If you aren’t familiar with Foursquare, the social media location-based game, a brief explanation comes from their website: “We’re all about helping you find new ways to explore the city. We’ll help you meet up with your friends and let you earn points and unlock badges for discovering new places, doing new things and meeting new people.” Foursquare is not only a great way to explore San Francisco, it is also a fun and easy way to explore USF and connect with other Dons.
Just getting started with Foursqaure? Once you’re on Foursquare via your smartphone (iPhone, Android, Blackberry), be sure to connect with your friends (via email, Twitter, Facebook) and meet new Dons along the way. When you check into a location, you’ll see who else is there at the same time and the mayor if there is one. 
One of the fun features of Foursquare (along with badges) is becoming the mayor of a location (called venues you 4SQ) you’ve checked-into. Some mayorships are easier to come by than others. For now, its much easier to become the mayor of Gleeson than it is to become the mayor of the Golden Gate Bridge. If you become the mayor of Gleeson, we’ve got a little library schwag for you – an official, limited edition Gleeson mug.
There are dozens of other locations on the USF campus in addition to Gleeson you can check-into with Foursquare. If you’re somewhere on campus that does not have a location, add it right from your smartphone!
So, let the battles for mayorships commence. For those lucky few how become the Mayor of Gleeson, we salute you. Stop by the circulation desk to pickup your schwag.
PS – Julie H. Since you’re the mayor of Gleeson right now, feel free to stop by the Circulation Desk at the library to pick up your super-awesome library mug. Yea, the mugs are that cool.
It seems like all the new stuff at the library is geared toward people who have time and money for the latest toys and games. What is the library doing for people who don’t have smart phones and/or we use technology for tools not games or gimmicks? There are a whole lot of us.
While foursquare certainly has game elements, it’s basically a social networking tool based on location — so to “play” you do need to use a mobile device.
We’re very interested in being part of online social networking because so many of our patrons use these services. With some services we’re playing catch up: Facebook, for example; with foursquare we’re trying to lead the way; and with all of these new things, we want to see what our patrons will find useful.
So what are we doing for our patrons who don’t have smart phones, or who use technology as a tool? Well, I think our library home page today gives a fair answer to that question. Here’s what we’re currently promoting:
(1) We’re promoting foursquare–which requires a mobile device. If you don’t have a mobile device, note that we’re also promoting (2) the Kindle which you can borrow. Of course the Kindle can’t play foursquare, but the iPad can, and we will soon let you borrow iPads as well. (3) We’re highlighting our print collection with a reference book of the week. (4) We always promote “Ask a Librarian” which shows you nearly every way of getting library help including 24/7 access to research assistance. (5) Our main promotion is our digital collections featuring USF yearbooks online which used to be library use only. (6) And at the bottom of the page I think we answer your question directly:
“765,000 books (51,000 e-books), 50,000 full-text magazine, journal and newspaper titles in 250 databases.
650 seats, 100 computers, 7 study rooms—and uncounted discoveries—all brought to you with the guidance and care of 70 creative librarians, staff, and student workers. How can we help you today?”
While most of our funds and in-person efforts go to our traditional functions as noted above, it’s the new things that get the most promotion. Because they’re new.
So if foursquare is not for you, that’s okay–not every service is going to be for everyone. But if you think there’s a service we ought to be providing, but are not–let us know. We’re all in this together.
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