The proposal suggests creating a two-phase virtual tour of the Weehawken Free Public Library to increase community awareness and usage. Phase I would involve developing an interactive online floor plan with photographs and descriptions of key areas. Phase II would add a scavenger hunt game to the floor plan to appeal to children, teens and adults. The proposal estimates costs of $15-1,200 for Phase I and no additional costs for Phase II if developed as student projects. It aims to make the "mysterious hill-top castle" library more visible and accessible to the community.

1. WEEHAWKEN FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY VIRTUAL TOUR PROPOSAL
By Sarah McCarthy

2. Library Tour Proposal
• The problem with the “mysterious hill-top castle” of the Weehawken Free Public
Library is that most people don’t realize what it is.
• Increasing the visibility of our “mysterious hill-top castle” library and its numerous
services through a virtual library tour could greatly increase library usage amongst
the yet unreached library patronage.
• Virtual tours have become a common tool for both instruction and outreach.
• Adding a second phase to create a scavenger hunt game from the library virtual
tour would appeal to this audience while still drawing in adults

3. Virtual Library Tour
in Two Phases
•A Phase I virtual library tour could greatly increase library usage for unreached patronage.
•A Phase II scavenger hunt game would appeal to the large percentage of after-school kids
/teen patrons (and to adults)
•Visitors would try to find 10-15 “Hidden Library Treasures” on secret library resource or
feature.
•Patrons could later find these treasures in the actual library to receive a free museum pass (or
other incentive).
•Note: the ALA is currently encouraging the concept of gaming in libraries. See:
http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/05/american-library-association-goes-gaming/

4. Library Tour Samples
Basic Library Tour (Phase I) Virtual Scavenger Hunt (Phase II)

5. THE LIBRARY’S TALKING TREE OF LEARNING AS GAME INSPIRATION

6. Phase 1: Basic Library Tour

7. Four Steps of Phase I
Create interactive digital floor plan of the library with clickable areas that open up to
photographs / descriptions
Create Floor Photograph Create Tour
Plan Develop Tour
library Location Text Web Page
Total Time: 28-30 hours; Total Cost: $15-$1,200

8. Create Library Floor Plan
• 8-10 hours
• $14.95 a year for usage of Floorplanner.com
• Est. $160 contractor cost for creation of floor plan (8 hours at $20 an hour) OR
• Free if volunteers are enlisted, as the software is easy to use

9. Floorplanner.com

10. Photograph Key Areas
• 2 hours (Main rooms, architectural highlights, special collections)
• $200-500 to hire a photographer for 2 hours OR
• Free if volunteers used– for example, I have equipment & photo background

11. Write Text for Tour Highlights
• 8 hours
• Free, as this can easily be built into the schedule of existing library staff

12. Develop Web Tour
• 10 hours
• $500 for developer (10 hours at $50 an hour
• Est. $160 contractor cost for creation of floor plan (8 hours at $20 an hour) OR
• Free, as this is a straightforward development project and could be done by a
volunteer such as college computer science student or a professional with some web
development experience

13. Phase 2: Scavenger Hunt Game

14. Three Steps of Phase II
Develop Flash version of the above digital floor plan that then integrates a scavenger hunt
game element
Create Photograph Develop the
Storyline Treasures Game
Total Time: 16-30 hours; Total Cost: Free-$1,500

15. Create Game Storyline
• Determine 10-15 resources / “hidden treasures” for patrons to find, and create
storyline and text for game
• Free, as this can easily be built into the schedule of existing library staff

16. Photograph Hidden Treasures
• 2 hours (Main rooms, architectural highlights, special collections)
• Free if done in conjunction with part 2 of Phase I above

17. Develop The Game
• 15-20 hours
• $1,500 for developer (20 hours at $75 per hour) OR
• Free if done as class project for local technical school’s Flash development course, or
college animation or computer science class project
• This portion is more affordable, as it can build upon fundamental work done in Phase I

18. Upkeep
Upkeep would be minimal, with only real additional time / cost
requirements being minor edits for new library resources. This
might require an additional 1-2 hours of work per year ($75-100
per year).
Further upkeep costs would be included if the library dramatically
edits the floor plan, though the maintenance costs would still be
much less than the initial output.

19. ?
And that concludes my
tour of the Weehawken
library tour project…
Any Questions?