VIRTUAL WORLDS EDUCATION CONSORTIUM AND COMMUNITY VIRTUAL LIBRARY TOURS WITH THE ACRL

WHAT IS ACRL (ASSOCIATION OF COLLEGE AND RESOURCE LIBRARIES)?

The ACRL (Association of College and Resource Libraries) is a group that falls under the American Library Association. It contains interest groups of individuals interested in difference facets related to libraries of these types. One of the interest groups centers around virtual worlds.

WHAT IS THE THE ACRL VIRTUAL WORLDS INTEREST GROUP?

Here is the official statement from ACRL as to their goals with the Virtual Worlds Interest Group: “To provide information and activities for ACRL (Association of College and Research Libraries) members and non-members interested in information literacy, librarianship, and education as it relates to virtual worlds; to recruit new ACRL members through virtual worlds; to manage the ACRL presence in virtual worlds; to participate and support the activities of ACRL in virtual worlds on an ongoing basis; to hold meetings within these virtual environments at ALA and ACRL conferences  in order to share information and provide professional networking opportunities.”

VIRTUAL WORLDS EDUCATIONAL CONSORTIUM AND COMMUNITY VIRTUAL LIBRARY TOURS WITH THE ACRL – HOW TO FIND OUT ABOUT EVENTS

On Second Life, ACRL has a group called “ACRL in Second Life,” which people can join for free and receive in-world event notices. While encouraged, you do not need to be a member of ALA or ACRL to join or attend any of the events. If there are events in other virtual worlds, you can learn about them in this group as well. Worlds visited include Second Life, Kitely, Wolf Territories and more. Tours are sometimes recorded and made available on a YouTube channel run by Virtual Worlds Education Consortium. Not all meetings are tours, but quite often are, as this is the best way to showcase the depth and breadth of works available in various virtual worlds.

Please note that to go to worlds outside of Second Life, you will need to create a different avatars. Many of the other locations that the ACRL visits can be reached using an avatar capable of hypergridding (going between the locations). Due to its design, this does not work in the case of Second Life.

WHEN ARE THE ARCL IN VIRTUL WORLDS MEETINGS?

Meetings take place on the third Wednesday of the month, currently at 10am grid time as of October 2025. For the most up-to-date information, join the “ACRL in Second Life” group.