I have chosen to investigate Cleveland Public Library's space on Second Life. On the Cleveland Public Library's homepage, the mission of the library is given:
To be the best urban library system in the country by providing access to the worldwide information that people and organizations need in a timely, convenient, and equitable manner.
In order to achieve this goal, the third largest public research library in the United States decided to open the doors of its online library on November 16, 2007. I recently visited the Cleveland Public Library to investigate.
There are nine places to visit at the Second Life Cleveland Public Library.
The Cleveland Public Library has the world largest chess collection. Therefore, the theme of chess is pervasive throughout the space. I started my journeys at the main library.
The Second Life version of the main library is very similar to the appearance of the actual building.
Outside, there is a sign that gives the history of the Cleveland Public Library on a notecard to the clicking avatar. Inside, the library shows off parts of its world renowned chess collection with signs of uploaded images of different kinds of chess boards and pieces. There are also signs that avatars can click on to receive notecards with more information about Austrian, Staunton, Export Indian, Italian Courtier, Blind man's, Medieval, Cantonese Export, Crusaders chessmen as well as chessmen dressed in simple religious attire.
The next place I decided to visit was the Reading Garden.
Like with the main museum, there is a sign where avatars can learn more about the Eastman Reading Garden via notecard. Inside, the reading garden was full of trees and flowers with ample sitting places. It seemed to be very relaxing and a great place to gather your thoughts.
The next place I visited was the amphitheater.
The amphitheater was well constructed and even included a popcorn maker that gives avatars free popcorn. However, the video that is supposed to play does not work. I suspect that this error is because the library just opened on Second Life and will be fixed in the future.
I visited the photo gallery next.
The photo gallery design into the shape of a camera was very creative. Once inside the lens, there were many signs adorned with pictures about sheet music in Ohio and specifically Cleveland. However, the signs do not provide notecards with more information about the specific sheet music. Because I am not an expert in the field of music, I was a little confused and more information would be helpful.
After my visit to the Photo Gallery, I visited the CLEVNET building.
Outside the building, there is a sign that gives the clicking avatar more information about what CLEVNET is. CLEVNET is Cleveland Public Library's online presence. The CLEVNET building resembles the normal office building. There are chairs, desks, and laptops, but that is it.
The other four places in the Cleveland Public Library's Second Life presence are all chess boards. These four playable chess boards are Mycenaean, Generic, Wonderland, and Hungarian-Russian chessboards.
Overall, I found Cleveland Public Library's space on Second Life to be very impressive. With nine places to visit, I thought that the space was vast but also complicated. Outside of the CLEVNET building, the rest of the Cleveland Public Library's space on Second Life was very interactive and informative. On the web, Cleveland Public Library has gotten the word out about their space. On the Second Life blog called InfoIsland, there was a blog post about the library:
Cleveland Public Library Opens in Second Life Cleveland Public Library, of Cleveland, Ohio, is opening a new sim on Friday, November 16th. Cleveland Public Library is the third largest public research library in the United States, and also is the largest repository of chess-related items in the world. The island includes playable, life-size chess sets, and the Main Library building currently features an exhibit of historical chess sets owned by the library in RL. Also be sure to check out the Photo Gallery (believe us, you’ll know it when you see it!), where we have an exhibit of sheet music related to Cleveland and Ohio.The sim will open to the public at 3pm SLT, with tours as time and guides allow. Grand opening activities will include two live music performances: Picker Apogee at 5pm SL and Nad Gough at 7pm SLT. A costume contest for the best chess-related costume will take place at 6pm SLT, with a $1000L grand prize to the winner. The life-size chess sets will also be available for casual or competitive play. Please IM Lebachai Vesta with any questions. Please join us to celebrate this major opening in Second Life!
On Cleveland Public Library's homepage, there was an announcement about their grand opening in Second Life, but no other information was provided.
From participating in Second Life, the Cleveland Public Library, or the People's University, takes one more step in fulfilling its objective of providing worldwide information. By having their own island, the library is gaining a reputation as one of the more innovative libraries in the nation as well as in the world. To truly capitalize its presence on Second Life, the library should in the future add more information about all kinds of subjects and become "best urban library system in the country."