Do we remove all the walls? Second Life librarianship

Over five hundred librarians worldwide are experimenting with providing library services in the Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) called Second Life, including a small group of Australian librarians who constructed the Australian Libraries Building. This paper describes the interface and capabil...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Greenhill, Kathryn
Other Authors: N/A
Format: Conference Paper
Published: VALA: Libraries, Technology and the Future Inc. 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.vala.org.au/vala2008-proceedings/608-vala2008-session-1-greenhill
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/28802
Description
Summary:Over five hundred librarians worldwide are experimenting with providing library services in the Multi User Virtual Environment (MUVE) called Second Life, including a small group of Australian librarians who constructed the Australian Libraries Building. This paper describes the interface and capabilities of a MUVE, the evolution of the Australian Libraries Building and the library objects built and scripted within it. It suggests some professional advantages for librarians who experiment within Second Life and the technical and managerial considerations of setting up a library presence there. It concludes by describing how Second Life library services have evolved, as librarians better understood the potential of the MUVE interface.