Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries: Librarians and Educators in Second Life and Other Multi-User Virtual Environments

by Lori Bell, Rhonda Trueman

Eighty percent of Internet users are expected to engage in some form of virtual world activity by 2011 (Gartner Research Group), and librarians and educators are already there. This fascinating book the brainchild of two pioneering virtual world librarians is designed to help libraries and schools recognize the importance of multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) and consider ways of getting involved as they proliferate. The editors and 24 contributors describe library, educational, and cultural projects they have undertaken. They recount their experiences working together to succeed in Second Life and other virtual worlds and explain how traditional library services such as reference, teaching, collections, discussion groups, and young adult programs can be applied in a virtual environment.

Genres: Librarianship

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Melanie]

This book about virtual environments helped me to consider a lot of the issues our "social networking committee" are talking about now.
I worked at Johnson & Wales with Rhonda Trueman, co-author of this book! It is a good read for futurists, tech geeks, librarians, teachers or just about anyone who enjoys Star Trek.

[Brittnee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting...but not exactly applicable to my situation.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries by Lori Bell and Rhonda Trueman begins with the Gartner Research Group estimate that 80% of all internet users will experience a virtual world of some sort by 2011. I doubt they're all librarians or library students, but many of them are.

Bell and Trueman's book is designed as a handbook to understanding the allure of worlds like Second Life and how they can (and are) used for things other than just play. There's some history of librarians and the libraries they've created.

That said, the book wasn't as comprehensive as I hoped. It's a little bit of everything and not a lot of anything in particular. This book would work best as a wiki. In that wiki I would put an atlas of library and university sites with clickable links. While many of the libraries are grouped together on a single island, not all of them are.

Part of my online course work at SJSU requires the use of Second Life. I have to admit that when I first heard that, I balked. Until school I'd had no desire to use the program having felt liked I'd gotten all of my virtual world needs out of my system as an undergrad using MMPORGs.

But my school has a virtual campus as do lots of other universities. Libraries are spawning virtual versions of themselves to handle remote reference questions. Google Books even has a library one can walk through to see the books that are otherwise ebooks in the real world.