Tango posted a link to the “naughty librarian” costume. I’m just waiting for someone to add a picture of the Nancy Pearl doll wearing a scale model of it in the Nancy Pearl doll Flickr photostream. Disturbing!

-(Photo by bibliona on Flickr)

Anyhow, if you’re feeling very creative, you could make a digital copy of the costume, clothe an avatar and dance the night away at a costume ball to celebrate the grand opening of Info Island in Second Life. Events are happening all next week, but with the time difference, the costume ball is probably the only thing Australians could comfortably attend.
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Second Life is a virtual world. It is a bit like the SIMS without the need to constantly attend to your avatar’s physical and self-fulfilment needs. Visiting Info Island has been on my “to do” list for a long time now, so I may just get there for this event. Having beaten a Sims2 addiction early in 2005, however, I’ve been very wary about entering somewhere with the potential to become a time sink.

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Within the Second Life Library on Info Island, they have a library building, conduct online seminars, staff the library 2 hours per day, set up vendor database trials (real ones, like EBSCO) and have email reference. The Second Life Library was recently awarded second prize in Talis’s competition, Mashing Up the Library.

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In Enjoying Your First Life? Why Not Add a Second? Developing Library Services in Second Life at Serious Games Source some members of the Alliance Library System who run Info Island outline who they are:

Alliance Library System started the Second Life Library project in April 2006 in response to a shift in people of all ages from media consumers to media creators. They are all spending more time on the Internet and they want to create and contribute, not just consume. Alliance Library System (ALS), located in East Peoria, Illinois, is one of nine regional library systems in Illinois. ALS has 259 member libraries of all types (academic, special, school and public). We provide a variety of services for our members including continuing education, consulting, grant writing, and new technology initiatives.

-(Photo by libraryman on Flickr)

The opening celebration timetable is below. All times are Pacific Standard Time, which I think converts to 10 hours behind Western Austrlia:

Thursday, October 12

• Virtual Worlds and Education: The Cutting Edge – 4 pm sl – 6 pm sl – Speakers: Pathfinder Linden, Kitty Paul, Puglet Dancer, Professor Beliveau, Lorelei Junot and Maxito Ricardo – Puglet Dancer and Kitty Paul will cut the ribbon to begin grand opening ceremonies at Info Island open air auditorium (Info Island 143, 82, 34)

Friday, October 13

• 7:30 a.m. sl – 1:30 pm. sl – Virtual Worlds and Alternate Realities – Where Do Libraries Fit In? – A variety of wonderful speakers with keynote by Pathfinder Linden – Info Island open air auditorium(Info Island 143, 82, 34)
  An audio link is available at http://67.19.231.218/v4/login.asp?r=67955673&p=0 type your name and click enter. Minimize this window. For those without audio we will transcribe the speaker as they speak.
• 5:00-6:00 p.m. sl – Scary Movies at Second Life Pantheon Picture House (Info Island II, 98,71,24)
• 6:00-8:00 p.m. sl – Costume Ball at Info Island Mystery Manor – prizes for best costumes! (Info Island, 214, 163,33)

Saturday October 14

• 8:00 a.m. sl – Opening of Caledon Branch – 19^th century library (Caledon Tamrannoch 211,31,22)
• 9:30 a.m. sl – Grand Opening of Second Life Library Medical Library – special events (Info Island 165, 204, 33) – Bioterrorism demonstration, Speakers: Moriz Gupta and Sojourner Truth
• 12:00 p.m. sl – Second Ribbon Cutting and special speaker – Info island Open Air Auditorium (Info Island 143, 82, 34) – Katt Kongo, editor, Metaverse Messenger
• 3:00 p.m. sl – Talis SciFi & Fantasy Portal Opening – special events (Info Island 29, 62, 33)
• 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. sl – TX950 Beach party and celebration – dancing refreshments, fun (Info Island 85, 33, 23)
• Throughout the day – Tours, scavenger hunts, information kiosks – come and have fun!