Much is written these days about Second Life and 3D virtual worlds. Every day there is a new story about online worlds providing new learning environments. Articles and books are describing how a generation raised on video games is invading the workplace and demanding new online learning environments. Unfortunately, for those not on the bleeding edge of game technologies, all this talk of virtual worlds, avatars, MMORPGs, metaverses, and microworlds seems right out of a science fiction novel and, in some cases, it is. Karl Kapp’s article Defining and Understanding Virtual Worlds very deftly puts Second Life into the broader context of online virtual worlds.
By knowing more about this broader context, it becomes even easier to see and understand the potential of Second Life, and the pressing need for some of our libraries to ‘get into’ the metaverse.
In fact, Wade Roush from Technology Review at MIT suggests that the Second Earth will be the World Wide Web absorbed into the World Wide Sim: an environment combining elements of Second Life and Google Earth. A very complex and challenging article that pushes the possibilities of the metaverse into the future.
Meanwhile we continue to explore the world of Second Life. According to Erika Smith many academics are using it for research and in the classroom. About 2,000 to 3,000 educators from universities and colleges around the world have a presence in Second Life.
At present, there are over 40 libraries in Second Life. And the list is growing. Most can be found in a place called Cybrary City on Second Life’s Info Island - a purpose built space where libraries can establish their own virtual library presence to showcase their local resources, and where they can provide their services and learn new skills associated with 21st century librarianship.
So I was interested to read that University College Dublin has extended the boundaries of traditional library services with the UCD James Joyce Library being established as the first Irish library in Second Life. At the Second Life branch of the UCD Library you can search web resources using a virtual PC, consult several e-books, view library presentations, complete a visitor survey, leave comments and suggestions, and even watch Sky News.
It is hoped that over time the virtual library branch will develop further to perhaps include a regular staff presence that would teach visitors new skills and ways of availing of the services offered by the UCD Library.
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