2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

Real Libraries, Virtual Worlds—In Transition
By Biblio Latte, Volunteer Reference Librarian, Community Virtual Library
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BEST PRACTICES 2012
Second Life celebrated its 9 th birthday in June 2012 with special exhibits, programs, and
special give aways. Among the groups exhibiting at the birthday celebration, was the
Community Virtual Library. CVL’s exhibit included a welcome bot, examples of virtual
reference tools, and a book walk. Virtual books lined the walk If an avatar right clicked
on any of the over 30 titles, he/she received a free electronic copy of the book (many of
them from Project Gutenberg)
At six years old, the Community Virtual Library had already been through several
transitions. The library had spent its first three years as the Alliance Virtual LIbray, a
special project managed by the Alliance Library System in Illinois. Under the overall
management of Lori Bell (avatar Lorelei Junot), AVL had established a volunteer based
public library in Second.Life. AVL volunteers served as reference librarians, program
planners, tour guides, marketeers, mentors, and teachers to anyone who had need of
their services.
Alliance Virtual Library