re getting the best information about current events, how genAI works, and more.

I love that it gives students the choice to learn more about what’s relevant to their lives while letting library instructors put a personal spin on topics that are important to them. 

Outside of work, what are you passionate about?

Gaming, predictably. I love having a tabletop roleplaying group going (currently playing Call of Cthulhu). I’m out almost every Saturday morning with my archery group, another new hobby I’ve picked up since moving to Vegas. And of course I’m a big reader; I’m working through visiting all of the indie bookstores around the city.

What are you currently reading/watching/streaming?

I’m a huge Dimension 20 fan, and they just started their latest campaign, so I’m tuning in every Wednesday for that. I was late to The Pitt train, but have been so immersed in how the show navigates current societal challenges. And I’m a member of Book of Cinz’s Caribbean book club, so I’m reading Lied’s electronic copy of Good People by Patmeena Sabit for our April meeting!