by BOOKIE BALOGH

Franja Russell. Photo by Bookie Balogh

Franja Russell, the AVL volunteer of the month for December, has always wanted to talk to characters in novels. She wants to ask the villains why they perform the horrendous acts they undertake, and to query the heroes and heroines about when they decided to take on the courageous acts that would earn them the title of hero. And in SL, as keeper of the Science Fiction Portal, she is able to come close to her childhood dream by inviting authors of works of speculative fiction to come to SL and talk about their books and their characters.

In 2005, Franja purchased a computer and Internet connectivity. A friend suggested that she take a look at SL; she had had no experience with virtual worlds prior to that time. Finding that the world intrigued her, she took many classes, learning how to make her way around in the virtual environment, and in particular, to build. She has built, indeed, both for herself and for others.

When the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Portal was new, Franja volunteered there. She made furniture, stages and seating, organized programs and events. When the original Leader had to withdraw from SL, Franja accepted the role of Portal Leader. She works energetically on behalf of the portal and of the information archipelago. For the Science Fiction Portal, she initiated the very popular events program, bringing authors to SL to discuss their works, holding film discussions, and ensuring that the Portal’s space and collections are exciting and informative places to visit.

Elsewhere in SL, Franja became involved with stroke survivors and their caretakers, in large part because of a series of strokes that her mother had suffered. She loves talking with people from other countries and from other areas of the United States; she would simply like more time to do everything she wants to do!

She is an able designer and gardener. This interviewer had the good fortune to talk with her at her house in SL; it’s a beautiful house, furnished with lovely items, and surrounded by gardens that she clearly tends as well as she tends her RL gardens. In RL, she collects wooden flute music, primarily Native American and Asian, and she has imported some of this music to SL, where it surrounds her in the house that she created.

For running the Science Fiction portal with energy and grace, always seeking to try new things, and tirelessly managing the portal and creating programming for Science Fiction and Fantasy at AVL., she is the Volunteer of the Month for December 2008, an award that is richly deserved.

by BOOKIE BALOGH

Buddhistlibrarian (Bud) Ballyhoo. Photo by Verde Otaared

Buddhistlibrarian (Bud) Ballyhoo is the new Marketing Coordinator for the Alliance Virtual Library (AVL). Abbey Zenith announced the appointment, saying “Budd has been volunteering with us for some time and she is excited to step into this new volunteer position. She will be responsible for adding events, textures and notecards to the signs in the welcome center and for distributing them to others in the project who want to display events.”

Bud says that her responsibilities will include ensuring that word gets out about events on the Information Islands. Ideally, she would love everyone in SL to know what we are doing here; she recognizes that this is a formidable task, but wants to approach the world’s residents and areas systematically, bringing word of the many and various events that are of interest to librarians and nonlibrarians alike.

Recognizing that each program on the Information Archipelago already has its own mechanism for public relations and marketing, she says that her job will be that of coordinating existing PR and taking responsibility for the general displays and signs that are scattered around the islands.

Why would she take on such a large task? She reports that she indicated an interest in volunteering, and was stunned when Abbey asked her to consider marketing. However, she is “happy to be helping” with anything that makes the Information Islands more visible to the rest of the world’s inhabitants.

She originally learned of SL at a meeting of the Florida Library Association, where Stephen Abrams was the keynote speaker. Hearing him talk about SL and its potential for libraries, she "came home, got a powerful enough computer, and jumped in." She also volunteers once a week at the reference desk on International Island, and she loves to dance (like many of us, she says she’s a better dancer in SL than in RL). She loves the friends she has made, and enjoys simply hanging out and talking with them. According to Bud, this is the best way to network and make friends, both in SL and in RL. In particular, she loves her conversation with LIS students.

When asked if she had been able to bring SL to her RL library, Bud says that this has not yet happened, but she wants to use SL in her library in a manner that will be most effective.

Our new marketing coordinator is an enthusiastic proponent of libraries and SL alike. We are fortunate to have her in this new role.