SLA in Virtual Worlds Council 6 Month Report

TO:

Board of Directors

FROM: 

Cindy Hill (aka Sydney Delphin in Second Life), Chair, SLA Virtual Worlds Council

DATE: 

May 2010

RE: 

SLA Virtual Worlds Council Report, January – May 2010

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The SLA Virtual Worlds Council was created in March 2009. President Gloria Zamora appointed the council with the following direction:

Six members appointed for overlapping terms of two years each. The Advisory Council shall:

1. Recommend short and long-term direction for SLA’s presence as an association in virtual worlds.

2. Oversee SLA’s presence in virtual worlds.

3. Interface with other SLA units, including the Innovation Lab Task Force, ClickU and the Professional Development, Public Relations and Student Academic Affairs Advisory Councils, to:

a. consolidate and coordinate efforts to bring member benefits closer to members b. develop and promote opportunities for members to participate and build virtual world skills.

4. Investigate and estimate the cost of creating, maintaining and promoting virtual world activities and recommend funding sources and report findings to the CEO.

During the last six months the council membership has changed due to changing work loads and shifting priorities. The council members are:

Council Member 2009-2010: Heather O'Daniel

Council Member 2010-2012: Patricia Alderman

Council Member 2010-2012: Jacob Westendorp

Council Member 2009-2010: Cindy Hill, Chair

Council Member 2009-2010: Christy Confetti Higgins

Board liaison 2010: Cindy Romaine, President-Elect

Staff liaison 2010: Kristin Foldvik

Jill Hurst-Wahl continues as our first Honorary Member. Marcella Dulka and Scott Brown have moved from active roles on the council to roles as observers and commenters.

2010 Goals:

Continue to invite SLA leaders (board and unit leaders) into a virtual world environment

 Explore other virtual worlds beyond Second Life, evaluating their potential usefulness for SLA members

 Continue updating and modifying current SLA space in Second Life

 Increase visibility of the potential of virtual worlds to the SLA membership

We continue to incorporate Stephen Abram’s, first board liaison, advice to evaluate every opportunity for the lessons learned, repeatability, and to capture that information for future use by SLA members.

Accomplishments:

1.

VirtualU New Orleans Conference: We’ve been working with SLA staff in marketing the virtual world sessions to SLA members.

a. We participated in a training session and discovered the ease of VirtualU. As this application has been designed primarily to host conferences and meetings and it’s taken advantage of best practices from other virtual worlds; it’s an easy introduction for first-timers.

b. We use social media tools including Twitter, Facebook, SLA discussion lists, SLA VW blog and SLA VW calendar to make members aware of the cost-to-value aspect of participating in the conference through VirtualU. This venue was created to bring in members who are not able to attend the actual conference (no travel budget, home-bound, personal commitments, etc).

c. VirtualU 2010 will host the two keynote speakers and all ten Spotlight sessions.

d. We put a sign in our Second Life to market the VirtualU component of the conference.

Suggestions for future conferences:

o

Begin marketing VirtualU earlier than May. Most likely most members have decided by March if they are able to travel to the conference. By marketing VirtualU earlier we will be able to generate a "buzz" about the real-life and virtual conference and will generate additional revenue.

o

Encourage division units to participate in a VirtualU session

o

Encourage exhibitors, possibly even exhibitors who may not be at the conference, to exhibit at VirtualU

Recommendation:

There has been a lot of interest from members about VirtualU. We recommend that following the New Orleans conference that the council review the effectiveness of VirtualU for future conferences and report our findings and recommendations to the board. May

2. 

Renovated SLA space in Second Life: The space has been fully renovated. We are now planning a launch event during July or August 2010 and will incorporate some sort of SLA Conference follow-up activity.

3. 

Hosted sessions in Second Life for SLA members. These events are opportunities to reach members in new venues, provide a 3-dimensional meeting experience, and be learning opportunities for SLA leadership to experience presenting in a virtual world environment.



Feb 10 & 26, 2010: Anne Caputo, SLA President, and Cindy Romaine, SLA President-elect, met with SLA members hosting a discussion on the highlights of the alignment project, Leadership Summit and the New Orleans conference. Over 40 participants between both sessions.

4.

Continued hosting Second Life Alliance Virtual Library "Library Buzz" events. These events are opportunities to increase the visibility of SLA, the value of SLA membership, the importance of information and knowledge sharing in a virtual environment across all information professionals (public, academic, government, corporate, students, etc.) and learning opportunities for the speakers to experience presenting in a virtual world environment.

For 2010, the council has created and hosted 3 Library Buzz sessions in Second Life:

 March 23, 2010: Marilyn Johnson, Author talk, This Book is Overdue(Pat Alderman, facilitator) over 30 participants

 April 13, 2010: Presented by Hypatia Dejavu, Rocky Vallejo, and Abbey Zenith "

The New Community Virtual Library--Learn More About It"

 May 18, 2010: Presented by Leeorie Alter, Cindy Elkhard and Sonja Morgwain, "Is There Life for Public Libraries in Virtual Worlds?"(Pat Alderman, facilitator) over 20 participants

 Future topics and possible speakers include: Griefin

5. Increased awareness of virtual worlds to the SLA membership and others

o

"Ad" in Information Outlook

o

Blog postings – SLA, SLA VW

o

Twitter handle #librarybuzz

o

Looking Ahead: A Representative List of Ideas and Plans

 Continue to connect with other SLA units including Professional Development, Student Relations, Public Relations, and others (divisions, chapters, caucuses) that are interested in learning about and/or meeting in a virtual world

 Continue to explore other virtual worlds to determine their viability for collaboration, meetings, learning

 Continue Library Buzz sessions; encourage and train SLA members to host own Library Buzz or SLA session

 Explore the potential of hosting student interns and volunteers for virtual world activities

SLA in Virtual Worlds Links:



Wiki: http://wiki.sla.org/display/SLASECONDLIFE/Home



Blog: http://sla-divisions.typepad.com/sla_in_second_life/



Google Events Calendar: http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=slasecondlifecalendar%40gmail.com&ctz=America/Los_Angeles

Respectfully submitted by Cindy Hill, Chair SLA Virtual Worlds Council

Prepared by: Cindy Hill, Chair SLA Virtual Worlds Council Produced by: Reviewed by: SLA Virtual Worlds Council

PDFDownload SLABoard-SLAVirtualWorldsCouncilReportMay2010 of the actual report