I’ve been spending some time during the past couple of months in Second Life. For those who haven’t heard yet, Second Life is an online virtual world where people create avatars and wander around this second universe, interacting with other people from all over the world.

Many organizations have set up shop in this world — businesses, educational institutions, government, etc. There is a cluster of “islands” where real-life librarians are doing real reference work and promoting books and programs, just as they do at their day jobs. This is where I spend most of my SL time, but I do wander out and explore a lot. If you’re ever “in-world”, look me up. My avatar’s name is Rebekah Cavan.

Take a look at http://infoisland.org/ to get an idea of the kind of work people are doing here. It’s a fantastic group of dedicated people who are working toward bringing library resources to the millions of SL inhabitants. I’ll be doing a couple of tours of Second Life for Rochester Regional Library Council. The first session (February 26th) is completely booked, so I’ll be doing a repeat session (no need to attend both — they’ll be identical) on March 6, 2007 from 4 – 6 pm. You can register at the RRLC website.