When you first arrive on the island, you are struck by the tranquility: unseen birds chirrup pleasantly while tall palms sway in the ocean breeze. Then a black squirrel skitters across your path and you remember: this parcel of land belongs to Stanford University and you are here to learn.
The island, which exists only in the online virtual world Second Life, was built by a volunteer group of Stanford library staff members led by technical support manager Deni Wicklund, web developer Jessie Keck, and information systems specialist Lynn McRae. “Collaboration for education is one of the most exciting uses of Second Life,” Wicklund says. “There are so many opportunities here, especially for an innovative community like Stanford.”
Although they bear little resemblance to familiar libraries on campus, the buildings on the island offer many of the same resources as their real-life counterparts. A brief stroll down a cobblestone path leads to the modern glass Collections Building, where you can walk right up to a cherry wood bookshelf and thumb through a copy of The Complete Works of Tolstoy.
In some cases, though, the Second Life library gives visitors access to documents that would be difficult or impossible to obtain in real life. A note written by Mark Twain, for example, is kept under tight security on campus, but the digitized version—stored in a virtual archive box complete with ISBN—is readily available in the island's Goodfellow research tower.
Visitors can also view exhibits, catch up on the latest Farm news, or attend lectures. More than 1,500 individuals, mostly visitors from other educational institutions, have traveled to the island since its creators started keeping track in March 2008. Wicklund, Keck and McRae hope to expand the library's archive of digital content and are considering other potential uses of the program, such as building virtual representations of campus dorms for students to tour before the housing draw.
—MARIE C. BACA, ’06
