by ABBEY ZENITH Photo by girlonaglide via flickr.com
ALA Chicago, a fantastic city, beautiful weather, great conference sessions and speakers, good times and good friends - what an experience!
The ALA Virtual Communities and Libraries Member Initiative Group (ALA VCL MIG) met in the Atrium of the National-Louis University campus on Michigan Avenue in Chicago on Saturday, July 11th, with about 18 people present. Approximately a dozen other librarian-avatars had gathered on ALA Island in Second Life to participate in the meeting, but, unfortunately, the in-person group was not able to get into Second Life.
The group discussed ways to reach out to more members of ALA to inform them about the realities and possibilities of librarianship and library services in virtual worlds. An interactive session (such as a create-your-avatar session) during the 2010 ALA Annual Conference in DC was discussed. A second SLymposium also was discussed. The group also had a lengthy discussion about how to sustain and advance the work of this MIG beyond summer 2010, when its initial 3-year existence will end.
On Saturday evening the group reconvened at Santorini's restaurant in Greek Town to eat, drink, and share experiences in virtual worlds and the real world.
At ALA the ACRL Board of Directors met on July 11th and approved the establishment of the ACRL Virtual Worlds Interest Group with the following statement of purpose:
To provide support and oversight for a designated volunteer to manage the Second Life presence of ACRL; to facilitate communication and collaboration for ACRL members and potential members involved in or interested in virtual worlds for professional activities; to participate in and support the activities of ACRL in virtual worlds on an ongoing basis; to advocate for ACRL and to recruit new members to ACRL in virtual worlds.
The ACRL Virtual Worlds Interest Group also has a pre-populated ALA Connect community. The ACRL Board strongly encourages all members to explore ALA Connect as a resource for virtual collaboration and welcomes feedback and suggestions for improvements that would further support member collaboration and meet technological needs.
ACRL Staff are working with ALA staff to ensure that this interest group is available as an option for ACRL members on the membership form.
Both the VCL MIG meeting and the ACRL board decision are positive indications that librarians and libraries in virtual worlds have the continuing support of ALA and ACRL, that interest in what we are doing in virtual worlds continues to grow.
The absolute best part of the conference for me and many others was the chance to meet so many Second Life librarians and volunteers in person. As Hypatia Dejavu, Alliance Virtual Library's Head of Reference stated, "So many of them were readily identifiable with their distinctive manners and personalities. While other events about SL were very positive nothing quite compared to meeting these good people for the first time, again."
AL Focus is the video home of American Libraries (AL) magazine -- the monthly magazine for ALA members. AL Focus Video Village is where you can watch AL Focus videos on ALA Island in the Second Life virtual world.
Click the screen and select *Favorites* to get the list of AL Focus videos. From the choices that appear, click the corresponding number to see the video!
Newest videos available: Christie Hefner Interview Before her Opening General Session speech at the 2009 ALA Annual Conference, American Libraries spoke with former Playboy Enterprises CEO Christie Hefner about her message to librarians, her memories of Judith Krug and the important First Amendment battles they fought, and what helped her to succeed in what some would call a man's job. Wanda Urbanska Interview After her speech at the 2009 ALA Annual Conference, Simple Living host Wanda Urbanska spoke with American Libraries editor Leonard Kniffel about her work with libraries and how librarians can advocate for green choices to administrators charged with monitoring the bottom line. NOTE: There is an ALFocus video of Wanda Urbanska's entire hourlong speech -- which is just too large to squeeze in here! Instead, view the speech off-world here
Sylvia Ivie at the Coretta Scott King Book Awards Sylvia Ivie, presenter of the first Coretta Scott King Book Awards, spoke to AL Focus at the 40th anniversary celebration about what the Awards have developed into and why they're still necessary. Dan Kraus at the Live @ Your Library Stage AL Focus caught up with Dan Kraus, the founder of AL Focus, current editor with Booklist magazine, and author of the forthcoming novel The Monster Variations, after his reading on the Live @ Your Library Stage at the ALA Annual Conference. Dan discusses his new book as well as the experience of being on the other side of the AL Focus cameras. NMRT (New Member Round Table) Resume Review Service Sarah Johnson, a reviewer for NMRT's Resume Review Service, discusses the program and how to participate in it, as well as some of the common resume mistakes she sees. NMRT Resume Review Service
Carl Kasell Backstage at Wait, Wait… Don't Tell Me! NPR newscaster and official judge and scorekeeper for Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me! Carl Kasell spoke to AL Focus before the July 9 taping of the show, which was attended by 500 librarians. Topics included the NPR library, the First Amendment, his use of libraries as a child, and Charles Kuralt. Paula Poundstone at Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! AL Focus visited ALTAFF Spokesperson Paula Poundstone July 9 before a taping of National Public Radio's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! attended by 500 librarians. The conversation covered Poundstone's role as ALTAFF spokesperson, her kids' reading habits, The Three Stooges, the dreaded acronym game, and the horrors of math.
Mixed Reality Video: Valibrarian Gregg created a Mixed-Reality Video of SL librarians who attended the ALA conference and their Avatar counterparts.
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Second Life librarians and library volunteers are going to turn out enforce for ALA Chicago’s Conference this year! For the first time we will have the opportunity to wear ribbons on our badges that say “Second Life Librarians”! If you are attending please pick these up at the Member Pavilion, booth #3034. Our ALA liaison, Tina Coleman (Kay Tarov in SL), will be on hand to meet people and pass out these ribbons. Since we don’t always know the real life names of SL librarians, this will be a fantastic way to be able to spot each other and a way to promote what we do to all conference attendees.
Many of the librarians you know and love in Second Life will be presenting. Tom Peters (SL: Maxito Ricardo) and Lori Bell (SL: Lorelei Junot) will be presenting My Avatar Will Contact Your Avatar: Virtual Worlds, Real Opportunities, Monday at 8:00 AM Central. Lori will also be presenting for the Life After 2.0 program on Saturday at 1:30 PM Central. Steven Harris (SL: Stolvano Barbosa) moderates Collection Development 2.0: The Changing Administration of Collection Development on Saturday at 3:30 PM Central. Lisa Perez will be speaking at Making Virtual Reality-Based Library Services Real for K-12 Teachers & Librarians at 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM on July 12th.
Lori Bell (SL: Lorelei Junot) and I will be signing copies of Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries: Librarians and Educators in Second Life and Other Multi-User Virtual Environments will be signing at the Information Today Inc. booth [#4525] on July 12 from 3:00 — 4:00 p.m. My apologies for other librarians, educators, and volunteers that I may have missed, I’m sure that many others will be speaking as well and I hope to catch many of these presentations,
This is the third year of the existence ALA Virtual Communities and Libraries Member Initiative Group and Tom Peters has a great line-up for the meeting in Chicago. It is a very important meeting for us to attend because we will be discussing the future of this group within ALA. This meeting will take place Saturday, July 11, 2009 at 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time (1:00 to 2:30 SLT) at the The Atrium of the downtown campus of National-Louis University located at 122 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. For those of you who want to attend in SL, ALA Island will be the gathering spot.
After the ALA VCL MIG meeting we're planning a dinner excursion for those who are interested. We will be meeting in the lobby of the Palmer House Hotel at 6:00 p.m. (Central Daylight Time), then venture out to eat Greek cuisine.
The ACRL Second Life Task Force sunsets this year and ACRL members have petitioned to replace it with an ACRL Virtual Worlds Interest Group. I would like to thank everyone who has been involved in the ACRL Second Life group! We have had some wonderful speakers and discussions and plan to have many more! I want to thank the task force members for the work they have done to help ACRL in Second Life: Esther Grassian (SL: Alexandria Knight), Brian C. Gray (SL: Brian Garfield), Alexia Hudson (SL: Donna Upshaw), Nancy Kellett (SL: Liatris Tidewater), Beth M. Transue (SL: Boolib Wunderle), and Scott Vine (SL: ScotV Lane).
We’ve made great strides in the past three years and I look forward to this conference with great excitement. It will be a thrill to meet so many of you for the first time and to see many of you again. See you in Chicago, even if you are going to be there virtually!
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The ALA Island is the Second Life virtual world presence of the American Library Association. Like ALA's Library, which I work for as a Library Reference Specialist, the ALA Island doesn't have traditional library resources on a variety of topics as a public library would have (and which the Alliance Virtual Library does have set up on Info Island), but is more of a special library focused on dispensing information about ALA, along with being a kind of community information center, helping people become more familiar with navigating the Second Life virtual world and demonstrating its capabilities to bring together people from all over the country (and all over the world) to inform them in a variety of ways, including through audiovisual media, about various aspects of librarianship, including literacy and reading, and censorship and intellectual freedom, thereby expanding and extending what libraries are and what libraries can do.
My avatar in Second Life, ALALibraryVal Miles, can often be found at the desk in the Member Lounge on ALA Island. From there I greet other Second Life avatars who fly or teleport to ALA Island, and ask if I can help them -- just like what would happen at a real life library! Sometimes it will be someone who is new to Second Life and they'd appreciate some help trying to figure out… well, everything about Second Life! What is it? What are they supposed to do? How do they get anywhere? Where can they get better clothes -- better hair!! Second Life can be somewhat overwhelming at first, but to answer some of their questions, I usually offer them a notecard which I first put together last year, adapted from a booktalk I gave during National Library Week 2008, and have updated this year. The notecard lists books that are available about Second Life -- but better, there are links to the web sites of the books' publishers, where nearly all of the books have a chapter freely available as an Adobe PDF file. Along with the Second Life Quickstart Guide released by Second Life creator Linden Lab earlier this year, the Getting Started chapter from the first edition of Second Life: The Official Guide gives a fully detailed introduction to the Second Life onscreen interface and points you toward other helpful web sites and online resources.
Beside the Member Lounge is the ALA Island Main Stage, its main teleportation point. The stage holds several kiosks with information on ALA's most well-known events and current projects, and is the place where we hold our largest meetings, presentations, and author visits. Earlier this year, it was the place to watch the ALA Youth Media Awards announcement video in-world, to find out who won the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, the Coretta Scott King awards, and many, many more. The covers of the books winning the several illustrator youth media awards are the current exhibit at ALA Island's Lorelei Junot Gallery. And a ski range in the back of ALA Island features tall posts decorated with the various award logos, which offer notecards explaining each of the awards.
One side of the ALA Island Main Stage has a store with ALA-branded and celebrity READ t-shirts that your avatar can buy for zero Linden dollars (L$0), the Second Life currency (in other words, free), as well as web links to ALA's online periodicals and e-newsletters and the ALA Online Store of real life books and t-shirts. The other side of the stage includes a dance floor and a tall slideshow screen of ALA's latest posters, along with an area where you can get a book and then pose your avatar in front of a READ poster frame and take a picture, creating your very own personal READ poster starring your Second Life avatar!
The rest of ALA Island is a semi-circle, leading back to the main stage, with sections of kiosks on ALA's various other units along the way -- a section of kiosks for ALA's round tables, a section for ALA's offices, and a section for ALA's divisions.
ALA Island has proved to be a showcase for the various audiovisual pieces now regularly produced by ALA, as well as those from other sources. Recently, the Member Lounge has become a destination where ALA's podcasts can be heard in-world, including the recent one with ALA staffer Linda Mays talking about April 30, El día de los niños/El día de los libros (Día), also known as Children's Day/Book Day, as well as the May 2009 Games in Libraries podcast by Scott Nicholson.
The AL Focus Video Village has available all of the news videos produced by AL Focus, the video home for ALA's member magazine, American Libraries.
The Sky Book Platform has usually hosted audio dramas, but most recently, a screen was erected in order to show the Libraries and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Overview Screencast put together by ALA's Washington (DC) Office.
A screen was also recently installed within ALA Island's 3-D standing exhibit on books threatened with removal from libraries, its Banned Books Week Town Square, in order to show past appearances on the PBS television program, Open Mind, by Mrs. Judith Krug, founding director of ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, who passed away earlier this year.
One corner of ALA Island holds Salon Huron, a more informal gathering place than the Member Lounge, which has hosted discussions on various library subjects, including about ALA's National Gaming Day last year, but most recently hosted a discussion on the British science fiction TV show, Doctor Who, and so still has a cutout of its current lead actor, David Tennant, laying about, along with another video courtesy of SLCN, an in-world interview with author Terrance Dicks, writer of countless Doctor Who episodes and novels throughout the 40-year history of the series.
ALA Island has lots to offer its audiences of both librarians and their patrons. You can find out much more about ALA Island, including its original build and design by graduate students of the School of Library and Information Science of San Jose State University, on ALA's web site, at: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/alaislandinsecondlife/index.cfm
Presently, ALA Senior Associate Executive Director Mary Ghikas oversees ALA Island, with day-to-day management handled by ALA Web Developer Donavan Vicha, known as Island Manager Oberon Octagon <
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> in Second Life. ALA Member Specialist Christina Coleman
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, known as Kay Tairov in Second Life, was responsible for many of the new ALA Island features installed in the 2008 redesign of ALA Island and answers questions from ALA member libraries and librarians about ALA's activities in Second Life, including serving as staff liaison to the ALA Virtual Communities and Libraries Member Initiative Group, which can be found on ALA Connect at http://connect.ala.org/node/66325. Announcements on programs and events happening on ALA Island are always posted to the Second Life Users Group on ALA Connect at http://connect.ala.org/node/70854, which anyone, ALA member or not, can freely join.
In celebration of National Library Week, the American Library Association (ALA) hosted a series of “Worlds connect @ your library” events in Second Life. “Worlds connect @ your library” was the 2009 theme for National Library Week.
This year’s attractions and events in Second Life marked the second National Library Week to host “in-world” activities. Attractions open throughout National Library Week included:
• An ALA / Information Island Archipelago Treasure Hunt. Visitors were invited to explore the Information Island Chain while picking up fun and useful freebies along the way.
• A celebration of ALA Allied Professional Association’s (ALA-APA) National Library Workers Day, Tuesday, April 14. ALA Island featured the Gallery of Library Stars, where visitors were able to pose for a picture and have it added to the gallery.
• Build-Your-Own-Tour of Libraries in Second Life. SL users could use the pictures on the ALA Island to visit different library locations throughout Second Life.
• A Youth Media Award art gallery. The Lorelei Junot Gallery was open for a National Library Week art exhibit featuring cover art from Caldecott, Pura Belpré and Coretta Scott King award winners and honor medal recipients.
Special events during the week included:
• Megan McFarlane, coordinator for the Campaign for America’s Libraries (Second Life avatar, Bunny Iwish), who hosted a talk on the fourth season of Step Up to the Plate @ your library. McFarlane discussed the 2009 season, which will focus on the history and diversity of our America’s national pastime, and to answer questions on promoting the program.
• Tina Coleman, ALA membership specialist (Second Life avatar, Kay Tairov), moderated a book discussion of “The Watchmen.” The discussion focused on the graphic novel and its impact on modern literature and pop culture.
• Joe Sanchez, author of “Library Technology Reports” and doctoral candidate in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin (Second Life avatar, North Lamar), presented “Implementing Second Life: Ideas, Challenges and Innovations.”
• Valerie Hawkins, ALA library reference specialist (Second Life avatar, ALALibraryVal Miles), moderated a T.A.R.D.I.S (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) @ your library, a discussion of the world of the popular British science fiction show “Doctor Who.”
• Furthering promoting the theme of “connections,” Jenny Levine, internet development specialist & strategy guide, ITTS (Second Life avatar, Cielo Paris), hosted a presentation on ALA Connect, ALA’s new social networking site.
On March 17, 2009, the American Library Association's Recruitment Assembly celebrated “Adventures in Children’s Literature: Careers for School, Public, and Academic Librarians.” Live video footage was streamed into Second Life on a screen above ALA's Main Stage. ALA Main Stage, ALA Island (130, 103, 31). The actual event took place on the University of Central Missouri campus as part of the 41st Annual Children's Literature Festival. Included in the list of nationally recognized children's literature authors were: Vivian Vande Velde, Robin Brickman and Sneed Collard. We also learned about Mireille Zwilling (Carol Smith, Assistant Professor of Library Services / Business Librarian at the University of Central Missouri) and Naomi Williamson, Special Collections Curator for the University of Missouri library.
Vivian Vande Velde is author to books Alison, Who Went Away, Remembering Raquel and Smart Dog, as well as many others. Her website can be found here. Velde says that she started writing because “I love stories,” especially fairy tales and Disney movies. There was one thing however, that bothered her about the princesses in the stories: “they were always perfect.” She says that the Disney princesses were beautiful and had perfect hair; something that she could not relate with. Velde spoke about her process in writing and drawing pictures and of her experience in publishing her first book. She sent her book to 32 publishers and it wasn't until she reached publisher number 33 that she got a “yes”. For those who are thinking about writing and getting published, Velde says not to get discouraged and instead focus on the language and the story. Velde also spoke about the publishing process and about her book covers; what she liked, what she didn't like and why. There was a funny story about a childhood pet that learned commands in French and English and made Velde think that he could understand anything she told him. This was her inspiration for the book, Smart Dog. Although Velde doesn't believe in ghosts, she does enjoy ghost and fantasy stories. The author finished her talk speaking abut her inspiration for the book, Dragon's Bait and autographed books for her live audience.
Robin Brickman is an author that designs artwork for her book covers. Her choice of medium includes the use of fur, leather, leaves, paint and other organic material. It is a very hands-on approach that she learned through trial and error. She presented slides of her artwork in progress and then conducted a art session with the audience. Additional information for Brickman can be found here.
The third speaker, Sneed B. Collard III is an award winning children's author for books such as Science Warriors, the Battle Against Invasive Species; Shep Our Most Loyal Dog; Dog Sense; Wings; and the Prairie Builders Reconstructing America's Lost Grasslands. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, audio and video on Collard's video presentation were intermittent but more information about Collard can be found here: http://www.author-illustr-source.com/sneedbcollard.htm.
To conclude, Mirelle Zwilling (Carol Smith) spoke about her experience in transitioning from a 17-year career in business to becoming an academic librarian two years ago. She says that her love of reading was a definite influence in her decision to “shift gears” and that her childhood fantasy was to turn her bedroom into the children's section of the local library branch. Zwilling never imagined that she would be working regularly with children's literature when she embarked on her career as an academic librarian but she says that “we forget sometimes that children's books are part and parcel of the pantheon of literature, as deserving of academic attention as any other genre.” She goes on to say that James C. Kirkpatrick Library of the University of Central Missouri has for 41 years cultivated the nation's oldest and largest festival of its kind setting itself apart from similar festivals because it provides children the opportunity to interact with their favorite artists and illustrators, in addition to providing a valuable venue for the adult audience in attendance. The number of participants in 2008's festival included 6,600 school children, 1, 450 adults and 43 authors/illustrators. Zwilling's role in the festival is to organize 200 volunteers that are an integral part of the festival as is Naomi Williamson, Zwilling's esteemed colleague, who leads the library's efforts to promote the event.
Naomi Williamson is the library's Special Collections Curator and also creates displays for the collection. She teaches popular courses, “Library Materials for Children and Young Adults” and a course in “Children's Literature for Curriculum” which allows students with a forum in which to discuss ways to “teach and encourage the love of reading to children of all ages.” She also leads up a summer retreat called “Children's Books and the People Who Make Them,” which encourages “aspiring children's literature authors to bring their dreams to fruition.” Now in its fifth year, participation in the retreat is limited but there are hopes to expand beyond the 15 person cap.
The ALA's Recruitment Assembly did a great job organizing an informative session in-world about children's literature for those who were not able to physically attend the 41st Annual Children's Literature Festival on campus at the University of Central Missouri.
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Institutions & Organizations 
ALA Chicago, a fantastic city, beautiful weather, great conference sessions and speakers, good times and good friends - what an experience! 
AL Focus Video Village
Second Life librarians and library volunteers are going to turn out enforce for ALA Chicago’s Conference this year! For the first time we will have the opportunity to wear ribbons on our badges that say “Second Life Librarians”! If you are attending please pick these up at the Member Pavilion, booth #3034. Our ALA liaison, Tina Coleman (Kay Tarov in SL), will be on hand to meet people and pass out these ribbons. Since we don’t always know the real life names of SL librarians, this will be a fantastic way to be able to spot each other and a way to promote what we do to all conference attendees. 
My avatar in Second Life, ALALibraryVal Miles, can often be found at the desk in the Member Lounge on ALA Island. From there I greet other Second Life avatars who fly or teleport to ALA Island, and ask if I can help them -- just like what would happen at a real life library! Sometimes it will be someone who is new to Second Life and they'd appreciate some help trying to figure out… well, everything about Second Life! What is it? What are they supposed to do? How do they get anywhere? Where can they get better clothes -- better hair!! Second Life can be somewhat overwhelming at first, but to answer some of their questions, I usually offer them a notecard which I first put together last year, adapted from a booktalk I gave during National Library Week 2008, and have updated this year. The notecard lists books that are available about Second Life -- but better, there are links to the web sites of the books' publishers, where nearly all of the books have a chapter freely available as an Adobe PDF file. Along with the 
Beside the Member Lounge is the ALA Island Main Stage, its main teleportation point. The stage holds several kiosks with information on ALA's most well-known events and current projects, and is the place where we hold our largest meetings, presentations, and author visits. Earlier this year, it was the place to 
One corner of ALA Island holds Salon Huron, a more informal gathering place than the Member Lounge, which has hosted discussions on various library subjects, including about ALA's National Gaming Day last year, but most recently hosted a discussion on the British science fiction TV show, Doctor Who, and so still has a cutout of its current lead actor, David Tennant, laying about, along with another video courtesy of SLCN, an in-world interview with author Terrance Dicks, writer of countless Doctor Who episodes and novels throughout the 40-year history of the series.
In celebration of National Library Week, the American Library Association (ALA) hosted a series of “Worlds connect @ your library” events in Second Life. “Worlds connect @ your library” was the 2009 theme for National Library Week.
On March 17, 2009, the American Library Association's Recruitment Assembly celebrated “Adventures in Children’s Literature: Careers for School, Public, and Academic Librarians.” Live video footage was streamed into Second Life on a screen above ALA's Main Stage. ALA Main Stage, 
Velde says that she started writing because “I love stories,” especially fairy tales and Disney movies. There was one thing however, that bothered her about the princesses in the stories: “they were always perfect.” She says that the Disney princesses were beautiful and had perfect hair; something that she could not relate with. Velde spoke about her process in writing and drawing pictures and of her experience in publishing her first book. She sent her book to 32 publishers and it wasn't until she reached publisher number 33 that she got a “yes”. For those who are thinking about writing and getting published, Velde says not to get discouraged and instead focus on the language and the story. Velde also spoke about the publishing process and about her book covers; what she liked, what she didn't like and why. There was a funny story about a childhood pet that learned commands in French and English and made Velde think that he could understand anything she told him. This was her inspiration for the book, Smart Dog. Although Velde doesn't believe in ghosts, she does enjoy ghost and fantasy stories. The author finished her talk speaking abut her inspiration for the book, Dragon's Bait and autographed books for her live audience.
Robin Brickman is an author that designs artwork for her book covers. Her choice of medium includes the use of fur, leather, leaves, paint and other organic material. It is a very hands-on approach that she learned through trial and error. She presented slides of her artwork in progress and then conducted a art session with the audience. Additional information for Brickman can be found 