"Cypress Barrett told me that a resident volunteered to donate land in Caledon for a library branch. If you have not been to Caledon, please go. It is a new sim and is a nineteenth century atmosphere. There are people walking around in clothing from the nineteenth century and all the houses and shops must have this look too. I have a friend who recenty rented a house there - and there were people waiting in line to buy land and rent there. It is very charming.

This is the challenge: how would you build a nineteenth century library in a twenty-first century digital world?

I think this is fascinating - but I need to work on getting our main library up and running. Is there anyone or any group that would like to work with this concept as a branch? Let me know." [An email to the Second Life Library Google Group]

I'm having trouble keeping up with all of the great stuff happening in the Second Life Library project because there's just so dang much of it. The international collaboration, community, and conversation that is building around this is phenomenal. Besides the pure people aspect of it, the fact that Ebsco, OCLC's QuestionPoint, and TechSoup are all experimenting with the group signals how much gaming has hit the library world over the last year. It's fascinating to watch, and I hope it continues. I couldn't see the images in this video, but I'm guessing it gives a good summary of what has happened in just one month.

I hope to start joining in the fun in a couple of months when my travels slow down a little for me. It's been a grueling year so far; Michael Stephens and I counted up dates yesterday, and we think we'll each have given 28 presentations/talks in the first six months of this year. One of my goals at this point is to relax a little after June and have some fun playing in Second Life by just hanging out in the public library there!

Meanwhile, if Lori's challenge sounds interesting, be sure to contact her!"