NYPL, Other Libraries Find Success with foursquare

The New York Public Library recently reminded its fans on Facebook that they can check in at NYPL locations on foursquare. I didn't even know it had a presence on the location-based social networking site.

The NYPL's Foursquare "Centennial" badge.

image source: http://aboutfoursquare.com/nypl-badge

After doing a bit of research, I learned the New York Public Library partnered with foursquare in March as a way to both publicize and celebrate the 100th anniversary of its Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on 42nd Street. Users of foursquare who checked in at NYPL locations in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island could unlock a special "Find the Future Centennial" badge from the library. The badge was "the first ever awarded to a public library," stated the NYPL in a press release dated March 30, 2011.

Two patrons, Emily Vargas and Tracy Musacchio, unlocked the badge by checking in at the Schwarzman Building more than 10 times. They talk about their love of the NYPL and foursquare in this video:

Increasingly, other library systems across the country and around the world are teaming up with foursquare to stay connected with patrons for whom social networking is second nature. In the wake of the New York Public Library's success with foursquare, NYPL's e-communications manager Johannes Neuer granted an interview to the Routledge Library Newsletter, in which he discussed foursquare and how it could work for your library. A slide presentation of this interview is below.

What is Foursquare and How Could It Work in Your Library? – Routledge Library Newsletter September 2011

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