The Second Life Medical Library: Goals
The Second Life Medical Library is focussing on THREE main targets:
1. Consumer Health Information :
The special Consumer Health Library will be built and the project manager, Carol Perryman (a.k.a. Carolina Keats), with colleagues, will map all existing support groups in Second Life. She intends to implement an outreach program, to improve health information transfer in a broad sense.
This project has begun by compiling a long list of support groups. As a directory, this listing will benefit SL residents immediately, while serving as a framework for the beginning of outreach activities.
More on this project later!
It will be the most important project the Second Life Medical Library will focus on.
2.Educational, Clinical or Research activities related to Health or Medical subjects
We want to do the same for any Educational, Clinical or Research activities related to Health or Medical subjects that take part in Second Life. Many Academic organisations are stepping in or thinking about it. Have a look at www.simteach.com!
Sl offers a lot of simulation power. Already there are thoughts of developing CME, offering services to special educational groups. There are plans for a Virtual Hospital. The Medical Library can offer help and support .
We can offer meeting space and expertise in the exchange of information. And most of all we really want to work together!
3. Experiment and development of new ways of interaction between users and libraries. With open minded people who are willing to invest time to try to improve library services in general and really learn what user want & need.
Already there is a portable (well, in fact Head-Up Display) searchTool that can search Second Life Library , Second Life stuff itself but also special web resources, such as WorldCat, Google, Amazon &
Library Tours can be selfservice by means of a tool like Chatfeeder that users carry with them.
They can read e-books, listen to audio-books and look at streaming video.
We have RSS-feeds visually displayed.
We can search PubMed in Second life, offer Reuters health News.
Our virtual Reference Desk is using QuestionPoint and we are training a Chatbot to talk to people when we are not there, for some reason.
And this is just the beginning.