Second Life and the Libraries

Second life and its virtual spaces are being used by many educational institutions to deliver or be part of the delivery in their courses. It has a many ways it could be used by lecturers and students who are computer literate and computer confident and who can immers themselves in this kind of world. I'm not sure it is for everybody and especially some of the students that we have.It requires certain computer specifications and fast access to be able to be used sucessfully. Experiences can be developed where students can learn facts, collaborate, experience simulations, talk with people from all over the real and second life world. There is a "Sloodle" which I believe is like a Moodle. Many libraries are already part of this world (see the RSS feeds on my blog for some of the Google videos). Second life versions and simulation of the things that would be covered in Information Literacy instruction on campus can be set up. The content is practically limitless but it needs time, expertise(in both library content and program module requirements ), imagination, and skills to develop. Things can be just as boring online as they may be on campus! There are already many things in second life already developed by other libraries. If we want to have a presence in a small way initially we may be able to use /tailor some of these. I presume there are copyright issues which I haven't delved into as yet. We could run a small project to see what libraries are providing in second life and as (I think) TAFESA has purchased an Island maybe we can develop a second life library orienation.