by ABBEY ZENITH

In April 2006, Lori Bell (SL: Lorelei Junot), Director of Innovation with Alliance Library Systems (ALS), in Illinois, came into Second Life on a quest to discover if there is a place for  library services and resources in a virtual environment.  She began with a rented parcel and a traditional-looking library building, and immediately attracted a group of interested volunteers to join her on this quest.  Within a month an anonymous donor helped ALS purchase the first sim, Info Island, and the library moved to this location.  In the ensuing three years there have been tremendous growth and countless changes.  We’ve gone from one sim to over 30 at one point.  We’ve changed names from Second Life Library 2.0 to Alliance Virtual Library.  We’ve met and worked with thousands of volunteers from all levels and types of librarianship as well as other professionals, and we have answered Lori’s question:  Yes!  There is a place for library services and resources in the virtual environment of Second Life!  

We are kicking off the 3rd anniversary celebration with a Library Career Fair and Library Fair on May 8th and 9th.  The Library Career Fair is being planned by the students of the Library and Information Science Student Union, under the direction of Adra Letov, LIS Instructor with the University of Hawaii, and DaisyBlue Hefferman.   Students are gathering library job resources and will have sessions on resumes and interviews.  On May 8, the group has an exciting line-up of speakers from all areas of librarianship who will share their experiences and tips on getting started in a library career. Kitty Pope (SL: Kitty Phillips), Executive Director of Alliance Library Systems, will be the keynote speaker for this event.  The Library Fair will follow on May 9th, with exhibits from both real life and Second Life libraries and speakers from these facilities.  The Library Fair is a professional networking event - a chance for all librarians in Second Life to meet and share information.  Lori Bell (SL: Lorelei Junot), Director of Innovation with Alliance Library System, will present the keynote on May 9th.

Imagination Island, AVL’s children’s literature resource center, will be celebrating AVL’s 3rd anniversary with a “Three’s the Charm” theme, featuring children’s literature that centers on the number three, like The Three Bears!   Look for a terrific party to be associated with this one!

On May 23rd Alliance Virtual Library will have the 2nd annual Literary Festival, organized by Teofila Matova.  This event will include meet-the-author sessions, a children’s literature panel discussion, a poetry slam and a dance with literary trivia!  And, finally, our annual fund raiser will be held on May 24th.   Since leather is the designated gift for third anniversaries, we will be doing a leather costume party. We’ll have a DJ and contests, too! 

It takes a lot of effort to make Alliance Virtual Library work in Second Life: we need many dedicated volunteers and adequate resources to support the sims.  We hope that you will join in the festivities in May and will donate generously to keep this virtual library open and available to Second Life residents.

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