National Library Week Treasure Hunt

Update: The Library Week treasure hunt is over! You can still see the clues and details on the treasure hunt page, but you won't find anymore cards.

Thanks for joining in, everyone! Here are the solutions for each card clue:

Card 1
Card 2
Card 3
Card 4
Card 5
Card 6
Card 7
Card 8
Card 9
Card 10
Card 11
Card 12
Card 13

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Happy (US) National Library Week! Everyone should go show their local libraries some love this week, no matter where they are. In the meantime, join us for a library- and librarian-themed treasure hunt!

» Go find the library cards!

We hit the books and wrote up 13 library-themed clues for you to solve. Read and solve the clues, and find the page on LibraryThing that matches your solution. When you find the right solution, you’ll see a banner announcing that you’ve found a library card at the top of the screen.

You have one week—until Monday, Apr. 15th—to find as many library cards as you can.

Use this thread to brag, ask for and give hints, etc.

Important: When giving hints, please use the spoiler tag. To mark something as a spoiler, start your message like this:

<spoiler>

And end it like this:

</spoiler>

As in past treasure hunts, we'll be awarding profile badges to anyone who finds at least one card, upgrading accounts to lifetime memberships for anyone who finds at least five, and anyone who finds all 13 will be entered into a drawing for a LibraryThing or TinyCat t-shirt of their choice.

Troubleshooting

If you’re not seeing banners, or the treasure hunt is otherwise not working for you, you may be using the old site design. Treasure hunts don’t work on the old version of the site. You can switch to the new version by going here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look under "Design." You can always switch back after the treasure hunt, if you like.

Happy hunting!

There's no link for this page at "Come boast of your findings (and get hints) on Talk"....

There is now. It's a chicken and egg thing. We can't make the link until we have the talk post to link to. :)

I know I have the right page for clue 5. But I'm not getting a banner. :(
It's the common knowledge character page, right?

I think Clue 10 is doing the same thing.
Unless I need the author instead of the book.

>4 gilroy: Yeah, it seemed like the same thing was happening to me, altho sometimes the clues are just tricky!

Big hint for #1 and #3:



Search under venue.

>4 gilroy: No, 5's not a character CK.

>7 conceptDawg: You also have to know how to spell the word, there's no "g" on the end! How can this be? /o\

>7 conceptDawg: Wait I am stumped because

/character/The+Librarian+of+Unseen+University

is not it? ....OK, clicked on a link and got it, but it was not the category I was thinking of!

Big hint for #6

You want the author not the book title.

For # 7, other way around!

Okay, now I've got clue 5.
Nope, not a character. A place.

>11 gilroy: Is it

Places: Unseen University, Ankh-Morpork, Discworld?

Because that didn't work....Oh wait. Just the general place name, I see.

#12 hint: You want the book title, not the author. The big clue for the author is the movie title.

>4 gilroy: It needs to be something that rhymes with "extraneous." Hell if I know what that is, though, my brain was helpfully all "Everything is ILLUMINATED! That's the answer! Job well done, me!" ....I resorted to a rhyming dictionary.

I finally got them all. the only one that gave me any trouble was 8, because I couldn't figure out which branch to go to in local.

>12 the_red_shoes: It's the name of the series, not the author or the place

>16 PawsforThought: Nooo, it's also a place.

>15 yoyogod: It's a very clever clue in a number of ways! I'm from there.

Got 10 on my own. Now to ponder a bit and perhaps a bit more googling.

>17 the_red_shoes: But you're not looking for the place, like a tag or CK, you're looking for the page for the series

I can't work out what #8 is supposed to be, and I thought I'd figured out #11 but it turned out to be #12. So I have no clue what #11 is. Help!

>18 the_red_shoes: I thought knowing more about the city would probably have helped. As it was, the rhyme was enough to get me the name, and I just had to click through the branches until I found the right one.

OK - I know its National Library Week, but for those of us who prepare taxes in the US, its actually National Have No Sleep, Have No Life Because Taxes are Due in One Week Week! LOL! This hunt is going to distract me - but maybe that's a good thing!

OK, I got 'em all except for #4 and #11. #11 I just have absolutely no freaking clue (LOL), no idea even how to search for it. Psalm and yarns what?

#4 is not Hurston or Jeanette Winter or any of their works as far as I can see, so no idea. In fact I tried checking the authors for all books with that title, no dice, even tried Pete Seeger and Harriet Tubman? Nope.

>20 PawsforThought: fair enough!

>21 PawsforThought: 11 is looking for the first book in a series of collected webcomics set in a library.

>21 PawsforThought: I have absolutely no idea what #11 is. I think it will turn out to be one of those picture books parents are achingly familiar with that non-parents have never heard of.

#8 You want something that rhymes with "rattle"....and is one syllable longer....

>24 the_red_shoes: for number 4 you are in fact looking for a book by one of the authors you mention.

>24 the_red_shoes: It's a children's book. The title is the equivalent of "book bus" except powered by a horse-relative that's also known as an "ass".

>26 yoyogod: Thank you! A quick google search and I got it. Now only #8 left.

>26 yoyogod: Ohh that's it, I don't read webcomics (they're too hard to get through on a laptop for me). TY!

>10 the_red_shoes:

? RE: 7 The author got me nothing, the title did.

>27 the_red_shoes: Ah, thank you! I was stuck on the other side of the country. I thought for sure New York Public Library would be the answer, but apparently not.

That's the last one for me. This was fun as always, but the fun is always over too fast!

>29 PawsforThought: "This tale is by the author of...." yeah okay I can't freaking read, I was looking for a person/author. TY! Got 'em all now.

Two more down. One on my own and one with a hint. One left.

>31 lilithcat: RIGHT, sorry.

Well, I had a fun and easy time with most of them, but I'm struggling with #6 and #12. Hints would be welcome!

>32 PawsforThought: Aww. The Pacific geoduck is a clam! Central branch is also the flagship for this city, and there's a special spiral section: a major section of the building is the "Books Spiral," (designed to display the library's nonfiction collection without breaking up the Dewey Decimal System classification onto different floors or sections). The collection spirals up through four stories on a continuous series of shelves. This allows patrons to peruse the entire collection without using stairs or traveling to a different part of the building. (Wiki)

>36 Euryale: For #6 I googled the phrase in quotes. For #12 the author's name is from "Butch _______ and the Sundance Kid...."

I got them all! #8 was the hardest, and I appreciate the hints in >27 the_red_shoes: and >32 PawsforThought:!

Got 'em all! That was fun, though #5 gave me fits for a while, trying to figure out exactly what page was wanted, and the hints were needed for #11.

Also, that owl and card catalogue on the banner is too cute! Where did you guys get the art? The "598" is an especially nice touch.

>36 Euryale: Google the next to the last line

>40 Marissa_Doyle: Yeah, "The University of this series" turned out to be the important part of the clue. They can be tricky about whether it's title, author, place, series....!

Why can't I get card 6? I know who wrote them and what they are called. Nothing I call up has a banner. No spoiler here!

>37 the_red_shoes: Yeah, I know that the geoduck is a clam but that doesn't help when you don't even know that a public library in that city is famous - for any reason. I'd never heard of it before. I think this is one of those times when US LT:ers have an advantage to us non-US LT:ers.

>44 khiemstra631: It's not the author but one of the titles he's written

>44 khiemstra631: For #6 try searching for the title and then clicking on the author link??

>12 the_red_shoes: >16 PawsforThought: >17 the_red_shoes: For #5 The major clue on what type of page you're looking for is "this series"

>41 the_red_shoes: All praise to our resident developer (and designer, and artist), @conceptDawg.

>21 PawsforThought: Paws, I searched for a tag (the word was mentioned in the clue), and then looked at the tagmashes on the right for one that I thought might apply to the type of book listed. Then it was just a matter of looking at a couple of the authors whose names were hinted at in the clue until I found the right book.

>23 rretzler: Finished - and now back to the taxes!

>46 PawsforThought: It really isn't. It's "Now, who came up with them?"

>44 khiemstra631: and >46 PawsforThought: For #6 You're looking for an author

>48 lorannen: & >49 rretzler: I've found them all, already. Thank you anyway for the clues, I'm sure others will find them helpful.

>48 lorannen: I should not try to Knowledge before not enough coffee, LOL. -- It is a lovely design! I wouldn't mind having that on a coffee mug or a T-shirt. And this was so fun, I think these clues were my faves out of all the hunts so far.

>45 PawsforThought:

I think this is one of those times when US LT:ers have an advantage to us non-US LT:ers.

Nope. I had to click through the branches until I found the right one. Never heard anything about the SPL before. I think it's "residents of that city have an advantage"

>50 the_red_shoes: Sorry, I misremembered.

>45 PawsforThought: It was designed by Rem Koolhaas and caused quite a stir when it first went up -- was even written up in the NYTimes! But maybe not in non-US papers tho.

>54 lilithcat: Sure, but the country itself helps too. You're way more likely to know that a city has a famous library (and the features it's famous for having) if you're a citizen of that country than if you're form the other side of the world.

>54 lilithcat: OMFG, it's totally infamous here. Now I feel all parochial, hah!

>56 the_red_shoes: The Seattle Public Library only has Wikipedia pages in English, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Amharic, Chinese and Russian. And I can't find a single newspaper even mentioning it in Swedish (though, why would there be? A library on a different continent isn't news, even if it's been designed by someone famous).

Okay, I'm down to #7, #10, and #12

For #7 - Clueless.

For #10 I've tried illuminated (tag and book), biased, spontaneous. Just not getting it.

For #12 I feel like focusing on Butch Cassidy is drawing me away from the actual answer.

>57 PawsforThought: Mmmmm maybe, but not really. This is a big country; I live on the opposite side of it from that city, and had to slog through the list just as lilithcat did.

>61 Marissa_Doyle: Which list? Of libraries in that city?

>60 gilroy: OK you are having the same problem I did. It is NOT "Everything is Illuminated." I searched for illuminations, illuminated manuscripts....anyway. It has to rhyme with "extraneous." Brains!

"Cassidy" is the last name of the photographer....

>59 PawsforThought: "A library on a different continent isn't news, even if it's been designed by someone famous"....Uh, that is probably the #1 reason why people who weren't from here would know about it. There are people who study his buildings, or just follow his career.

Thanks for the clue in >26 yoyogod: for #11. I now have them all, and thanks to LT for another fun quiz. :)

>64 the_red_shoes: Special interest for people with an interest in architecture, not national news on the other side of the world.

>66 PawsforThought: *shrug* Well a lot of the clues are arguably special interest, which is what makes it fun, but I'm done here.

Okay, now down to #7 and #10

>60 gilroy: Yeah, that's where spontaneous came from. I've also tried contemporaneous, instantaneous. bubkiss.

Since the hint people are giving here for #12 would not have helped me in the slightest (getting the author's name was both easy and not at all helpful), may I suggest looking for a tagmash suggested by the clue? In that case the previously given clue can serve as confirmation of which of a small set you're looking for, rather than digging through the very large haystack given by the previous clue.

gilroy (#68):



#10 is one of Tim's. Search his library for "everything is" if you're stumped.

I'm obviously an idiot because, even though I know the answers to #1, #3, and #8 (and, yes, I'm very familiar with SPL, even though I live in Austin, I cannot find a page with a banner for any of them. Someone said to search under venue but I cannot find venue as a tag. ARGHHHHH!

>68 gilroy: Did you try an online rhyming dictionary? 5 syllables....13 letters....

>71 ferness: Click on Local and then search in the search box under "Find venue"

Ha! Got #10 by searching LT for "everything is" and looking for a rhyme.

>71 ferness:. Aww, OK -- "venue" is not a tag. Click on the "local" box on the Hershey bar at the top of the site. There's a search box that says "Find venues" on the right hand side. Try typing in the name of the city....

>70 lorax: AH! That got it. Thought I'd landed on that book already.

>71 ferness: You want to click on the Local tab in the top brown bar. then you'll find what you seek...

>72 the_red_shoes: Got a better clue. Now to figure out #7

>73 PawsforThought: >76 gilroy: LOL jinx! I'm going to make breakfast now though.

Not sure if this will be helpful, but #10 is the title of a non-fiction book I had to read for my MSIS program - Everything is {insert rhyming word here}.

>78 ferness: Is it any good? It looked interesting.

Thank you all so very much! I will *never* forget about that Local button again!

>80 ferness: LOL, I ONLY found it for myself first by going to Google in frustration and typing in "Librarything venue" because I totally forgot where it is on the site.

@the_red_shoes - it was interesting, but I found it a little pedantic, in that he argues against things like the alphabet because it's random. Um, perhaps, but it's what we have and if we're organizing anything (or everything), it's helpful to have *some* kind of system.

HA! Finally got all of them.

Hint for #7 - partly because I got snagged on this. The town name is the singular version of the Big Easy city. LA does NOT stand for Louisiana.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Done...fun. Thanks.

I got 7 on my own and the others with a little help from my friends! Thanks to you all for setting up the game and helping me to find the clues. What's next?

Number 6, feel sure I'm circling around the right answer but there's nothing doing. What sort of page am I looking for?

(edite, sorry, can't count now either)!

>87 Helenliz: The name of the series

>87 Helenliz: thanks, but sorry, I meant 6. My counting error. If it's got to that stage, must be time to give up!

>89 Helenliz: An author page

Woo Hoo! Got ‘em all without looking at any clues! First time that’s happened (and I’m not even a librarian!)

Thanks for another fun time! (Hmmm - every sentence ended with an exclamation point - I must be excited!)

>82 ferness: he argues against things like the alphabet because it's random

....oh dear.

>38 the_red_shoes: Thanks. Yeah, I had the last name but few ways to narrow the Google search. I eventually found the right guy (and the book in question) further down in the results than expected. I hadn't heard of him; is he famous?

>42 perennialreader: Got it now, thanks!

>83 gilroy: LA is indeed the post office code abbreviation for Louisiana.
www.factmonster.com/us/postal-information/state-abbreviations-and-state-postal-codes

>70 lorax: Excellent hint! However None of the treasure hunt's clues were penned by Tim this time.

>93 Euryale: I think he's getting there, but I actually knew him for his beautiful photos way back in the day on LiveJournal. He did some projects with Neil Gaiman/Amanda Palmer.

>62 PawsforThought: Yup.

Help, please! I am down to number 13 and cannot pull anything up. I am sure I know the answer but apparently don't know what to look for. I have tried both books and Local. Hints? Thank you!

>98 khiemstra631:

To find the correct page, look at the first line of the clue.

Nope. That's not getting me anywhere. Sorry but thanks for trying to help me!

Finally got them all. Another fun Treasure Hunt. Thanks!

>98 khiemstra631: You want the Common Knowledge tag.

>100 khiemstra631: Not sure what part you are stuck on but this library was in a city also famous for its lighthouse. When you get that then go to Common Knowledge and then places You should have only one choice at that point.

>97 Marissa_Doyle: I didn't know which city it was referring to so couldn't go through any list. That's what I mean by it being easier for a US person to figure out.

Thank you! I have them all!

>105 khiemstra631: \o/ Such a ridiculously satisfying feeling isn't it? Now I'll have a little glow of achievement all day.

Excellent, I have a full card catalogue. >:-)

That was fun! I got them all even though a couple were accidental. Now I can get on with my day.

Got them all. A few I knew the answer but struggled with WHICH tab to look under. But eventually found them all.

Thanks for the clues!

I have to say that I have never gotten excited about earning badges. But the ones you come up with for the Treasure Hunts are so much fun, and the Cards are the best! I miss card catalogs.

>94 the_red_shoes: No, the LA in the CLUE does not mean Louisiana

>111 gilroy: Sorry, thought you were saying it was not an abbreviation for that at all. I think it's supposed to work both ways -- "The Big Easy" refers to "New Orleans" and "Orlean," while her book is about the Los Angeles library fire. But LA is an abbreviation for both Los Angeles the city and Louisiana the state. It's ingenuous!

>110 lilithcat: I used to work in a library where I had to type them up according to a template! And then they'd get annotations in pencil and pen and some were really old and then others you had to type up again because they'd rip or people would tear them out of the catalogue. They were wonderfully tactile and great at conveying a lot of information in a very compact way.

>104 PawsforThought: The hints for the name of the city are there in the clue. It just takes a little googling (like many of the other clues.)

My main complaint about these clues (in all the hunts, not just this one) is it's very often unclear which part of the riddle is the answer. Just look at all the people who were trying a character name for 5. And given the placement of the blank in 8, I was trying the city name, not the library. There are a few like that in every hunt. Could you maybe consider bolding "this series" or "this place" or whatever the relevant phrase is?

>114 Marissa_Doyle: I did google. And nothing. Don't forget that Google is not the same in every country, so the matches I get are not the same as someone in the US would get for the same search string.
The only clue that was helpful was rhyming with rattle, which I'd assumed it would but my brain was already so set on the other coast (due to the hints in the clue - coast, famous public library, peninsula, Guggenheim all pointed to New York for me) that I couldn't see it.

>115 timepiece: I think the point of these types of riddles is that they're supposed to be tricky when you're trying to work them out, but very obvious when you've solved it. If the "relevant" part of the clue was indicated somehow, it'd be way too easy.

>116 PawsforThought: PawsforThought

Maybe, but I feel my point about that blank in 8 being really misleading is still valid. That strongly indicates the answer would fill the blank.

>117 timepiece: It's a bit misleading, but certainly not "very". All the clues are a bit misleading, otherwise it'd be too easy.
And the word that fills in the blank is the only word you need to fill in when you do a search for venues so it still works.

>116 PawsforThought: There was one vital clue in the first line--"geoduck"--that would point to the correct location. Or to the coast on which the location lies, more precisely.

>1 lorannen: I had never trouble with the banners in previous hunts, but this time it doesn't appear.
As far as I know I don't use the old site design, but I do use the .nl site. Switching to .com didn't work either.
I did turn of the banner after finishing the last treasure hunt, could that be the problem?

Re: clue number 4 - I was sure I found it under Jeanette Winter , as she wrote a book about a library, but alas, no banner. Need another clue.

>119 Marissa_Doyle: Except when I searched for that world, I was pointed to Maryland for some reason. Google isn't perfect. It was only when I went and researched geoducks more carefully, after already figuring out what the answer was, that I saw the right location.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to figure out that clue, I'm just saying that it's much easier for someone form the US who already has subconscious knowledge about the place in question (and the hint mentioned, perhaps). Non-US (or at least non-North America) folk most likely don't have anything like that.

>121 Micheller7:

Right author, wrong book. She's written more than one about books/libraries. Pay attention to the penultimate line of the clue.

Got 'em all thanks to the help of Google and some clues on here. Thanks to everyone who has provided clues so far as I doubt I would've found some without the pointers. I think #7 was my toughest in the end.

>123 lilithcat:. Got it! Somehow I skipped over that one. Thanks so much.

Got all 13 cards, woohoo! The tips helped!! Thank you all! :)

This is the first time I've finished before dinner on day one! (actually several hours before dinner).
Many cards I found on my own, and now I know about "add venue". I learn something new with each Hunt. Many thanks to those who offered help.

I got most of them on my own, and the last, #11, with one hint. Google is my friend.

FYI, I don't get the pop-up banner announcing the hunt on any pages, just the pop-up banner when I land on the right page. So I didn't know there was a hunt until I moseyed over to Talk. Yes, I am using the current version.

Got all 13📚! With a little help from my LT friends and Google. Now I can get back to reading my book.

I don't get the pop-up banner either. Just use the links in LT news.

Thanks for the clues help - I was happy to finally find them all. I wish I could go see the "mothership" mentioned in one clue - it looks amazing!

Found two right off the bat without having to even think about it. Now to try and find some more.

go figure. #8 was the first one I got

My searches are incredibly slow and almost invariably yield no results. I’ve never experienced this before with LT. I’m wondering whether I’m on the old site but the Troubleshooting message doesn’t provide a link.

You are not alone. See https://www.librarything.com/topic/305702

Same issue here as well. Site searches aren't going anywhere but I was able to find my card by hopscotching from book to book through tags and recommendations until I reached the one I was aiming for. That was for #2.

>134 amac121212: >135 krazy4katz: I’m glad I’m not the only one having a problem with search. I also have no banner. :(

ETA: but I do have a badge already! :)

I can't get any of them even with clues! Guess their just not any of my type of books.

>1 lorannen: Would you elaborate on, or direct us to, info on “old version” vs. “new version”? I remember there’s a distinction, but honestly never had the worry much about which I was using - it all worked just fine, most of the time, including Treasure Hunt banners. But this time, like other Members, I only got a “Library Card” banner when I actually hit on an answer. Confused …

Wow, thank you very much for the badge! Even though I haven’t had a chance to solve all 13 questions yet, I am grateful to receive one. 🗒

I managed to get everything on my own except #10, and the hints helped with that. I was having no luck with the librarything search, so I used google. To get the librarything page I was looking for I added librarything to my search string.

>134 amac121212: that technique may help you.

And I already have a badge too!

I got my badge as well! Thanks guys!

Wow! Getting a badge on the same day the hunt is posted is impressive! Thank you, Tim.

Wow, I got my badge already. Thank you LT for being so quick! And thanks for a great hunt, as usual.

I also got my badge.... Just wanted to mention that the badge I got (Library locker) is different from the one promised on the hunt page (library card)

I am getting a bit frustrated with myself! I got them all with no clues, except for 1!
I am pretty sure it must be the National Archives and have tried every variation of that I can think of, in every category, but nothing. Thinking it must be something else entirely or surely I would have hit it by now!

There's an odd thing, I did not find any heading announcement for the Treasure hunt. I entered the contest page from this talk thread, I went for clue #5 which is the only one I was fairly confident to solve (BTW, "Sturm und Drang" rhymes with "orang" and it is even fit!), but nothing at all.

Only *after* that I saw that I have found the clue and I have the badge. Now I see that I am not the only one, however...

*does a little card dance* Wheee!

YAY! Got all 13. Some help from clues and much Googling, but was surprised at how many I knew the answer to, but just couldn't figure out the right page to look at.

>146 JayneCM: Nope. The best hint is in the first line "a place and a system". Can you think of a place (a library) that has its own (well-known) system?

>146 JayneCM: not quite. Another institution, that has library in their name

I love these hunts. Got all 13 now, but finding the correct page to look out for was difficult this time. I didn't always see a banner so I don't know how I found two of them. Not complaining, though!

Got them all! Thanks so much for these hunts. I was so stuck on #10 and thanks >70 lorax:. That was the clue that finally lead me to the answer.

And thanks to >75 the_red_shoes: and >76 gilroy:. I had the correct answers #1 and #3 but where to find the place to click to get the card? Thanks for your spoilers.

>150 PawsforThought: >151 Helenliz: Got it! Thank you!

Stuck on 2, 8 , 10 and 11. Thanks for any help

>156 tina1969: 11 had me stumped too. Look for a comic book rather than a picture book.

>157 bnielsen: bnielson got that one now thanks. Still stuck on 2 8 and 10

Now just need 8 and 10. Think i have got the correct library just can't find the correct page

>159 tina1969: I was really stumped on 10. I looked at the clue >70 lorax:. That really helped me. Best of luck. There are most spoilers on this thread that our helpful for #10, and they helped, but >70 lorax: finally led me to the correct choice.

>158 tina1969: For #2 think of the kitty that's also a classification system

& for #10 there's a city located in the northwest of the US that rhymes with the last word of the next to last line of the clue. Then it's just a matter of finding the middle ground for a building that houses books. You will have to look for the venue on the local tab for this one.

How do I get the new version?
Thanks.

Wow, has the badge distribution been automated? I got mine already! Thanks!

>160 vancouverdeb:

For #10, that helped me too. And I've read that book!

Got them all now. Thanks everyone x

Finally! Thank you for the hint on #11 - I can't believe I didn't get that one, seeing that I own at least 5 of their books and have chatted with them regularly at conferences.

prattle, cattle, mantle

To all the hinters: I found 8 on my own and then came here for assistance - thank you for your help!

to EVERYONE involved in the setting up the hunt and the people willing to help on the 'talk' page, Thank you for these hunts! they were vital in helping me get them all (the first time!)

Regarding banners: It was decided to not do a main header banner announcing the treasure hunt this time around. You should still see a banner indicating you've found a card when you visit one of the pages that corresponds with a clue.

>162 mnleona: Please see the instructions under "Troubleshooting" in >1 lorannen:.

Tagmash worked best for me for 12 I used words suggested in the 3rd and 4th lines. Thanks everyone for all the suggestions throughout!

Fun contest if a bit frustrating for my brain at times!!

Also, thanks to all the LT folks who put this together! Another fun hunt.

For #12, the banner didn't come up for me the first time when I got the correct book. I knew it was the right one so I clicked on the author's name, then clicked back to the book, and the banner came up the second time I was on the book page.

How long does it take to get a badge? I got them all now, but no badge.

>174 al.vick: All badges are awarded after the treasure hunt ends, so no earlier than April 16th.

>173 mstrust: Did you click from your catalog (or someone else's catalog)? Clicking from a catalog takes you to the book page but you need to be on the work page to get the point.

>1 lorannen:, >170 lorannen: It looks like Troubleshooting got truncated: "You can switch to the new version by going ... "

>177 jasbro: Thanks! Dang smartquotes strike again. Fixed.

>175 lorannen: Is the Librarian's Locker that I got this morning different than the badge for this hunt, then? Because I got a message at 12:01 AM awarding me the badge.

Stuck on 6, 10, 11, 12. Clues haven't helped so far.

>179 shadrach_anki: Looks like I was misinformed. Badges are awarded nightly. This is a recent change, but will affect further treasure hunt badges, too! So, if you've gone a full 24 hours without your badge and think you should have gotten it already, let me know!

Thanks for all the hints, everyone!

I'm still stuck on #11 and #12

Why are we no longer notified on Hunts? I just happened to find it by looking at discussions.

>183 sundance: I actually found it on Facebook at first, because I follow LT there, but links are on the Home Page the top item under top news. I would go in and out of clues and Talk from there.

>183 sundance: I only found out "accidently" by checking a thread that mentioned it. I don't follow LT on any social media, don't subscribe to the newsletter (too many newsletters as it is) and I hardly ever go to the Home page on here. I am automatically logged into LT on my laptop and just go to the Talk page (I just type L in the address bar and it's the first suggestion). If there's no banner, the risk is pretty high that I'd miss out on a hunt in the future.

>180 varielle: For #6 web search the quoted part in the clue and check wikipedia result to find this person

For #10 you'll need to look for a venue page via the local tab that's in an American city famous for the birthplace of grunge and Starbucks

&>182 pith:

For #11 this is a collected edition of a webcomic set in a library. If you take out all the things your books sit on in a bookcasethen your bookcase has been...

For #12 I had to web search this one with keywords from a clue above which mentioned a photographer that worked with Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer and checking his books. Should be obvious when you get to the author page which of his works that it is.

>186 AHS-Wolfy: thank you for my last one: 12!

I'm going to be pedantic about #1. That's not an accurate statement. They don't keep a copy of "all" -- they aren't a national library despite what Wikipedia says.

Thanks so much, AHS-Wolfy! I would have been looking for #12 for ages because I'm very much not a fan of Amanda Palmer so I wouldn't have thought to look there. (Though now that I know the title, I remember reading about it when it came out.)

FINALLY, noodled around and hit on the correct page.
Thanks to all who provided some clues. Often I had the answer, but didn't know where to look.

Thanks! I hadn’t thought of that!

Well, I got 6 on my own. Maybe I will give it one more day before I start looking at the clues. Thank you for the badge, Tim!

Got everything but #2. Any hints?

>6 the_red_shoes: Well, that helped immensely.

>45 PawsforThought: I only knew because I heard about it here on LibraryThing ;). Also, I'm on the West Coast so the clue made enough sense to me. Geoducks are fun! They leave these funny holes on the beach and you poke at it and they spit at you, with a fair degree of force. They irritate quite a few dogs that way.

>194 disneyworldmouse:

The hint I can give is that the answer is really line 3 of the clue. Try Googling that one line?

>194 disneyworldmouse: The cat shares his name with a very famous cataloguing system.

Tim,

A bit overzealous handing out the Librarians Locker badges alreaady, but no harm I guess. :)

Thanks for the badge. Also thanks for showing me how to change to the new version.

>76 gilroy: Thanks for #3. I have never used that area for a search. I knew the answer but could not find it.

>76 gilroy: Found another one using that search area. Thanks.
I hope I have not made a spoiler with my remarks.

>178 lorannen: Thanks for finishing the thought. Turns out, I've been using the "new version" since I don't know when; suffice to say, the old version's been out-of-sight, out-of-mind for a good while until your mention at the start of this thread.

>181 lorannen: The badges are for participation, right? Getting 'em all by the deadline (here, 4/15) puts us in the running for something more, which I don't expect should be "automated." (Or should it?)

>184 Micheller7: I'm not sure I needed the reminder that we're also on Facebook ... thanks for that?

>202 jasbro: Nope, physical prizes are not an automated thing. :)

>183 sundance: I'm guessing you're asking about the banner that has in the past appeared at the top of every page on LibraryThing? We decided not to do that this time around, but thanks for your feedback. We will continue to announce them all (like we did with this one) in the News section on the right-hand side of the LibraryThing Home page, as well as right here in Talk About LibraryThing.

Still can't get #10.

>204 lorannen: I don't have the News section on my home page; in fact I go straight to Talk most days without looking at my home page at all. And I don't follow Talk About LibraryThing regularly. If I hadn't seen the treasure hunt announced on Facebook, I wouldn't know about it. I think the banner was a good idea. "We decided not to do that this time" is a bit uninformative. I assume there was a compelling programming reason for eliminating it? Surely it didn't offend people who weren't interested in participating?

>204 lorannen: I also like the banner. I was looking for this because I knew it would be April 8.

>205 varielle: Hint for #10: look for a book by Weinberger with a title that rhymes with extraneous and if that fails google for Everything is Weinberger

ETA: just testing something Spoiler (click to see)

>205 varielle:
I got #10 by searching works for "Everything is" and then going down the list until i found one that rhymed with "extraneous"

>205 varielle: The hint that @lorax gives in >70 lorax: is actually a very good clue.
Search Tim's catalogue for "Everything Is" and then go to the WORK page for it.

>208 bnielsen: Thanks
I got it before I saw >209 Caramellunacy: but both help.

Got all of them. Thanks for the help.
Special Thanks to LT for doing these.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, all y'all glorious hint givers! I had to read every last comment down to 72 to get the last half a dozen, but I finally made it. This was by far the hardest one for me since the first one when I had not idea where anything was on LT.

>210 gilroy:

I feel I need to spy on certain libraries more. I took a similar approach to #10 but just did it through the basic site search and started scrolling.

Thank you! I finally got it. I was all around it but just couldn't get the right answer.

and another reason for loving these hunts: it puts one in contact with books one didn't even know existed. :) and that's no bad thing...

Excellent hunt! Thank you for all the work that goes into these, I really enjoy them.

I'd like to suggest, if it were technically possible, to add a banner to the main LT page for special events (hunts, Christmas exchange, etc.). I almost missed the hunt in that little box on the side.

Wow, what luck, haven't been on LT in weeks and just happened to poke in for the treasure hunt! I've found 6 of them so far, mostly by searching random keywords on Google, lol. I love these treasure hunts!

Not sure if this is intentional but my badge has already arrived. Such speed!

Omg it took me an entire freaking hour to figure out #12, even with all the hints in this thread!! My goodness. (Thank you to whoever made that one, for taking my mind off my mom's surgery for a full hour!) 8 done now.... This is fun!

Since site search seems to be faltering again, how does that alter plans for the hunt?

Awesome quest! I needed a few hints but did better than I usually do. Thanks again for a fun afternoon!

>220 Heather19: I'm glad we could offer a welcome diversion. Hope your mom recovers quickly! :)

>221 gilroy: Site search recovered! And developers were hard at work on improving it yesterday. The hunt is still on for another few days (set to close Monday, Apr. 15th at 5pm), and current plans are to stick with that. If the outage were, say, in the last few hours of the hunt, then we'd probably extend it.

Great fun this quest. Eventually I got them all

I have them all but #9. I don't even know where to begin with a google search. I would appreciate any help. :)

>225 catzteach: Try googling the name in the second line of the clue.

I can't get #5 and #11. I've looked at all the hints and just can't seem to get it. Help!

>226 PawsforThought: It worked! Thanks! I got them all.

>227 hmartinbb: #5 "Sir Terry" (goggle, there is only one) is the author of a series of books. The name of the series is what you're looking for.

#11 You're looking for the first volume of a comic book by two authors whose last name rhymes with the words stated in the clue. The name of the comic book series is a word meaning to have removed books from the place they most commonly can be found.

Thank you, JayneCM! Helpful clue.

I got stuck on #6 for the longest time. I couldn't think clearly because I had convinced myself the obvious answer had to be Ray Bradbury.
Did anyone else get stuck on that same wavelength? :/

It seems to me, we used to get an email announcing an upcoming Treasure Hunt. Hopefully, I won't miss one!

>232 sundance: Sure - it's called 'State of the Thing'. You should be able to sign back up to it if you arn't getting them anymore.

>120 FAMeulstee: I am not getting the banner this time, either. I actually liked seeing that banner! (Let me clarify, I didn't get the banner announcing the new hunt... I came across it somewhere else, though I can't recall where at this point.)

ETA: Ok I see this in >170 lorannen:. Sorry, busy week. Am just looking at all this more closely now.

Well, I am now only missing three of them, 3, 7, 9. I'm pretty sure I know the answer to 3, I'm just not finding the correct page!

Will be back tonight or tomorrow to try again...

>221 gilroy: In my opinion, it just makes things harder. ;). I managed 6 clues with no search, but it took a great deal of time and some mild frustration. And, in a couple of cases, luck.

>231 Sylak: I only knew that because I'm in school to be a library tech. I had the name wrong at first, so googled the appropriate phrase to get the right one.

>235 LibraryCin:

#3: It's a place, one that really exists. LT has a separate section for those.

#7: This one is very easy to google: find a book about a library that burnt down in Los Angeles

#9: Google the name in the second line of the clue. You're looking for a Work page

Can somebody help me out with number 13?

>238 SDaisy: For #13 The most famous library that no longer exists

>238 SDaisy:

for #13: It's a library from Antiquity, in Northern Egypt. It famously burnt down. Since you're not looking for a current library, you want Common Knowledge, not LT Local

Thank you guys so much, I now have all of them!

>237 Petroglyph: For, #3 - I did have the right place! I just should have put it together with some of the other clues for one of the other ones where that's where I needed to look! Thank you!

>237 Petroglyph: And yay! Thank you. With your hints, I now have them all!

I have to say, after spending hours hunting down all 13 clues, I'd really love if the correct answer was shown somewhere on the page by the clue itself, after you've solved it. I'm looking at all my little greyed-out, check-marked clues and I already can't remember the answers I figured out for a few of them, lol.

>244 Heather19: I've had the same thought every time there's been a hunt. It'd be especially good for those times when you've accidentally landed on the correct page without meaning to.

>236 WeeTurtle:
I was so sure the clues were somehow related to Fahrenheit 451; with references such as 'Culture has mores and society its rules' - which felt like the clue was hinting towards oppression.
The lines 'Used efficiently, in a growing organism' and 'To each a reader, each reader their book' - clearly, to my mind, referencing the living library described in the book. And, 'Now, who came up with them?' - was obvious. It had to be Ray Bradbury. It all made perfect sense to me. ;)
And so I was blinded for the longest time to any other possible solution. The only thing which kept nagging at me was the line '"Books are for use" reads the first of our five' - which didn't seem like a line from that book, and eventually got me thinking out of my comfort zone.
I got it eventually, with some help from others. :)

I think I must have fallen into the same trap for clue #1, as I can't get past believing the answer has got to be something related to the institution founded by James Smithson. I've tried looking under every possible location and even tags, etc.
Am I barking up the wrong tree yet again? :/

>246 Sylak: Yeah, that's the wrong tree. Pay attention to the first line a place AND a system. A place related to books that is also a system. The cat in clue #2 (which I'm assuming you've solved) is named after another system.

>247 PawsforThought: ahhhh! Now I've got it. I did look there originally, but the problem I had was not knowing what the acronym stood for. Although I had spotted it, every library I know uses the other system. I'm sure now that I know what it means, I'll probably notice it everywhere. ;)

Many thanks for pointing me back on the right path.

Only one to go.
Let me see if I can figure out #7 on my own. I'm sure that I am close this time. ;)

>244 Heather19: >245 PawsforThought: I wish the same thing and made that comment during the last hunt, but no changes were made. After the hunt is over however, the answers will be posted here on this Talk string. My specific change would be to click on your check mark and that would bring you back to the page that had the banner.

Okay so on number 13, you should probably Google Libraries in ancient Greece . It really helps😉

>250 WiseGirl448: Just "ancient library" should do it.

I log in today and see that I have found 3. I don't know how I found the other 2. Now to work on the rest.

I still have 5 I can't get. What is most frustrating is #8. I know the place, which rhymes with rattle and I think I know the library, but I still can't get it with all the clues that have been on this thread. Sigh...

>253 krazy4katz: Click on Local at the top of any page and search for what you think the word is

>254 r.orrison: Thank you so much! I have never clicked on that before. I never thought about it. That actually helped with 3 clues!

>246 Sylak: Ah, I can totally see that! I haven't read that book though, so it didn't stick. Being a library tech student, my brain went straight to 'The five laws of Library Science of which #2 and #3 are "Every person his or her book," and "Every book its reader." I just googled that to get the name, since I forgot. Bad me.

On number 1, I think I had a case of under-thinking. I'm Canadian, and even in the field I'm not 100% on US library things, so I just went straight for the most obvious one I could think of. I think that was right. Not sure at the moment.

Just a reminder that the treasure hunt ends today at 5pm EDT!

Badges are being awarded nightly, so the final badges will go out later tonight, and I'll be picking* and announcing prize winners tomorrow!

*A raffle, so I'm not doing the choosing, just running the process to choose winners at random.

>256 WeeTurtle: I'm a librarian and the name (kind of) came to me, I just didn't quite have the correct spelling until I Googled it!

And the Library Week hunt is over! Thanks everyone for joining in the fun. I'll update >1 lorannen: to include solutions to each card clue momentarily.

And now for some fun stats:

656 librarians found cards
378 of you found all 13 cards
Card 11 appears to have been trickiest to solve, with 400 members finding that one.

Oh so much fun! Thanks Lorannen and everyone at LT for creating the hunt! Much appreciated!

Thank you so much for the fun! Kudos to the creators of this hunt.

For those who don't have lifetime accounts, when might the upgrade happen?

It's been great fun as always. Thank you so much!

Yes, thanks again! Enjoyed it as always.

These are so much fun - thank you!

We had a total of 489 members who found at least 5 cards, and will have their accounts upgraded to a lifetime membership soon (if they aren't already lifetime members).

And now for our prize winners (drumroll, please)!

With 378 members in the running (having found all 13 cards), our five prize winners are:

yoyogod, CurrerBell, thebooklover2, bismarckfairy, and BurnsLakeFarm!

Congratulations to all of us! And thank you >266 lorannen: and all the other LT people who helped put this together.

Thank you for the fun treasure hunt and thanks to everyone who helped with clues and congrats to the winners!

Congrats to the winners!

congrats to all winners!
(and thank you to the people who created the clues, of course)

Congrats to the winners. Thanks again LT.

I just got confirmation that account upgrades for everyone who found at least five library cards have been processed! Thanks for your patience, everyone. You can check your membership status here, next to "Account type." If you think you should have received a membership upgrade, but haven't yet, let me know!

Thanks to LT staff - I enjoyed this - it was a great mix of the ones I could figure out to make me feel like I was making progress and the ones that took a bit more work to find.