As we have seen throughout the explanation of what geocaching is and how it works, librarians can use this game to highlight their collection and attract new audiences to the library.
In fact, as mentioned previously, by adopting this game, librarians can reach a part of the geocacher community. To maximize the visibility of their collections, they can use different types of cache and especially the free one. By this action, they can reach two types of public the local and particularly the non-users as well as the tourist.
In the case of iTSelf project, we can illustrate with the Belgrade City Library a multi-virtual cache. They would like to promote a cultural heritage collection of postcards from the city of Belgrade. They can:
- Select different historical postcard illustrating different places from Belgrade.
- Make a description of these historical places.
- Get an accurate mapping of the GPS coordinates of the actual location shown on the postcard.
- Log into their account and indicate the geocache on geocaching website with the postcard and its description.
- They can also add some clue guiding geocachers from a place to another leading them to the library where they can discover the whole collection.
Below we will give different examples mentioned on the Geocaching website to illustrate what we mean.
- Neredzamā bibliotēka. Promoting an exhibition by creating an event-cache.
Geocachers were invited to meet in the National Library of Latvia (NLL). It was the last day of the exhibition “Invisible Library” that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the NLL. At the meeting, geocachers were invited to look back at a series of caches and take the last chance to see the exhibition in a tour guided by the curator dr. Kristīne Zaļuma.
- A postcard from Serbia. Showcase heritage.
In this virtual mystery cache, the person who hides the postcard gave the GPS coordinate as a crypt that geocacher must decipher it to find the cache.
- Syracurse Library Books & Fun. Promoting books by creating an event-cache
Cachers are invited to bring their favourite book and meet at the Syracuse Public Library to “flash a photo”. This event aims to bring geocachers together in a creative way, to introduce the hobby to the new participants, and to invite them to share their favourite book and geocaching adventure.
- Williamson County Library. Geocaching presentation
People were invited to a short presentation to discuss the basics of geocaching at Williamson County Library, followed by Q&A session and a hands-on caching demo outside this will help them to put their newfound skills into practice.
- Victor Library. Finding out more about Geocache
Geocaching beginners are invited to come to the Victor Library to find out more about puzzle caches, multis, Whereigos, travel bugs, night caches and other facets of Geocaching. This event is also dedicated to experienced cachers who are looking to meet some local cachers.
In addition to these few real-life examples, we can suggest that librarians:
- Create a Cache In Trash Out® event (CITO). It is an environmental initiative supported by the geocaching community. Since 2002, CITO has helped preserve the natural beauty of cache-friendly spaces. In that time, more than 363,000 people have volunteered at 18,000 CITO events. Twice per year, geocachers can earn virtual souvenirs by hosting and attending events during CITO seasons. At CITO events, geocachers and community groups work together to improve parks and other outdoor environments. They pick up trash, plant native vegetation trees, remove invasive species, build trails, and more.
- Librarians can also partner with another library with common interest in another part of the country or the world. They can also put a trackabale like a geocoins in their cache that should reach the partner library.
More actions to be imagined…