The aim of Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries is to help librarians and educators recognise the potential of multi‐user virtual environments (MUVEs), specifically Second Life, and consider ways to get involved as they proliferate. The book is divided into three parts. The first deals with “Virtual worlds and libraries”, essentially providing background information for those with limited knowledge or experience of MUVEs. The first chapter covers some of the issues and opportunities for libraries and another useful chapter in this section discusses library, museum and education applications for children and teenagers.
The main part of the book examines various aspects of the Alliance Virtual Library Project, a collaborative project to explore the potential for library services and resources in Second Life. These chapters are a mixture of case studies and thematic discussions. An example of the latter is Chapter 5, which discusses management in virtual environments, including supervising and managing staff, self‐management, project management and organisational management. Other chapters describe the organisation of reference services and collections in virtual environments, examining how these differ from both face‐to‐face and web‐based services. Other themes that are explored in this section include health information provision, the idea of branch libraries in virtual worlds and Teen Second Life. There are also several short case studies describing services relating to particular genres such as science fiction, mystery and historical conditions.
The final part of the book considers the potential applications of virtual worlds in education. Again, there are both case studies and more wide‐ranging discussions in this section. Chapter 17, which deals with teaching in a virtual setting is particularly useful as it is practically focussed, describing the various tools for virtual education and the challenges educators face.
Overall, this is an interesting book, describing some of the most up‐to‐date developments in this field. There is also a companion web site (www.virtualworldsreallibraries.info), which has a blog featuring current news on new projects and developments. Each of the chapters is short, giving a brief overview of the topic, but this means the book is able to cover a wide range of themes, exploring the potential of MUVEs in many areas of library services. This book is likely to appeal to librarians, students and researchers who are interested in exploring the potential of virtual environments and considering future developments. As might be expected, the contributors are almost all from the USA. Furthermore, as several of the contributors admit, much of the work to date has been carried out by librarians with a personal interest in MUVEs who are keen to explore their potential in their own time. In the future, virtual world library provision may become part of mainstream services, but this is still clearly a long way off, especially outside the USA.
In the afterword, the editors admit that it is difficult to predict how new technology will develop, even over the course of a few months. However, they predict that libraries of all types in virtual worlds will continue to multiply. They emphasise that collaboration between libraries will be key to the effective development of libraries in virtual environment as no library will be able to cover its bricks and mortar, web‐based and virtual services. Therefore, libraries will need to share funds, staff and expertise with the aim of creating a universal library. This is an exciting and challenging vision and one that will require the high level of enthusiasm demonstrated by the contributors to this book. In conclusion, Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries will make fascinating reading for anyone concerned with the possibilities for future library developments.
