I (finally) submitted my proposal for my 580 Research project a couple of weeks ago. Part of the most daunting bit of my study towards the Masters of Library and Information Studies programme at Victoria University, my project is titled “Virtual World Libraries: Challenges and Strategies”. In brief, the research explores three questions:

1. What challenges faced by traditional online library services/interfaces are able to be overcome by Virtual World Library environments?
2. What new challenges (or old ones) face the development of Libraries in Virtual Worlds?
3. How might these challenges be overcome? Can the design strategies used in Massively Multiplayer Online Games be a useful guide?

When talking about “Virtual World Libraries”, I am referring to initiatives such as the Info Island Libraries now being run in Second Life, spearheaded by the Alliance Library System. I’m planning that my research will involve interviews with a few the users of these libraries, to learn about their experiences of the online library environment. Here’s an excerpt

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I almost can’t believe it, but I just registered to attend the ALA TechSource Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium. With Henry Jenkins, Jim Gee, Video Games, and Libraries all in the same place at the same time - I really can’t afford to miss it… it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me to meet my heroes and be surrounded by people who are interested in the exact combination of things that I am keen on!