2009 CAL SLIG Annual Report

2009 Second Life Interest Group Annual Report
for Colorado Association of Libraries



2009 Happenings

Grand Opening @ Emerald City / DJ & Dance

SLIG threw a Grand Opening Party for CAL’s Sustainable Living Library during ALA Midwinter meeting. A DJ spun tunes live at the party, and tours of the new library were given. Many contacts from various green communities in Second Life attended the party, making us feel very welcome.

The Alliance Library System of Illinois owned Emerald City, the first location of CAL’s Sustainable Living Library. The Alliance gave CAL almost a year of free rent on their island (Oct ’08 – Sept ‘09).


Program – Photovoltaics 101

Phil Friedman discussed the basics of solar electricity and how it applies to reversing the damage done to our environment due to human activity. This successful program was in an “open-ended discussion” format to encourage participation by all attendees. Phil has been working in photovoltaic design, installation, and renewable energy education since 2003. He holds a Masters Degree in adult education and training from Colorado State University and electronics technology certification from Front Range Community College. Phil is a consultant in the area of PV design work and solar site analysis. Phil is also an online instructor for Solar Energy International in Carbondale, Colorado.

In August/September of 2009, Emerald City closed due to budgetary reasons of the Alliance Library System. We had known that our free land and rent was ending soon, so we had been researching green communities. The Interest Group felt that the CAL Sustainable Living Library would better serve residents located on a vital and sustainable island, and chose to move to Etopia Prime, a very active green community.

Our September meeting ended with a Personal Tour of Etopia given by WilliamtheWise Goodman, the owner of the island. William noted that he had received good feedback and many positive comments about CAL’s library. Apparently, we are the first library to be located on the island.

CALCON09:


• Conference Opening Keynote by Stacy McKenzie - RL & SL speaker and attendees. Stacy’s opening conference address will take place in real life and in Second Life. This portion of the conference will also be open to CAL members that cannot attend the conference.
• Virtual/Real Life Meeting – Group RL & SL Photos. SLIG will have an annual interest group meeting. The conference committee is providing us a meeting space with wireless, and we will hold the meeting in real life and Second Life. The meeting will be open to all interested parties, whether they are able to attend the conference or not. We will also be taking a photo of the real life group, as well as a shot of the Second Life avatars.
• Tech Petting Zoo exhibit – We will be demonstrating Second Life live for conference goers at the Petting Zoo.

Wrap-Up/Forward Planning Meeting in January 2010. SLIG is planning a ‘Water Series’, with guest speakers to take place in the first half of 2010. This series will focus on the very important natural resource of water, and how it affects the people of the United States. At this time, we have 2 speakers lined up to speak. We hope to get 2-4 more speakers. We are also hoping to get a regular volunteer contingent to create rotating educational exhibits in the library.

Activities

Meetings:

SLIG has virtual meetings for the group 6 times a year. The co-chairs meet at least every month to plan and create exhibits at the virtual library, and to plan and conduct online programs.

Training:

CAL Con't Ed Full Day Workshop - August '09, Victoria Petersen & Eileen Dumas;

Presentations:

CAL Annual '08, Victoria & Eileen;

Virtual Second Life Presentations:

Green Holidays – December ’08, Victoria & Eileen;
CoASL Spring '09, Victoria;

Online Presence

In the last year we have created a virtual green library on Second Life, which provides resources on green and sustainable living to Second Life residents. The library and its virtual marketing promotes CAL, and has information about and a link to the CAL website.

CAL SLIG also has a Google group (groups.google.com/group/calslig) and a blog (sustainablelivinglibrary.blogspot.com).

Member List

34 Total Members

*Note: For privacy reasons, we have excluded the names and emails of our members from this post.

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