Info Island Grand Opening

With all the talk about the place of digital libraries vs bricks and mortar libraries a consortium in the US is building a digital bricks and mortar library in the online virtual world Second Life. They've been going for a while now but are having their official opening next week. Here's what they say about themselves:

"Second Life is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by over 600,000 people from around the globe. There are shopping malls, events, homes, lands of different types, and best of all, participants can contribute content, buildings, and other digital creations.

Alliance Library System and OPAL are teaming up to utilize the programs currently offered online to librarians and library users to extend the programs to the Second Life virtual reality world. Although there are a couple of libraries currently on Second Life, none currently offers programs or services. Alliance and OPAL will start with programs and eventually hope to offer library services."

They have a blog at http://www.infoisland.org/ which is worth checking out if you're interested but you'll need a broadband connection to actually have a look at info island itself.