My mood this past month has been fluctuating between Grumpy and Sleepy - having made the calamitous mistake of taking two, six week classes at the same time. I then proceeded to procrastinate myself into a deep dark hole, as usual. Near the end of the semester, with four papers due by as many days, I came to the realization that I couldn't pull the all-nighters that had sustained me through my undergraduate years. My body actually shut down, whether the papers were done or not! Anyway...that explains my Sleepy self... Grumpy came out when it dawned on me that there was no way to justify spending any time in Second Life at all while this situation was going on. Because of this, SL6B seemed to have come and gone with almost no fanfare at all, or at least not enough to penetrate the little cocoon I had built for myself.Admittedly, SL’s 6th birthday party was extremely low on my totem pole of priorities.Nonetheless…was it just my imagination, or was the celebration a tad more muted than in previous years? There are some very nice stats available (courtesy of Daniel Voyager) for this year's festivities - but alas, no comparable figures for previous years to test my hypothesis. Of course, this blog post at New World Notes has me wondering if maybe it wasn't just me and my cocoon after all. I did get my friend Alexander to take some pictures of his travels through the sims, and there were some incredible builds.. so.I'm still sorry that I missed out this year.
Exam week finally came and went, and surprisingly I did not get kicked out for taking the fine art of procrastination to dangerous new levels.(Lucky me, did I learn my lesson? I think not - I'm back for more in the fall). Just as I thought things were looking up, however, I was hit with the terrible news that my favorite teen island, Eye4You, was closing due to lack of funding. Okay, so it's the ONLY teen island that actually allows me to set foot in it, but that's beside the point, and makes it just that much worse. This was the first time that the economics of the real world had encroached on me personally in Second Life...I had just assumed that the island would go on forever. Then came the icing on the cake...the countdown began as every corner of Eye4You started sprouting giant digital clocks counting down the minutes to D-Day, July 12, 2009, courtesy of the teens. I was starting to feel more like Puddleglum than Grumpy by this time.
However, as the estate managers and I got together to plan the final party, we took ourselves down memory lane, looking at pictures of all the wonderful things that the teens and approved adults had created over the years...many of them before my time. It made me realize that although the island may cease to exist, the memories will not, and the pictures and videos and blog posts...all of them are there, standing testament to the success that was Eye4You.
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In January, 2008, Clark Abismo sent a message to the Librarians of Second Life group inviting anyone interested to attend a meeting to discuss forming a library magazine in Second Life. A few people responded and, from that small meeting, more people joined the effort including myself. A blog was created to discuss the project. In February 2008, a contest was sponsored to find a suitable name for the proposed publication. Twelve entries were received and then narrowed down to five by a small panel. These five choices were then put into a poll on the blog for voting. RezLibris won the majority. mTea Box had submitted the winning name and was presented with her prize and a plaque at a March 17 St. Patrick's themed party at the new RezLibris office in Cybrary City II. There was dancing, green beer drinking, and Daisyblue Hefferman provided a step dancing Hud for all to enjoy. See the machinima: Rez Libris St. Patrick's Party.
It became apparant, as our staff grew from a core base of the founding four - Clark, myself, Eirene Janus (our website manager) and Leeorie Alter (our Assistant News Editor), that we all worked well together but each of us had our own special talents and interests. Clark had a background in building and a good deal of technology know-how, but he was from Portugal, and although he wrote and spoke English fluently, he still needed occasional help with grammar. I, on the other hand, although I had no aptitude for building and not much for layout or technical work, had experience in editing and writing in real life as well as Second Life. The two of us pooled our talents and became co-publishers of RezLibris. Because of our time zone differences, communication through email and text chat served us well when we couldn't meet in Second Life. It became a regular thing for us to email one another or send chat messages on a daily basis just to keep up with and discuss/brainstorm the different issues of the developing magazine. Neither of us had realized how time intensive this project had turned out to be. But with the help of some great people who joined and supported us, and some pep talks to each other when needed, we kept focused on our goal of putting out a magazine for the librarians of Second Life.
In his final editorial last month before he left to continue his studies, Clark stated, "As we finish this month's issue, I find myself looking back at all we've accomplished this past year. I think about our original intentions, what we were up to and what led us to go so far. It's hard to put a project like this together, and I've been lucky to have such great supporters around me, and we've made an incredible group that put all these stories together. The work is huge, and we've been learning a lot, while at the same time, we've tried to answer people's expectations."
Huge is an understatement. Although our staff has grown to include eight editors, a website manager, a PR Director, and a Publisher with a number of writers and other contributors, there is so much to cover and so much more we want to address. Although the InfoArchipelago and the Libarians of Second Life group provide us with more than enough material for each issue, we want to expand to educational groups, other SL libraries, and perhaps even real life libraries. We want to introduce more interactivity both on the website and at our office. Last month we sponsored a new photo contest, "The Eye Spy a Library Photo" which we hope will be a regular feature. We are adding an exhibits section, breaking news briefs, a fashion column, and a Performer's Showcase. Since we are a library magazine, we are planning some time in the future to build a reader's room at our office where book talks can be given as well as an area for socializing and sharing music, talk, and news. One other long-term project in the works is the publishing of an inworld anniversary edition of our top stories of the year this coming fall in conjunction with a special party to celebrate our first year of publication.
Most of these ideas were ones Clark and I discussed before he officially stepped down from his position as publisher. It was not an easy decision for him, but he did his best to make the transition as smooth as possible for me as has the rest of the staff who have been equally supportive and encouraging, and It is my pleasure to officially announce that I am taking the reins as Publisher of RezLibris. Although I've been with the group since the start, it is still a little scary and overwhelming for me to take on this responsibility but, like a mountain climber, I'm going to approach the summit without looking down. I invite you to share with me and the staff your ideas, news, and suggestions about how we can make RezLibris your library magazine. I invite you to join our team as a writer, photographer, or other contributor. I invite you to join our Readers Group to receive announcements about our issues and special events. I invite you to send in your comments about any of our articles. And, most important, I invite you to read us. As our motto coined by our PR Director, Vienna James, states, our aim is to "inform, share, inspire and encourage the SL Library Community." With your input and support we will continue trying our best to do that.
Dulcie Mills Publisher, RezLibris June 7, 2009
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As we finish this month's issue, I find myself looking back at all we've accomplished this past year. I think about our original intentions, what we were up to and what led us to go so far. It's hard to put a project like this together, and I've been lucky to have such great supporters around me, and we've made an incredible group that put all these stories together.
The work is huge, and we've been learning a lot, while at the same time, we've tried to answer people's expectations. We never were naïve enough to think that with our limited circulation and our nonexistent budget we could achieve a broader audience in Second Life and especially outside Second Life.
One of our goals was to drive attention to librarians outside Second Life for what their peers were doing here and motivate them to create an account and be one more of us.
There will always be skeptics and people who will not understand why people put such an effort in building library services in virtual worlds, but the fact is the process is already ongoing, and the proof is that AVL is here for almost three years, and hopefully they will stay much longer.
The very nature of Second Life can be ephemeral. People come and go, and much of the work is volunteer based. The next step will be naturally to start paying people for the effort, time and commitment they are doing here, but we cannot put aside that much of what has been done throughout Second Life was possible much because people were free to do what they really believed in.
That was the case of RezLibris. I had this idea to bring the librarian community together, and some people followed. I was blessed to have such great partners in crime.
Now, I face this difficult task of writing my last editorial. I feel humbled by the kindness, warmth and intelligence of this community of people. But it's time to continue with other projects in my life.
To follow my real life pursuits, I have to go back to my studies, and this will give me no time to dedicate myself to RezLibris, so it's only fair to let others continue this job, and I'm sure they will succeed.
Like Leeorie Alter once said, I think this is a part of the "growing pains." When you have a child, you watch them grow. It's hard to see them leave you when they begin to mature, but it's a fact of life. So I have to let RezLibris follow its way and grow without me. As for me, I will be watchful and certainly be an avid reader.
There are many thanks I would like to address, and I don't want to bother our readers with a long list of names, but there are a few people I would like to thank personally for believing in this project from day one. To start, I would like to thank our founding members, Dulcie Mills, Eirene Janus and Leeorie Alter and, of course, all the wonderfull staff and writers that work with us in present and have worked with us in the past. I would also like to mention Lorelei Junot and Abbey Zenith's names, for being so supportive and for believing in this venture.
This is not a goodbye; it's a farewell. And there's no words to say how I will miss this. Thanks for everything!
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I recently had the pleasure of walking the story trail on Storybook Island that was created by Jenaia Morane (see story in this issue) who has been collecting stories of participants for the Virtual World Stories Project . When Jenaia told me she got the idea for the project because stories have been coming to her ever since she entered SL, it made me reflect on my own experiences here these past two years. While I haven't recorded them in the way that Jenaia has both on her blog "Days of our Second Lives" and in narrative stories that document her experiences in a virtual world, I, too, have been chronicling events by writing for the Metaverse Messenger newspaper and RezLibris.
While journalistic accounts are not the same as narratives, they do give us details and facts about the people and places we encounter and how they impact on our lives and those of others. In Second Life, these moments are just as fleeting if not more so than in real life as sims close and avatars leave to focus more on real life pursuits, become ill, and even die. So what is left but our memories, photos we've taken and shared on Flickr, words we've written in chat, posted on a blog, or published in an article.
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Often my colleagues and friends ask me why I have such an interest in Second Life. When I try to explain to them, I can read on their faces a big question mark or receive a look of compassion, like one you would send to someone who has lost his mind.
I’ve seen those faces before. They were the same ones I saw back in the early 90’s when I was fascinated by something called The Internet. Back then, people thought I was weird enough to spend so many hours browsing the web. Now, it’s curious that most of those who showed me ugly faces are the ones who fill my email with all kinds of web trash, such as PowerPoint presentations with cute cats and dogs, fortune cookies, links for funny videos on Youtube, and invitations to all the existent variety of social networking. It seems they have signed up for them all, like doing that would elevate their social status just for being there. I often wonder if they use them at all!
I’m certain that in, let us say maybe five years, I will have their avatars knocking at my virtual property all day, and probably I’ll invite them to come in and offer tea, coffee, or a drink. Maybe not in Second Life, maybe in another virtual world, but I’m sure the day that I will be watching movies with them in my virtual room will happen. And we will laugh about all their faces. At least, I will!
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In January, 2008, Clark Abismo sent a message to the Librarians of Second Life group inviting anyone interested to attend a meeting to discuss forming a library magazine in Second Life. A few people responded and, from that small meeting, more people joined the effort including myself. A blog was created to discuss the project. In February 2008, a contest was sponsored to find a suitable name for the proposed publication. Twelve entries were received and then narrowed down to five by a small panel. These five choices were then put into a poll on the blog for voting. RezLibris won the majority. mTea Box had submitted the winning name and was presented with her prize and a plaque at a March 17 St. Patrick's themed party at the new RezLibris office in Cybrary City II. There was dancing, green beer drinking, and Daisyblue Hefferman provided a step dancing Hud for all to enjoy. See the machinima: 
As we finish this month's issue, I find myself looking back at all we've accomplished this past year. I think about our original intentions, what we were up to and what led us to go so far. It's hard to put a project like this together, and I've been lucky to have such great supporters around me, and we've made an incredible group that put all these stories together.
I recently had the pleasure of walking the story trail on Storybook Island that was created by Jenaia Morane (see story in this issue) who has been collecting stories of participants for the 
Often my colleagues and friends ask me why I have such an interest in Second Life. When I try to explain to them, I can read on their faces a big question mark or receive a look of compassion, like one you would send to someone who has lost his mind.