Over the period of 15 June to 8 August I will be interviewing Second Life Library users and librarians about their experiences and use of this virtual world environment.

If you’ve ever visited the Second Life Library and you’d like to tell me about your experiences - I’d love to hear from you!

Information Sheet [pdf, 47kb]

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Virtual World Libraries: Challenges & Strategies

My name is Timothy Greig. I am a student in the Masters of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) program at the School of Information Management at Victoria University of Wellington. I am undertaking a research project to consider the issues and challenges surrounding the design of a Virtual World Library, and propose how these issues might be overcome or minimized through the application of game design strategies.

As part of my research, I am looking at existing libraries in the virtual world of Second Life. I would like to interview people who are users of the Info Island ‘sim’ in Second Life, in order to gain knowledge and information about their experiences as users, and in some case designers of, this new library space. I am primarily interested in interviewing those who have visited the Second Library 2.0, as focusing on this single building will enable me to access more detail on how people are using the space. However, I am also interested hearing about people’s experiences in other library buildings on the Info Island sim.

Research interviews will be conducted via Skype, or another Instant Messenger of your choice, and will take approximately one hour. Prior to the interview you will be given a list of some of the questions that we will be discussing, in order to give you an indication of the type of information that is being sought.

This interview will be recorded, with sections later being turned into transcripts which will be used to inform the final report of this project. Your identity will be confidential to my supervisors and myself. The results will be present in aggregated form so that individual people cannot be identified. Following the interview, you will have the opportunity to review the sections of your information that may be included in the research. Your responses will be kept secure via passworded files on my computer. This raw data will be kept for a period of 2 years after my project is completed, after which it will be deleted.

The information gathered through these interviews will be used to inform my final MLIS research project. This research may be published at a later date in professional or academic journals or presented at a conference. I will also make available a copy of the research project on my website. You may check the progress of this research by visiting my blog at timothygreig.com, and are welcome to email or message me at any stage following the interview to query or contribute further to the project, with the option to withdraw your input up until the date of its final inclusion in the project, no later than 9 August.

Victoria University of Wellington requires ethical approval for all research involving human participants, and this project has been approved by the School of Information Management Human Ethics Committee.

If you have any questions about this project, you can contact me via instant messenger or email at timothy.greig@gmail.com. My supervisor for this project is Brenda Chawner, who can be contacted at brenda.chawner@vuw.ac.nz.

Question Schedule [pdf, 54kb]

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
Virtual World Libraries: Challenges & Strategies

Thank you for your willingness to participate in this research project. This Question Schedule broadly outlines the kinds of questions that you will be asked during your research interview. Please feel free to think about your answers beforehand. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me via email or instant message.

Before we can begin discussing the questions listed below, I am required to ask you if you have read the Information Sheet associated with the research, and if you agree to what is outlined there. Please make sure you have read through the sheet before you participate!

Section A: Background Information
This section will cover background information about the participant’s use of Second Life and the Info Island Library environment. These questions are important because your use of Second Life Libraries occurs within the wider context of your everyday life, and previous experiences you have had with other kinds of libraries.

• Tell me about yourself? (What is your age and occupation? How do you otherwise use Second Life? Why did you join Second Life?)
• What is the nature of your involvement in Second Life Library? (What made you decide to use the library? Are you a user, a librarian, a builder?)
• What sorts of libraries do you normally use outside of Second Life? (How do you mostly access these libraries - online or in person?)

Section B: Description of Use
This section of the interview aims to gain an understanding of how library users have interacted with the library. The focus of these questions is on your initial or general impressions of Second Life Library.

• Describe, in general, your use of the library. (How long have you been using it? Has your use changed over time? Which of the Info Island Libraries have you used?)
• What were your first impressions of the Second Life Library? (How did you hear about it? What did you expect it would be like?)
• Describe the nature of your visits. (How often do you visit? How long do you tend to stay? Do you visit with a particular goal in mind, or just to browse? Have you logged into Second Life just to visit the library, or does your visit occur as part of other Second Life activities?)

Section C: Description of Specific Experiences
This section asks that you recall and consider a recent visit to the library. I aim to gain a snapshot of your experiences in the library environment with an eye to revealing how library users make sense of their surroundings, gain familiarity with what the library has to offer, and interact with others present in the environment with them.

• Can you tell me about your most recent visit to the library?

• Did you have a particular reason for visiting Info Island?
• How did you arrive?
• What did you see when you arrived?
• Where did you go first? (How did you know where to go? Where there specific points of reference or indicators that you used to guide your progress?)
• Were you with anyone when you arrived? Did you engage with anyone once you got to the library?
• What did you interact with during your visit? (Did you use any services in particular? Did anyone assist you? Did you assist anyone else who was visiting the library?)
• Did you spend any time wandering around, or did you go straight to what you wanted to see or do? Was it easy to find what you wanted? Was your visit a success?
• Can you describe any problems encountered during your visit? (How did these effect your experience?)

Are there any particular events that happened during any of your visits to the Second Life Library that stand out to you as memorable or indicative of your library experiences?

Section D: Evaluation of Experiences
This section is your opportunity to give critical feedback about your Second Life Library experiences. I am interested in what elements of the virtual world environment you find to be effective as well as those that do not work so well.

• Overall, what do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of this online library environment? (Which libraries do you most often use and why? What particular aspects of these libraries support your needs and interests? What changes would you make to the Second Life Library? What areas / features of the library do you feel need improvement?)
• How does it compare to your experience of physical libraries? How does it compare to other online libraries?
• How does it compare to your experience of other online environments? (Such as online games, chat rooms, forums, social software, and so on.)
• Do you have any other comments you’d like to make about the Second Life Library? (What do you think your future use of the library will be? Would you recommend it to others?)