The DDC was in its 21st Edition when geocaching was first played in 2000. Geocaching is an outdoor pursuit where players use GPS technology to track down hidden “caches”. The caches are more likely to have little trinkets, or even just a logbook, but the activity speaks to one’s inner child, or perhaps even the archetypical pirate’s hunt for buried treasure. Despite these romantic aspects, geocaching was sparked by a fairly technical change to GPS technology, which made it much more accurate as of 2000.
After receiving a request for a DDC number for geocaching, I knew I’d want to start at 796.5 Outdoor life. Presumably one could create an indoor geocache, but players would quickly run into trouble accessing it, so outdoor life it is. Since most of the subdivisions of 796.5 are already in use, I thought I could add geocaching as a “roommate” to another topic. Orienteering is an older game than geocaching, but both are fundamentally about taking navigational technology and turning it towards fun, competition, or both.
Along with other changes approved at electronic EPC Meeting 142D, the scope of 796.58 has been widened to both orienteering and geocaching. Two new subdivisions have been authorized for the individual pursuits: 796.582 Orienteering and 796.587 Geocaching.
Now that geocaching has its own DDC number, who wants to create a cache with coordinates that incorporate 796.587? Or maybe print out this post and put it in a cache near a library? The possibilities are endless!
My library has a geocache on the shelf, disguised as a book. It was at 790, but I just updated the record and replaced the spine label so it's now at 796.597.
https://np.ent.sirsi.net/client/en_US/default/search/detailnonmodal/ent:$002f$002fSD_ILS$002f0$002fSD_ILS:241625/ada?qu=fleur+de+lis&d=ent%3A%2F%2FSD_ILS%2F0%2FSD_ILS%3A241625%7EILS%7E0&te=ILS
Posted by: Paul Slaughter | 18 May 2021 at 01:51 PM
Excellent! Best wishes to NPL from this former Moscow resident. :)
Posted by: Alex | 19 May 2021 at 03:03 PM