Library developments in Second Life (survey)

by John Kirriemuir


My name is John Kirriemuir -www.silversprite.com - or in SL, I'm Silversprite Helsinki.

I'm doing a survey on real-world libraries (public, academic, specalist, private) that have been recreated, or branched out, into Second Life. Some of the results will get presented at the 2007 ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium next week (come to Chicago!), others will be summarised into an open publication that will link from this list.

Are you involved in developing or running such a library in SL? If so, I'd appreciate the answers to a few questions. Please be aware that answers may end up in a presentation or open summary, so please don't put in anything you don't want made public:

- What was the reason for making a library in SL? Why was it set up? Who is, or was, the target audience?
- What functionality is in the library i.e. what kind of interactive "stuff" have you put into it?
- What resources (person hours) were needed to develop it, and was this official work time or self/hobby time?
- Do you have a funding source, or official sanction?
- How "busy" has the structure or facility been, e.g. for a meeting space, how many meetings have taken place and how many people have attended?
- Have there been real-world impacts, e.g. a person started using a library in the real world because they encountered it in SL?

Any response would be much appreciated.

Please send responses to [john -at- silversprite (dot) com] - I'll collate and link to a summary from here in a while.