Healthinfo Island – Its Own Library

There are also many special libraries that have been employing virtual world resources in assisting their patrons. Returning (inevitably) to Second Life, we can see how the tool has been employed in the medical field – Healthinfoisland, purchased space in the SL world, is a collaborative effort of several medical libraries in constructing

HealthInfo Island

a more holistic and accessible virtual access point for resources and dialogue. The island is currently funded by the Greater Midwest Region of the National Network/National Library of Medicine (link) by a grant written by Lori Bell of the Alliance Library System, Illinois. It began as one of the earlier attempts at virtual world librarianship, founded in 2006 by Namro Orman who in real life is the Coordinator of Electronic Services at the Central Medical Library of the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands (link). Since its inception, however, it has become a valuable asset in SL and in information dissemination – offered on the island is the Ann Myers Medical centre, staffed in Second Life by many real-world physicians and medical students offering online medical assistance and answers to health related questions (link). Physicians also sponsor community interaction, a recent example being a Greek internal medicine physician who met with a Second Life diabetes support group for an informal Q & A session (link). The island’s primary supporters, however, are librarians who use the platform for conferences and distribution of information through online billboard-style displays on the island and access to medical resources such as PubMed. What is also a significant feature is HealthIsland’s downloadable toolbar that acts as a resource in searching for peripheral medical information on the web. Tours of the island are available, as are interactive games such as wheelchair-navigation obstacle courses and mini-quizzes testing health related knowledge. This highlights part of the allure of Second Life as a platform for disseminating information resources – because of the site’s broad appeal, access to highly nuanced medical information is available in the same location as beginner medical knowledge. While established as an academic resource, Healthinfo Island is also a group meeting place for all SL community members – much attention has been garnered by its recognition of World Aids Day, where meetups and talks are held and free “virtual condoms” are distributed (link). See below for a brief (and silent) video showcasing some of the services Healthinfo Island offers:

The potential of the site is highly significant in that it provides access to physicians by those who potentially cannot leave their homes due to medical reasons – its sponsorship and stated affiliation with medical library associations showcases a recognition of this aspect of its services. A significant drawback to Healthinfo Island, however, is the difficulty in locating it from anywhere in the “outside” world, even through crafted web searches. Many publications have been drafted extolling the island’s virtues (the Midwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association appears to be the leader in this field, offering multiple articles in its journal Medline exploring the venue’s potential), and other SL medical institutions surround the island. Buttressed by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the University of Gronigen Medical Library, Healthinfo Island seems well positioned – however a search of the aforementioned institutions’ websites reveals no overt links to their virtual position.

However, also nearby is the CDC online presence in Second Life. The Centre for Disease Control website offers many

CDC Logo

Web 2.0 tools directly on its frontpage, including RSS feeds, bilingual podcasts, access to mobile information and links to CDC-TV. It also is one of the few websites I have found that does mention SL as a resource in a page on their site (the CDC also interestingly owns space in the children’s oriented Whyville, another virtual world mentioned in my post below), however this is buried in their State of the CDC Annual report and not offered on its homepage as a useful alternative site. This could be because of the plethora of information already available on the CDC homepage, or simply because the CDC has yet to acknowledge the scope of Second Life, the potential for its presence there and its involvement with Healthinfo island. Healthinfo island, however, is ultimately a library in itself, and given the constantly growing member base of Second Life, the community it services is often larger than tangible branch medical libraries. The services provided are in an open, non-confrontational forum where identity can importantly be concealed by an avatar when hunting down potentially embarrassing information, a problem significant to reference interviews in general. Healthinfo Island represents many libraries and information professionals, and while access is currently limited unless one is already a SL member, it is an underestimated resource for the layman and the medical professional alike.