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by DULCIE MILLS
 Most people are afraid of change because they fear if they do something differently, the outcome may not be as good as the previous result and yet they don't consider that it could possibly be better or at least just as good. Change is a way of life. It's a necessity. All things grow and change. Without change, the world, especially the virtual world, would be boring indeed. Imagine a sim that never changes, has no new builds added to it, no seasonal or event displays, nothing original to draw visitors or residents. A place like that wouldn't last long in SL or would definitely not be very popular.
When I was young, and I'm not exactly elderly, I was afraid of changing anything either inside or outside myself. Even a little thing like cutting or coloring my hair, I resisted. Now I won't tell you how many times I've done that since but, of course, it's so easy in SL. I also used to imagine that I would grow up and live in my childhood home with my parents for the rest of my life and marry my next my door neighbor. Granted, I still live and work in the same town, but my life has changed in many ways and continues to change as the years pass. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not, but I accept it now because there's no use in fighting something that happens naturally.
Looking at the development of many of the projects in Second Life, in particular the Alliance Virtual Library which will also be changing soon into a new form, metamorphasizing into the Community Virtual Library via its magical library bluebird and three dedicated people, it's fascinating to realize the progress that was made from such a small start, a dream really. And yet that's all it takes. A dream and a great deal of determination.
When Clark Abismo had the idea to start a library magazine for librarians in SL, he wasn't afraid to suggest a change. He knew that a change was needed. Other people recognized that fact and gave him a hand. I was one of them. I don't regret the 18 months I spent on the project, nor the year I spent while the magazine was actually publishing, the last six months of which I had taken over as publisher when Clark returned to school to continue his education. During that time, I learned so much and was rewarded, not monetarily, but with the recognition that the work was being shared among my colleagues in SL to spread news about what we were all doing here and to encourage others to learn more about Second Life, the AVL, and librarians in virtual worlds.
Recently, we began to consider several options for changes to RezLibris. One was a quarterly instead of a monthly publicaton schedule but one that would still feature news articles and exhibit reviews posted on an ongoing basis. The other option was to continue to publish monthly but to scale down the number of articles per issue to maintain the quality of content covered in each article. We also welcome new writers and contributors especially for our News and Arts sections and hope to include more columns including those on specific areas such as ALA, Caledon, and libraries off Info Island. If you are interested, please contact me or send an email to
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Whatever format we decide upon and scheduling changes we make, we would like your input and feedback along with your continued support and readership as always, so we will include an end-of-year survey in our December issue. I also hope you will all be able to attend our first year anniversary party on Sunday, November 15, at 3 pm SLT at the Jazz Cat. Invitations will be sent out in early November.
Thank you all for your faithful readership this past year and continued readership for the future. I hope you'll find RezLibris is changing for the better.
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