Second Life for Academic Libraries

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Second Life for Academic Libraries

• Craig Anderson
• NJLA Annual Conference
• May 1, 2008

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We are living in a virtual world.
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Snow Crash

• In 1992, science fiction author Neal Stephenson
  wrote a novel about a future society who lived
  much of their lives in a type of virtual online
  world.
• The novel was called Snow Crash, and the
  virtual world was called The Metaverse.
• The citizens of the Metaverse lived their lives
  as Avatars, which were virtual representations
  of actual humans.
• Movies such as The Matrix, Vanilla Sky, and Total
  Recall have explored these concepts.

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Multiplayer Gaming

• World of Warcraft

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I cant even manage my first life!

• Second Life launched in 2003. It was created by a
  company called Linden Labs in San Francisco.
• Linden Labs intended for the world of Second Life
  to be designed and built by its residents.
• Some users of Second Life purchase land and set
  up virtual businesses, which can earn real-world
  cash.
• At this time, the US Dollar is equal to
  approximately 270 Linden Dollars.

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Educational Institutions in Second Life
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Librarians in Second Life

• Librarians came to Second Life in 2006.
• Created the Info Island reference area, which is
  currently staffed by 64 volunteer librarians.
• Includes several themed islands which comprise
  the Info Archipelago, including such places as
  Renaissance Island, Cybrary City,
  EduIsland, and the newly-created Land of
  Lincoln.
• (Dejavu, personal communication, 2/15/08)

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Kean University

• 13,050 full-time Graduate and Undergraduate
  Students.
• 376 full-time faculty.
• 5 Colleges 50 undergraduate and 31 graduate
  degree programs.
• 18 division III varsity teams and 30 fraternities
  and sororities.
• Average 30 minute commute to NYC.
• (Kean University, retrieved 2/19/08)

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Our Feature Presentation
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(No Transcript)
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References

• Gamers Today, CEOs Tomorrow (Jan. 2006) Career
  World. 36(4), p7-7, 2/3p
• Hillis, Scott. (10/10/07) IBM, Linden Lab seek
  open borders for virtual worlds. Reuters
  Newswire. Retrieved 2/20/07 from
  http//secondlife.reuters.com/stories/2007/10/10/i
  bm-linden-lab-seek-open-borders-for-virtual-worlds
  .
• Kean University (retrieved 2/19/08) from
  www.kean.edu
• Lee, James. (7/5/2005) From sweatshops to
  stateside corporations, some people are profiting
  off of MMO gold. Computer Gaming World.
  Retrieved 2/18/07 fromhttp//www.1up.com/do/featu
  re?cId3141815
• Second Life. (Retrieved 2/15/08) from
  www.secondlife.com.
• Stephenson, Neal. (1992) Snow Crash. Bantam
  Books. New York.
• World of Warcraft. (Retrieved 2/8/08) from
  www.worldofwarcraft.com
• Yee, N. (2006). The Demographics, Motivations and
  Derived Experiences of Users of
  Massively-Multiuser Online Graphical
  Environments. PRESENCE Teleoperators and Virtual
  Environments, 15, 309-329.