In other news related to the library world, there have been many celebrations (and more to come!) in honor of the New York Public Library's 100th Anniversary. This past weekend (May 20-23) was the official kick-off of a year-long celebration of the contributions of literacy to society and particularly as related to the NYPL, archives and rare collections.
As part of their celebration, the NYPL ran a contest for 500 participants who were creative, original, thoughtful, and enthusiastic about libraries to spend one night at the main building in Manhattan (the one with the infamous lions standing guard) to participate in a scavenger hunt of artifacts held in trust at the NYPL... and Liz Berilla, Library Coordinator of the Stephen B. Luce Library, was one of the lucky winners!
At 8:00 p.m. on Friday night, Liz (proudly representing Maritime College!) and 499 other participants gathered at the Schwarzman Building to discover that there were 100 artifacts hidden throughout the library, and it was their duty to find them all before sunrise. These artifacts ranged in material from a cuneiform tablet to a Gutenberg Bible, to maps and sun dials, to Jack Kerouac's personal belongings and Virginia Woolf's walking cane. The participants broke into small teams of 7-8, and worked to "capture" each artifact on smart phones, unlocking further chapters in the game with more difficult clues to uncover. After locating certain artifacts of great personal interest, they were instructed to log into the game's portal online, and respond to a short prompt about the artifact. For example, Liz "discovered" the song lyrics to Bob Dylan's "Changing of the Guards," so her task was to write a protest song inspired by Bob Dylan. (Which she ended up writing against modern piracy on the high seas...)
After completing their written parts throughout the night, all 500 "published" entries by submitting what they wrote to editors in a different room who would review the work, then print the submissions onto parchment paper. This paper was then ordered, and given to an in-house book binder who feverishly hand stitched the parchment together throughout the night, indeed completing the task by 6:00 a.m. Saturday morning. All of the submissions on the priceless literary works held at the NYPL have been compiled into one book, which is now being cataloged and available for use at the Schwarzman Building in NYC. The NYPL encourages the public to now "Find the Future" on their own by visiting in person and online until the end of the year.
Based on the teamwork required to "Find the Future" successfully, it was very revealing to Liz how the work that we do as librarians is not just about looking at the past for the present's sake, but how we will thrive in the future because of the knowledge we are collecting today. The access and tools we give to our students here at the Luce Library will truly build a brighter future - one that will withstand the test of time just as the marble structure of the Schwarzman Building has thrived under the watchful gaze of its guardian lions for a century.
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