GEOCACHING FOR LIBRARIES

Geocaching is a popular game, similar to orienteering, that combines treasure hunting with GPS technology. Players search for hidden caches of “treasure” using GPS coordinates and other clues. A central listing of caches is maintained at www.geocaching.com along with descriptions of various types of caches and guidelines for creating new caches. The Geological Society of America has recently jumped on the geocaching bandwagon by sponsoring a network of “Earthcaches”, caches with an educational earth science theme (www.geosociety.org/earthcache/).

Libraries can capitalize on the popularity of this sport in several ways. Most obviously, geocaching is a way to introduce people to your library. A creatively designed multi-cache can double as a library tour. Clues can be imbedded in online catalog or database records, as a way to highlight these resources, and can even be used to explain your library's classification system. Finally, geocaching is a way to bring some fun into your library and accomplish some educational goals at the same time.