Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Call for Papers: Virtual Worlds, Libraries Education and Museums

Call for Papers: Virtual Worlds, Libraries Education and Museums

“Virtual Worlds: Libraries, Education, and Museums”

Saturday, March 8, 2008 in Second Life

Proposal Deadline: February 11, 2008

Purpose of the Conference:

To provide a gathering place for librarians, information professionals, educators, museologists, and others to learn about and discuss the educational, informational, and cultural opportunities of virtual worlds.

Please note: Although the conference will be held in the virtual world Second Life, presentation and paper proposals about LEM developments in other virtual worlds are encouraged.

Possible Topics for Presentations, Papers, and Participatory Events:

· Virtual world events and exhibits as the drivers of attendance and engagement
· Immersive learning environments
· Reference service possibilities and practicalities in virtual worlds
· Corporate and special librarianship in virtual worlds
· Educational tools and resources
· Enterprise uses of virtual worlds
· Tours of LEM locations in Second Life
· Gaming and virtual worlds
· VW LEM opportunities for children, tweens, and teens
· Dreams and visions for LEM activities in virtual worlds
· Assessing LEM initiatives in virtual worlds
· Sustainability issues and opportunities for LEM activities in virtual worlds
· Other topics pertinent to the broad topic of LEM activities in virtual worlds are welcome! Send us your innovative proposals!

Proposal Guidelines and Deadlines:

· Each session will be 45 minutes long.
· All sessions will begin on the hour.
· All proposals are due by 5:00 p.m. SLT on Monday, February 11, 2008.
· Please send proposals to Tom Peters (tpeters@tapinformation.com) with “VW LEM proposal” in the subject line.
· For presentations, please send a paragraph about your proposed presentation, the intended audience, and any pertinent URLs or SLURLs.
· For papers, please send an abstract of your paper.
· Notification of acceptance will be received by Friday, February 15, 2008.
· The 25 USD registration fee will be waived for all presenters.
· Proposals from students and general citizens are welcome. You do not need to be a member of the LEM professions to present at this conference.

Conference Schedule (tentative):

(Note: Because Second Life and other virtual worlds attract citizens from all over the world, we plan to have two clusters of conference sessions. Some presenters may be asked to present twice on Saturday, March 8, 2008.)

· Friday, March 7, 2008, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. SLT (Pacific Time): Pre-conference social gathering at Club Java on the Sun Microsystems SIM in Second Life.

· Saturday, March 8, 2008 from 8:00 a.m. to noon SLT (Pacific Time): First Cluster of Conference Sessions:

8:00 to 8:45 a.m.: Keynote Panel (no conflict)
9:00 to 9:45 a.m.: First group of sessions
10:00 to 10:45 a.m.: Second group of sessions
11:00 to 11:45 a.m.: Third group of sessions

· Saturday, March 8, 2008 from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. SLT (Pacific Time): Second Cluster of Conference Sessions:

5:00 to 5:45 p.m.: Keynote Panel (no conflict)
6:00 to 6:45 p.m.: First group of sessions
7:00 to 7:45 p.m.: Second group of sessions
8:00 to 8:45 p.m.: Third group of sessions

· Note: Pre- and Post-Conference conversations, announcements, and documents will be available in the “Virtual Words: Libraries, Education and Museums” group in Facebook.

Conference Sponsors:

· Alliance Library System (http://www.alliancelibrarysystem.com/)
· IBM (http://www.ibm.com)
· Sun Microsystems (http://www.sun.com/)
· TAP Information Services (http://www.tapinformation.com)
· Virtual Worlds Library Association
(http://groups.google.com/group/virtualworldlibraries)

Conference Organizers:

· Lori Bell (Lorelei Junot in Second Life): lbell@alliancelibrarysystem.com
· Doug McDavid (Doug Mandelbrot in Second Life): mcdavid@us.ibm.com
· Christy Confetti Higgins (Violet Portola in Second Life):
Christy.Confetti@sun.com
· John Howard (Corwin Howlett in Second Life):
jhoward@alliancelibrarysystem.com
· Craig Anderson (Draconius Merlin in Second Life): cjanders@kean.edu
· Tom Peters (Maxito Ricardo in Second Life): tpeters@tapinformation.com