When Off-campus Means Virtual Campus: the Academic Library in Second Life

Lynette RalphBeth Stahr

Southeastern Louisiana UniversityOff-Campus Library Services Conference ~ April 28, 2010

Second Life

Susan Acampora’s Libraries and Second Life presentation

Susan Acampora’s presentation on YouTube

YouTube Search: gallateasu

Background of Sims Library in RL

Southeastern Louisiana University~ 15,000 students53 baccalaureate, 19

graduate, and 1 doctoral program

3 branch campuses

BOR Regents IslandsStarted with a grant to examine the value of 3-D web platforms such as Second Life to higher education in Louisiana. Project participants included:

University of New Orleans Southeastern Louisiana UniversityTulane UniversitySouthern University of New OrleansDelgado Community CollegeUniversity of Louisiana at MonroeLoyola University (New Orleans)Louisiana Regents

Bird’s Eye View of BOR Islands and Property in SL

Southeastern’s SL CampusSix Buildings:

Welcome CenterStudent Life CenterArt CenterCollege of Nursing & Health SciencesClassroom 2 –English DepartmentCenter for Faculty Excellence/Library

Sims Library Design in SL

• Goal – Make inviting • Developed with assistance from visual arts • Input from Emerging Technology Committee• Other librarians participated• Support from Library Administration

Advisory Committee Meeting in World

Official Ribbon Cutting CeremonySeptember 26, 2008

Grand Opening of the Library

Ribbon Cutting and Walking Tour

Staffing the Library• 10 out of 18 librarians

have avatars

• Special occasions only– Grand Opening

Ceremony– Health Information Fair– National Library Week– Bibliographic Instruction

by request

Library Instruction in SL

• Health Fair for Nursing students• Webcasts for English students• BIs for doctoral students• BIs for Educational Technology students

SL Viewer 2.0 Enhancements for Instruction

Librarianship in SL

Beth Tungsten and Rolig Loon (Reference Librarian) at Community Virtual Library (Info Island)

SL Library Communities

Ning: Second Life LibrariansBlogs: Community Virtual Library

Virtual Presence Blog (ALA)Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries (Lori Bell & Rhonda Trueman)

Facebook Groups: Second Life for EducatorsSecond Life Groups: Librarians of Second Life

Mighty Lynagh Attending a Conference in World

• Free• In SL• Multi-lingual

http://www.vwbpe.org/

Issues, Challenges & Concerns in SL

• Hardware• Learning Curve• Development• The unexpected– Disappearing clothes– Appearance Changes– Inability to speak

Where are my clothes ???

One shoe ???

The Future

Possibilities for higher ed

• SLOODLE

• Open Cobalt

• Open Simulator (Open Sim)– Education Grid (iED)– Immersive Education Initiative

Please join us in SL…

Dr. Lynette Ralph Beth StahrLynette.Ralph@selu.edu bstahr@selu.edu