New Wave Library

Research Paper Abstract
Virtual worlds are computer generated environments that simulate the ‘real’ world. They are inhabited by avatars, graphical representations of users. Many different virtual worlds exist. Some of them are built to closely resemble the real world while others depict fantasy worlds. The research paper focuses on Second Life, an extremely popular virtual world that has recently attracted attention of many outside the traditional gaming community, librarians among others. The paper explores the current presence of libraries and librarians in Second Life and the potential and challenges of providing library services in virtual environments.

About Second Life
Second Life is a massively populated virtual world created by Linden Research, Inc. and launched in 2003. According to the information on the Second Life website the number of Second Life users, that are called residents, is currently 12,833,029. The world in Second Life is completely built and owned by its residents. Residents can buy land, build buildings, and even start their own business. Second Life has its own economy since residents retain the rights to their digital creations and thus they can buy, sell, and trade those with other residents.

Links
Second Life – http://secondlife.com/
Teen Second Life – http://teen.secondlife.com/
Second Life Library – http://infoisland.org/
Second Life on Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life