by McMaster has been the talk of the town for a while – mostly because we have a new, exciting, innovative University Librarian, Jeff Trzeciak. We have lots of cool new positions (including a gaming librarian) and we’re doing lots of new things. He’s been very supportive of my exploration in Second Life. It seems we got some media attention for what we’ve been doing too! They even managed to take a picture of the McMaster Library space in Second Life while I was there (I had no idea they were taking a picture or that they were associated with the paper)! All in all – pretty cool.
Second Life
Where oh where have I been?
Well, I’ve been quite neglegant so far this year in posting here. The first week back was relatively quiet but that is quickly being shattered. I’ve been getting ready for round two of the distance course I’m teaching, library instruction requests are coming in quickly, and changes in the library keep everyone hopping.
I’ve also been spending more time in Second Life lately – which means you get to hear more about it. We’ve had our first InfoCan group (remember, if you’re a Canadian info woker in SL, this is a group for you!), and despite the small attendance numbers, I think we’re one our way. I’ll be preparing for a few presentations in the next while on Second Life, which I’ll post more about once they’re done. I’ve done a little work on my avatar too – I recently got some new skin (which sounds very odd if you’re not involved in Second Life)- one normal and one a little more gothy. So, here’s one version of the brand new me:
Can’t find us?
I know some people have been having difficulty finding my storefront on Cybrary City, so I have created a slurl to help you find the building. Hope to run into you sometime!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Cybrary%20City/40/242/24/
Update:
Here’s a pic to help identify us too. 
New Second Life Group
Are you a Canadian info worker in sl (librairan, archivist, museologist, etc)? If so, do we have the group for you! Please think of joining the InfoCan group in SL. We’re hoping that Canadian info workers will come together in this group to discuss SL in a Canadian context, come up with ideas, exhibits, and discussions that affect us.
Group name:Â InfoCan
Group charter:Â Canadian librarians, archivists, museologists, and
other information folk who work (and play 🙂 in SL, and promote
Canadian information and culture in SL and RL .
The group is co-owned by Dinnie Devonshire, and me, Danu Dahlstrom. Questions? Feel free to contact me!
Virtual Excitement
I’m quite excited. I have been given a store front for my library in Second Life on the Cybrary City section (kindly donated to us to use for experimentation by Talis) on InfoIsland. This will allow me to experiment with how we might be able to offer library services in a virtual world and set up things like virtual office hours. I have a lot to learn, as presently there is nothing in my store front. Looks like there are lots of Second Life building classes in my future! Feel free to check out the new space on Cybrary City!
Libraries as Friends
We just had a great talk by Alane Wilson of OCLC here at work, looking at a myriad of things, including the OCLC Environmental Scan, trends and branding. One of the questions after her talk was in regards to social networks and friends. This also relates to the point she made that people inherently ask friends for information first. In order to become a place which people more frequently use for their information needs, we need to be considered friends and to accomplish this we must be in their social networks (ie. Facebook, MySpace, etc). This also raised questions about what a “friend” is becoming in the social web, with the answer being that there are varying degrees of “friends”. Further to this was the fact that many are now finding and creating friends rather than simply finding existing friends in these realms.
This got me thinking about how friends are made in the virtual world of Second Life, which probably isn’t too far off from social networks. In Second Life, I befriend a number of people, particularly librarians involved in the project and I do this mainly so I can find someone to help me out in SL and who IÂ may be able to approach to bounce ideas off of; since we are both librarians in a virtual world, we likely have similar outlooks. I also befriend newbies and others I have longer conversations with and I do this so that they may have someone to approach again if they have any information needs. My list of friends continue to grow, but in actuality, I don’t know any of these individuals. Little personal information is shared yet friendship is extended. They are simply a name on a list that I may never actually speak to or encounter again.
Libraries may find their Facebook and MySpace pages in the same place, on numerous lists but never contacted. What will be difficult to do is to stay on the evergrowing list of friends or contacts and not be forgotten or overlooked. Yes, it is important to be in the spaces that our existing and future patrons will be and I fully support libraries reaching out to user groups. What we need to do is figure out how to make ourselves important and useful in these spaces and not just a name on a list that is never thought of again. Do I have an answer for this? Not yet…..
Second Life Meets Real Life
I’ve had my first second life meets real life encounter. I must admit, it was kind of exciting and creepy when we discovered we worked in the same city and occasionally with the same institutions. I’ve heard far too many creepy encounters of virtual life meeting real life. My encounter was a good one though. He’s got some good contacts and is moving well on promoting the use of Second Life. His enthusiasm for the project is admirable. There’s some good potential for collaboration between the two of us and he got me thinking more about how I can implement and promote Second Life at my institution.
Second Life Library Grand Opening!
Feel free to join us for the Second Life Library Grand Opening! I’ll be there greeting, hope to see you there too!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Gonzo Mandelbrot, gonzoman@videotron.ca
Lorelei Junot, lbell927@gmail.com
DATE: October 4, 2006
Alliance Library System and Second Life Library/Info Island Pleased to
Announce Official Opening
The Alliance Library System and the Second Life Library/Info Island
collaborative group of librarians are pleased to announce the grand
opening and a host of activities planned for Second Life residents
scheduled October 12-14, 2007. All events will be held in Second Life
and are free to residents.
“We have been working on this project with partners from around the
world for six months,” stated Kitty Pope, Executive Director of the
Alliance Library System. “We are grateful to all the librarians and
others who have put in huge amounts of time to make this happen and we
are pleased with the reception the library has received in Second
Life.”
Gonzo Mandelbrot, Coordinator of Grand Opening Activities said, “We
have a variety of activities, events and tours that people can pick
and choose from or they may attend everything. The goal is to
highlight all the different aspects of the library and Info Island and
all that is available there.”
A detailed schedule of events is provided below. If attendees have
questions about specific locations, come to Info Island. We will have
tour guides there who can show people to the event location.
Thursday, October 12 – Virtual Worlds and Education: The Cutting Edge
– 4 pm sl – 6 pm sl – Speakers: Pathfinder Linden, Kitty Paul, Puglet
Dancer, Professor Boliveau, Lorelei Junot and Maxito Ricardo – Puglet
Dancer and Kitty Paul will cut the ribbon to begin grand opening
ceremonies at Info Island open air auditorium (Info Island 143, 82,
34)
Friday, October 13 – Virtual Worlds and Alternate Realities – Where
Do Libraries Fit In? – 7:30 a.m. sl – 1:30 pm. sl – A variety of
wonderful speakers with keynote by Pathfinder Linden – Info Island
open air auditorium(Info Island 143, 82, 34)
Friday, October 13 – 5:00-6:00 p.m. sl – Scary Movies at Second Life
Pantheon Picture House (Info Island II, 98,71,24)
6:00-8:00 p.m. sl – Costume Ball at Info Island Mystery Manor – prizes
for best costumes! (Info Island, 214, 163,33)
Saturday October 14 – 8:00 a.m. sl – Opening of Caledon Branch – 19th
century library (Caledon Tamrannoch (211,31,22)
9:30 a.m. sl – Grand Opening of Second Life Library Medical Library –
special events (Info Island 165, 204, 33) – Bioterrorism demonstration
Speakers: Moriz Gupta and Sojourner Truth
12:00 p.m. sl – Second Ribbon Cutting and special speaker – Info
island Open Air Auditorium (Info Island 143, 82, 34) – Katt Kongo,
editor, Metaverse Messenger
3:00 p.m. sl – Talis SciFi & Fantasy Portal Opening – special events
(Info Island 29, 62, 33)
5:00 – 8:00 p.m. sl – TX950 Beach party and celebration – dancing
refreshments, fun (Info Island 85, 33, 23)
Throughout the day – Tours, scavenger hunts, information kiosks – come
and have fun!
For further information, please contact Gonzo Mandelbrot or Lorelei Junot.
Check it out!
I’ve added a new page on the Second Life Library on Information Island, in Second Life of course. Check out the links and feel free to get involved in the project!
Learning all over again
At least, that’s what it feels like when I start to try to walk or sit in Second Life. My adventures in this virtual world continue. I finally left the island to see what else the world has to offer. I’ve been nervous to leave the comfort of an area I understand.
I’ve signed up to provide some virtual reference on the island. The meetings before the service starts (Sept. 6) have been very interesting. A whole new host of issues to consider in a virtual world, along with the standards (ie. privacy, service standards, etc). I’m not sure I’m sold on the idea that a library has to have a place in a world like this. However, this will likely change, for the good or bad, as I continue to read up on gaming and education and become more proficient in Second Life.
Although it seems to be taking up a lot of my time (so much to learn!), I will continue to write about other issues.