Virtual World Librarianship Courses in SL offered by University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign

New Virtual World Librarianship Courses/UIUC and Alliance Library System

Starting in September the Alliance Library System and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are offering 2 six-week classes on virtual librarianship. There are 3 sections of each course, which will be held in Second Life at Info Island.

The courses are:
INTRODUCTION TO VIRTUAL WORLD LIBRARIANSHIP
Week One: Introduction to Libraries in Virtual Worlds
Week Two: Second Life 101
Week Three: Collections, Resources, and Exhibits in Virtual Environment
Week Four: Reference and Information Services in Virtual Worlds
Week Five: Managing and Working in a Virtual Library or Department
Week Six: Skills Needed by 21st Century Librarians in Virtual Worlds

INTERMEDIATE VIRTUAL WORLD LIBRARIANSHIP
Week One: Overview of Virtual Worlds Including Second Life & Others-What Libraries are Doing in Them
Week Two: Library Programs and Events in Second Life
Week Three: Introduction to Building and Scripting Items in Second Life
Week Four: Virtual World Library Services for Teens and Young Adults
Week Five: Introduction to Machinima - Creating Films in Second Life
Week Six: Immersive Learning Environments and Libraries


You can learn more at: Continuing Professional Development: Virtual World Librarianship

Second Life Librarian Lori Bell at MLC Conference 2/15/07

Michigan Library Consortium will hold the third session of its series The Library Rebooted; RUA nOOB? Bridging the Gap Between Boomers and Gamers
Lori Bell will speak about Second Life. She is Director of Innovation at the Alliance Library System started the Second Life Library, which has grown from a rented space in April 2006, to 8 islands now, with 4000 visitors a day, and 300 volunteers.
The event will be held at Lansing Community Colleges West Campus. The program is "on the use of social networking software and gaming in libraries". The speakers and their topics are:

Lori Bell, Alliance Library System - Second Life
Angela Semifero, Marshall District Library - MySpace
Eli Neiburger, Ann Arbor District Library - Gaming
Edward Vielmetti, School of Information, University of Michigan - Everything Else
Monica Harris - Panel Discussion on Facebook

Second Life Librarian Lori Bell (aka Lorelei Junot) at MLC 2/15/07

Michigan Library Consortium will hold the third session of its series The Library Rebooted; RUA nOOB? Bridging the Gap Between Boomers and Gamers
Lori Bell will speak about Second Life. She is Director of Innovation at the Alliance Library System started the Second Life Library, which has grown from a rented space in April 2006, to 8 islands now, with 4000 visitors a day, and 300 volunteers.
The event will be held at Lansing Community Colleges West Campus. The program is "on the use of social networking software and gaming in libraries". The speakers and their topics are:

Lori Bell, Alliance Library System - Second Life
Angela Semifero, Marshall District Library - MySpace
Eli Neiburger, Ann Arbor District Library - Gaming
Edward Vielmetti, School of Information, University of Michigan - Everything Else
Monica Harris - Panel Discussion on Facebook

ALA Midwinter Podcast about Second Life

Mark Bard, Information Technology Specialist, ALA Office for Information Technology Policy
Barbara Galik, President, Board of Directors, Alliance Library System
Kitty Pope, Executive Director, Alliance Library System
Lori Bell, Director of Innovation, Alliance Library System

Subject
In the hustle and bustle of Midwinter, Mark Bard sat down with Barbara Galik, Kitty Pope, and Lori Bell to discuss the online phenomenon Second Life.

Lori, Barbara and Kitty are the innovators who have jump-started libraries in SL. From a small storefront in April 2006 they now have 9 islands, that receive 4000 visitors a day, with a volunteer staff of 300. Listen to the interview here:
http://blogs.ala.org/districtdispatch.php?title=district_dispatch_podcast_7_special_midw&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

Sirsi Dynix and Alliance Library System form Second Life Partnership

Sirsi Dynix Sponsors Alliance Library Second Life Library and Teen second Life library
January 20th, 2007

SirsiDynix Sponsors Alliance Library System’s Second Life Library 2.0

SirsiDynix will fund the two main islands in the Info Island project on Second Life

SEATTLE, Jan. 19, 2007 – SirsiDynix, the global leader in strategic technology solutions for libraries bringing knowledge to people and communities, announced today its 2007 sponsorship of the two main islands in the Alliance Library System/Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County partnership project on Second Life and Teen Second Life. (the rest)

The Alliance Library System serves a consortium of 258 libraries in Illinois. Starting in April 2006, their Director of Innovation, Lori Bell (aka Lorelei Junot) began the project of starting a virtual library in Second Life in a rented space. By May an entire island had been donated and a library built, the original InfoIsland. Early partners were TechSoup, and OPAL. InfoIsland has expanded to include InfoIsland II and HealthInfo Island. Another partnership with Talis built Cybrary City, an island where libraries can rent space. Islands keep appearing; CommonWealth Island to provide space to non-profit organizations and EduIsland to provide space to colleges and universities. It just keeps getting more interesting. What next?