Virtual Stacks Go Live

By Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 12/1/2006

Any new library opening is a cause for celebration—even when it’s in a virtual world and spans four islands.

In mid-October, the Second Life Library officially opened its doors to more than 12,000 visitors on what has now been dubbed “Info Island,” a grouping of four 16-acre islands inside the virtual online environment Second Life (SL).

Launched in 2003, SL boasts more than 1.2 million residents, according to its creator, San Francisco-based Linden Labs. Visitors, or players, can build homes, get married, start businesses—and even open libraries. That’s just what librarian Lori Bell, the director of innovation with the Alliance Library System (ALS) in Illinois, and others have done with Info Island. “Librarians from all over the world are participating,” she says.

SL library patrons can download public domain books for free, get answers to their reference questions, peruse exhibits, attend author readings and sign up for classes. Bell says, “We even have one woman who does classes on how to create a building in Second Life or make clothing.”

Bell and her crew financed the islands, which cost $980 to set up and $150 a month to maintain, with fundraisers, grants, donations, and a sponsorship from the library software firm Talis.

“Librarians are often stereotyped as not being on the cutting edge,” says John Lester, also known as Pathfinder Linden, SL’s community and educational manager. “But I think the SL Library shows how they really do understand how to leverage new technologies for learning.”