Today’s walk was our second favorite kind (next to eating). It was the kind in which you make others do all the walking for you.
In Gregory La Cava’s 1936 hit movie My Man Godfrey, it is said that “a scavenger hunt is exactly like a treasure hunt, except in a treasure hunt you try to find something you want and in a scavenger hunt, you try to find something that nobody wants.” Perhaps it is therefor appropriate that we, in the academic library in which we work, decided to host our very first photo scavenger hunt. In the age of Google and Wikipedia, many students (sadly) fail to see the library as a scholarly necessity and don’t always opt to enter. This is why one group of professional jokesters decided to form their very own committee to create a fun yet educational event that would challenge this popular notion and show that libraries can be fun – and we had plenty of super awesome prizes to prove it!
Beyond initial planning and strategizing, some staff members boldly volunteered for the task of puzzle replication. Little did they know that this simple sounding mission would take years off their lives. As more and more students expressed interest and registered for the event (37 more than Kristen originally anticipated, for a total of 38), more puzzles were ordered. As it turns out, it is easier to order than to measure, cut, tape, and perfect. This fact was surprising, and we are sure to be reminded of it when encountering Mary, Elba, Ken, and Celeste in the near future. Thanks so much to you all for your excellent work. And thank you for making them ultra durable so we won’t have to beg anyone to do it next year. Surely no one would agree after reading this.
Darren had a divine vision of a hunt with QR Codes to be used in conjunction with Twitter to keep track of participants during the race. Unfortunately, most were not yet ready for this advanced technology, including everyone on the committee except Darren, who all nodded like we totally got it but actually did not. We promise to be more with it next year. Promise.
Kathy and Kristen scoured the countryside looking for kind sponsors to provide free goodies for the winners – and boy were people generous! Tonight there are plenty of happy students out there, playing some free laser tag and feasting at the Bench Bar & Grill, using the gift card Kristen had secretly claimed for herself in case of a poor turnout. Ah well…it is better this way.
There were no losers on this day (except maybe Jay, who I am told was ordered to sit with a star on a stick in anticipation of clue seekers coming to his desk). Everyone scored points, everyone ate free pizza, and everyone got cool Frisbees and certificates of participation. Sure, some made out better than others, such as the 3rd place team, Red Hot Chili Peppers (given three seconds to blurt out a name), who turned out to be Red Hot Chili Pepper in the end, since the rest of her team failed to show. Luckily for her, she was a genius and sailed through the hunt by herself with ease, which meant she got a gift bag of prizes for 4-5 hunters all for herself. Tomorrow she should arrive to class with 4-5 seawolf tattoos on her face. The look of victory.
The 2nd place team was a surprise since we thought for sure they would be 1st. Or rather, we thought one member of their team would be first when she was the only one sitting in the room at 1pm, the official start of the race. Sadly, she did not win all the prizes by default, but happily it looked like she and her slightly tardy team members had a great time. Or at least we hope they did!
The big winners, The Dream Team, also consisted of a one man team that gained members after he had left the starting line. After longer than I’m sure he was comfortable with, they all found each other and sped past the competition. In the end it was so close that they won by only a matter of seconds, as they narrowly beat the other teams through the door to earn the 5 bonus points awarded to the first ones back to the room. Good job, guys! They are future librarians thanks to this event, that’s for sure.
We all had a great time with this event and hope people will think of more fun outreach activities soon. Every new service we offer brings us one step closer to being able to label next year’s event a Library Treasure Hunt, as students learn to perceive us more as a valuable part of their college experience.
While you’re thinking of these fun things to work on, join us for a walk next week! The weather promises to either be nice enough to stroll or poor enough to eat out. Either way we win.
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