What is the Library of the Future?

JISC "What is the Library of the Future?" debate - attend in SL - Thursday 2 April 2009, 14.00 - 17.30pm (UK time)

The JISC are holding a BBC Question Time style event in Oxford next week discussing the future of the libray.  40 places are also available to attend and contribute virtually in Second Life.

Details about the Second Life venue will be emailed to you following registration.

Note that all delegates (including those attending virtually) are asked to provide a question for the panel as part of the registration process.

What is the Library of the Future?

You are cordially invited to join the future of the library "Question Time" style debate to consider how researchers, learners and society at large can be best served by information into the future?

JISC and Oxford University Library Services are jointly hosting a public question and answer debate in order to discuss what information and library provision mean in these changing times; technology has had a huge effect on the behaviour of both information consumers and service providers. What is the library and what do libraries need to do in order to support knowledge, innovation and society?

The event will take place on Thursday 2 April 2009 in the Martin Wood Lecture Theatre, Department of Physics, University of Oxford from 2.00pm until 5.30pm. It will be followed by a reception in the Divinity School, Bodleian Library, until 7.00pm.  We also have some Second Life places available.

To register for your place at the event: http://www.jisc-events.co.uk/

Unable to attend but want to follow or interact with the event?

The event will be amplified beyond the walls of the library:

• Via the JISC libraries of the future blog - tag #LOTF09
• Via live web streaming on the day and available for download after the event;
• Via Twitter, tag #LOTF09

All the links and feeds can also be found at the libraries of the future home page

What LL did next...

There's a nice comment by Deltango Vale on Reuter's EXCLUSIVE - Rosedale to step down as Linden Lab CEO story from which I quote a fairly substantial part here:

How do we fix it?

Linden Lab is a private company, so they can do with Second Life what they wish. We ‘residents’ have the choice of being here or not. At the moment, there is no viable alternative to SL as a comprehensive virtual world. Therefore, Linden Lab still has time to prevent Second Life from becoming the ‘Lotus 123′ or ‘WordPerfect’ of the virtual universe.

1) Regain integrity of the system. Announce the closure of all anonymous accounts on 1 March 2008. ‘Anonymous’ accounts may now be described as accounts without payment information on file or have not been age verified through the ID scheme. Keep the ID scheme during the transition process, but consider phasing it out by the end of the year and returning to credit card verification.

2) Stabilize the financial system. Lift the ban on banks. Present the following message on the login screen: “Rate of return (interest or profit) on any investment is proportional to the amount invested, the length of time invested and the RISK OF NONPAYMENT.” Give residents information, not regulation, and the system will evolve in a healthy and productive way. Reputable businesses providing good customer service will always prevail against fly-by-night operations.

3) Reassert the founding principles of individual liberty and individual responsibility. Resist the temptation to sanitize Second Life. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; the desire to protect residents from themselves will only lead to a downward spiral of regulations to offset the harmful effects of other regulations. Also, Second Life is NOT real life. It is NOT a nation-state. Second Life is virtual, voluntary and adult. We are here by choice precisely to escape the restrictions of real life - and there is no Berlin Wall to prevent us from leaving. As for those who want SL to become more like Disneyland, well, Disneyland already exists. We don’t need another one.

This captures the spirit of my feelings about Second Life. LL seem to have lost their way. Not at a technical level - I mean there are problems at that level but by and large they are livable with - but in terms of becoming overly sensitive to political pressures. This is not overly surprising... but disappointing nonetheless.

That said, I don't expect any new CEO to be able to recapture the ground that SL/LL once held.

Billion-fold increase in the price-performance of computers in the next 25 years

So says a report from the BBC.

"Computers the size of blood cells will create fully immersive virtual realities by 2033"

leading inventor Ray Kurzweil has predicted.

"Virtual will compete with reality."

Cool. I can't wait...