Libraries in Second Life?

I am currently a grad student going into the library science field and wanted some community reaction on libraries setting up virtual libraries in SL. Below is a website that outlines some of these libraries:

http://infoisland.org/

So, my questions are:
Do you want to see libraries in SL?
Have you gone to a library in SL?
Do you go to libraries when not on SL?

Also give any other general reactions…

Thanks everyone!

I haven't been to a 'first life' library in... years.

I've been to Info Island, though, and a few of its branches.



That's got to be a sign of the times, somehow...

I love libraries in RL, but I see little reason to visit one in SL. If I want to read, there are far more efficient ways to access text information than the SL client.

I've only come across books a few times in SL. My computer has the minimum power and speed to run sl. The pages took so long to load I gave up. I'll wait for a sign in a store or a placard at a place of interest only if I am very interested. SL is not geared toward text, it is visual. The challenge in SL is to get information across in the visual medium. I've seen places that do this beautifully. The particle laboratory and the learning corner at yadni's junkyard come to mind.

-Sylvia

Interesting points... keep em' coming.

There was a Jazz Club Not long ago which Featured a Reading room, with Maybe Half a Dozen E-Books you could Pick up, and read for Free. One of the Most popular rooms in the Club.
(I know this is sort of a Hot topic But...)Enter ANY Gorean Sim, and you will find among the other buildings, a "Scribery" a Combination Hall of records, and Library. They each contain (Of course) a complete set of the Gor Novels Plus many other Topical writings and Related Publications. They serve as Study Halls, and social Gathering places where Discussions of the Literature takes place and people go for a quiet evening. The Scriberies are ALWAYS Busy places, In many cases Moreso that the equally universal Taverns or Arenas. What does THAT tell you?

A Library, Even in SL should be a Dynamic, and social place, Not just a storehouse of Books. Look at an RL Library, and what do you see? Not just shelves, Tables, and Books, There is Art, and Music, There should be lectures, Classes, and various Literary presentations as well. Some of the Larger ones even have small Playhouses or Concert Halls attached. If your going to Build a Library, then Make it an attractive, comfortable, and Lively Place. It couldn't Hurt to Inject some features that are humerous, or just plain Silly as well. Can a Library work in SL, Yes, it Can Provided you breathe a Little Life into it. Figure out How to make the Books Interactive, Not just Notecard dispensors. Big Topical Picture books are Popular, I Know of one sim that features half a Dozen such books on a Variety of subjects All written, and compiled by the Sim Owner.
Don't just ask, "Can i Build one?" or "Will people want it?" Ask "What can i do to MAKE it Interesting enough that people will want it?"

There are a Lot of Good partial ideas out there, do a Little research, and bring them All together in a way no one else has seen, or done before. THAT is how to do a Library in SL.

Angel.

I love to read. I always read before going to sleep... and I love to spend time with a book and a glass of wine in front of the fireplace.

But I must admit that I never realised this side of SL. But it wakened up my interest...

Hmmm... this makes me ponder.

Long ago when I was wandering in Ultima Online I loved the books we had there. You could place your own text (typing it or copy/paste from outside Ultima)in blank books and place them in your house where others could read them.
I had many of these books and I loved them....

Are this kind books available in SL? I mean books you can fill up with your own texts?

Morwen.

The _blacklibrary (hopefully now rebuilt by Wandering Yaffle, situated in Hyperborea region) always worked best as a place to gather people and chat.

It's a repository/mirror of the alwaysblack.com collection of art and articles, plus some other related things. Mostly it's a place we would hang out and catch passing people who were looking for libraries. People who liked to talk about stuff.

We also held occasional parties, and a regular writing/chatting about writing group that worked more as a context for people to talk in, than for writing. It worked for *something*

I think a library should more than a collection of works- if you're just dispensing text you may as well put a three prim vendor on a 64m2 plot and put a mark on it. A place for people to hang out and chat about stuff is more in tune with the usefulness of SL.

I should note right now SL libraries function as a meeting place, an area to display virtual works of art, and hosting special displays (such as viewing the Declaration of Independence while listening to audio commentary).

Even still, if you were to decide the literature of a library in SL would you choose primarily user generated content (as Morwen and Ace mentioned) or classic works in public domain? Or, does reading material even belong in SL?

No.

I have on my Internet Explorer Favorites Five Links to On Line Libraries Full of Public Domain Books. Stocking a Library with a Broad selection of material is No problem at all.
as for the question;
"does reading material even belong in SL?"
I've already answerd that by Pointing out the Hours of reading and study done in the Gorean Scriberies by Many people.
I'd accept your premis If you care to admit here that the Goreans are the ONLY Literate (Or Literary minded) people in SL. Tamii seems willing to, but Frankly, I don't think they Are. They have Made the Scriberies a Part of thier Community, there is NO reason at all why ANY Sim, or SL community cannot do the same. There is NO reason why a Love of Literature should Not translate well into SL just as Hundreds of other hobbies, activities, and passtimes have.

Angel.

Almost all the "books" in the _blacklibrary are URL links to the related website pages and the original articles. There are some which are notecard givers containing the stories written by the Telling Tales group, but mostly the actual "reading of stuff" would take place outside of SL.

The building itself is more a place of reference, and socialising.

I like libraries in RL but they would seem pointless in SL. If you download pages to read you wouldn't be able to participate in SL while you're reading - so it would be better to use a proper e-book site!

If it is the physical aspects of a library, if each book was a prim there couldn't be many, while if shelves of books were textures you couldn't do anything with them!

Information centres are a different matter - SL is the ideal place for those!

Any other comments in general on libraries? I will be writing a small bit on the reactions I've recieved and the poll results. So, final call for comments on libraries in SL...

Thanks-you to everyone that has contributed thus far!

Info Island's Caledon branches have been a fun focal point for the community, and a large new library in Victoria City is being built as we speak.

The Caledon branches (Tamrannoch, Victoria City) are active, have community-relevant events and art, and are generally the pride of the community. It's hard to explain, but they are just plain.... cool.

Of course, our theme is intentionally anachronistic, so that lends to having an historic sort of library structure there in the first place.

One of the interesting 'take offs' is that the local library is intent on keeping some of our history - the history of the community on the grid, and what it was like to be here in 2006.

That's the sort of thing that will be very hard to find in any other sort of library.

I'm very much missing the SL history wiki of late, too. Anyone know where that went? It would have been SO nice to have all the info in that, in-world!

I truly think if you build one that offers enough variety of material, they will come. For myself, I have spent time searching SL for in-world books. I often have time to pass waiting for friends to come online or doing my work from home. I can't set out all the books I have due to prim allowances, but my collection of found in-world material is quite good. My problem has been finding enough. And finding variety. You asked about public-domain or in-world created literature, a real library would contain many various works. I see no reason why an SL library must contain one or the other. As for the few nay-sayers that have answered, no one forces them to go. You would build for your love of literature, and the people who share that love. Although I am not Gor, I completely agree with Angeligue on this. Many hobbies and interests have found a home in SL. I am working now, on bringing in a favorite hobby of my own. Love of books would find interested people.


Morwen Bunin also asked about books we could make ourselves. May I direct him to search for Thinc. There are books there you can use as photo albums, or fill with text, though you need to import the text as texture files currently. And you can even buy a printing press to mass produce your works. They can be placed out to look at, or worn as a HUD. I don't work for Thinc BTW, just totally love some of the things I've found there.

And for those who like their libraries al fresco, there's the new Caledon Library Reading Garden in Caledon prime (the original Caledon sim)

My experience, after a few months of running a community library in SL, confirms that a library is a distinct kind of community center, even, maybe especially, here. There is a whole world-community of people who find comfort in the presence of books (or "books", and so are inclined to gather or hang out at a library. Ditto people who like to talk about ideas, who gather at libraries as well as cafes & other discussion spaces. The presence of literature and equivalent kinds of media (what we librarian-types call "resources" is part of what makes a space congenial to such folks, and there seem to be a lot of such folks in SL.

And. sure, it's all "out there to find" but a tailored collection, with a community of interest in mind (Caledon, Gorean sims, The Isle of Wyrms...) can create a space that helps a community bolster, discover, or elaborate its identity...and is just plain fun, besides. It gives a community yet one more chance to express itself, which is a big draw for communities in SL, isn't it?

Libraries in SL also have the potential (as yet largely untapped) to create new models for ways that researches gather, sort & slice-&-dice their materials. I'm not talking just about professional/academic researchers, either, but about anybody who has an interest in a topic.

3D display holds the potential to allow us to use, for making sense of result sets, a whole "package" of cognitive abilities originally evolved for navigating in space...something the 2D desktop environment completely ignores. As result sets get larger, with the proliferation of sources of information (y'all may have noticed this over the past decade or so) we'll need to apply more and more of our smarts to making sense of them...and look, here's a handy set of cognitive abilities, and a handy platform for using them. How much fun is that?

[Climbs down off soapbox]

Just my $L.02, of course.

JJ Drinkwater, Librarian of Caledon, not even slightly unbiased

Our group has a fairly spacious facility, but the part that gets the most use is one of the smallest ones: our reading corner. We have a small library of about two dozen books, and people just tend to congregate there. The books are all ones we've collected from various libraries in SL, and it's always a point of interest when we have guests.

The biggest problem I have with libraries in SL is that there aren't enough of them, or that the ones that are there are hard to locate. Bring on the books!

Hi everybody,




This is not quite accurate. There are some Gorean libraries that have text versions of the novels but most are aware that it is illegal and I know of people who don't hesitate to point out to these misguided souls that they cannot legally have copies of John Norman's books in their libraries.

This is an interesting thread as I love libraries and have visited a few in SL. I have a list going now of new places to go!!!

Anjaleka

I never once mentioned the Copyright Staus of the Norman Books, Yes, thier Copyright is Current, and Copying them for use In the scriberies is Not strictly Legal (Wonders if the "Permitted for educational Purposes" section of Copyright law would apply here owing to the fact that the avowed purpose of the scriberies is the Education of those New to the Gor Lifestyle?). However Despite the Active Copyright the books Remain Freely available in Many of the Gorean Sims.

My Post had Nothing to do with the Copyright Issue, it had to do with the Gorean Scriberies being Busy Centres for Study, and social Gathering. That was, and remains the POINT of my words.

Angel.