By Suzanne Arist, Informant Committee and Reference Librarian

Second Life (SL) is changing the way organizations such as the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), conduct business. NAR manager of Library and Information Services, Mary Martinez, was first introduced to SL in a class through the Graduate Library School of the University of Illinois in 2007. Since then, she has been incorporating it into her work.

Virtual meetings

Mary says SL provides NAR another way to hold virtual meetings. She anticipates that SL will be used for special events, virtual classes and promotion of the library, an integral part of NAR’s Information Central. Since taking the SL course, Mary has been teaching SL to her colleagues. She is about to promote the SL URL at her organization’s website.

SL is being used by more and more staff and members of NAR. NAR uses SL at its Welcome Center, which is an extension of Information Central. The organization has begun using SL for special meetings. It was utilized at NAR’s 2008 Midyear Member Information Services Forum in Washington D.C. and will be used at NAR’s 2008 Realtors® Conference and Exposition in November in Orlando,  Fla.

Multi-user world

So far, several staff at NAR use SL for work. Mary envisions much more use of SL by librarians. She says that “SL is an excellent place for training, collaboration, and outreach. Considering that younger librarians spend much of their time in multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs), [she sees] librarians extending more services in these types of environments.”

Mary appreciates that some people have a difficult time conceptualizing what SL is about. However when  she described it to her eight year-old nephew, he said, “If I could be in Second Life at home, I could find you in SL and you could help me with my homework.”

Cash Cow?

SL is catching on at NAR. Besides Information Central staff, Robert Freedman of NAR’s Publications Department, has been involved with SL for quite some time.  In 2007 he  published a book entitled, How to Make Real Money in Second Life. The book is featured at NAR’s virtual library eBooks Collection at eBooks.realtor.org. NAR’s Center for REALTOR® Technology and department of Government Affairs have also expressed interest in SL.

SL is a great fit for the business world because it “is all about immediate collaboration.” Mary thinks that “those who venture into SL will find the informal setting refreshing, fun and inviting.”

For those with a nose for innovation, the Special Libraries Association has set up an "Island" in Second Life. Now's your chance to find out what the fuss is all about.

Contact Mary Martinez at mmartine@realtors.org and Suzanne Arist at sarist92@hotmail.com.