Office Hours - Now Beginning!

SLIG is happy to announce our new "Office Hours"!

Victoria/Plautia and Eileen/Ariell will be at CAL's Sustainable Living Library every Saturday (weather permitting:-) from 10am to 12 noon MT.

We will be there to help CAL members learn about any Second Life topic of their choice!

During our open 'Office Hours', Plautia and Ariell will be able to help you with the following:

  • Navigating this exciting virtual world
  • Changing your appearance
  • Creating educational exhibits and displays
  • Finding 'freebies'
  • ...and more!
We have found that informal learning sessions in Second Life are more conducive to learning for some folks than learning in a traditional classroom setting. Also, by having them at a set time every week will make it easier for people to log in when they have time!

So, pop on by CAL's Sustainable Living Library and say hello!

CAL Second Life Interest Group Meeting 2009


Well, another CAL Annual Conference has come and gone. We had a successful Interest Group meeting (after we all found each other - as Interest Group leader, I was informed of one location - and the conference program told the members to go to a different one! Thanks for coming to find me, folks!), and discussed future plans for CAL's Sustainable Living Library.

This past year we have worked on learning the basics of Second Life; we've introduced Colorado Librarians to this exciting virtual world, and learned ourselves how to effectively use Second Life tools to get resources out to library visitors.

In 2010, we will be focusing on Programming and Educational Exhibits. Many of our interest group members are passionate about water, and we will be introducing a 'Water Series', programming focusing on water issues - both locally and globally.

We were also lucky to meet Melissa Mayhew, a Colorado author that had a booth at the conference, and is very active in Second Life. She is interested in partnering with us for some programming activities.

We also announced our upcoming 'Office Hours' at the Sustainable Living Library. Every Saturday, from 10am-12pm MT, Victoria/Plautia and Eileen/Ariell will be logged in and available at the library to answer any questions about Second Life and sustainability. We are happy to provide this service on a regular basis to encourage Colorado librarians to visit and learn about Second Life in an informal way. So pop in and say hello!

All in all, it was a terrific meeting and has re-energized us all! We are looking forward to a busy and rewarding upcoming year at CAL's Sustainable Living Library.

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.