cooperative reference services

Please read the following notice carefully. The Alliance Library System, which operates Info Island and coordinates library developments in SL, has proposed pooling resources to offer 24/7 reference service. This is a very important initiative. It may not be practical for us to participate at this time, but we will want to discuss this at a future meeting. Just FYI, I am a volunteer on the Info Island reference staff and have a two-hour shift each week. As such, I am a sort of unofficial representative of our SL library:

Consortial Reference Services

The Alliance Virtual Library, the innovator in reference services is pleased to invite you and your organization to partner with us in the development of a network to offer collaborative virtual reference services.

Reference was one of the first services started by the Alliance Virtual Library in SL, just over two years ago. It was a small, somewhat ad hoc service with four regular volunteers, covering about six hours of time a week. The vision was, and continues to be, to provide a generalist reference desk that could serve patrons arriving 24/7. By the end of 2006 we've grown to cover 80 hours a week, with around 38 regular volunteers, each covering a two hour shift. We help in the neighborhood of 300 patrons a week at present. The volunteers vary from MLS librarians to allied professions to paraprofessionals to friends of the library (i.e. classic library volunteer).

Our service has succeeded for a number of reasons. The foremost is presence. The presence of a live reference service person surprises and delights people and they do keep coming back. The success of our service depends entirely on our volunteers. They aren't employees; they are people working for their love of libraries.

More and more libraries are working to establish a presence in SL, and reference will be the flagship service they will want to offer. The success of a new venture might very well depend on that key element; a live presence to assist the patrons. Also, many individuals seeking to obtain permission and funding to begin a library in SL are often met with roadblocks having to do with this same service issue.

If you agree that there is enormous benefit to all concerned, your next questions must be, what must I do, and how will my library benefit. Collaborative virtual reference partners pledge time (ideally a two hour weekly shift) or other support to help expand the centralized reference services at Info International. In exchange the Alliance Virtual Library will offer your patrons a direct link to our services via intersim teleporters, landmarks, and notecards to be placed in your library in a unified kiosk. In development is a group of mentors for new libraries and librarians in SL. Also planned are programs targeted to help libraries create a viable and valuable presence in second life. Participation also offers a chance to make your presence more viable and to produce statistical proof for their home institutions and administrators.

We believe the goal of collaborative virtual reference to expand the live library services may be one of the most important things we will do. Please contact one of the Alliance Virtual Library staff members to discuss this concept at length. We are eager to begin our partnership with you.

Hypatia Dejavu - Reference Services Coordinator

Teofila Matovav - New Librarians/Library Group

Sonja Morgwain - New Librarians/Library Group

Abbey Zenith - Director of Library Services