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The purpose of this paper is to discuss text messaging services for libraries. Text messaging presents a new and exciting opportunity for libraries of all types to provide information to people of all ages on the go, where they are, on their cell phones.

Based on experiences in the USA, examples are presented of the service use, for example, Altarama, TextALibrarian, AIM.

Alliance library system (ALS), a regional library system in central Illinois, is spearheading an effort to provide the nation's first collaborative text message reference service – InfoQuest – inviting libraries of all types and across the country (and internationally) to work together to increase coverage, reference expertise, and to allow libraries to test the service and the software before venturing out on their own.

This paper will be of interest to librarians, as the InfoQuest project described in it is giving libraries the opportunity to learn how to use the technology, work together to see how their patrons respond to the service, and share promotion and coverage.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ongoing issues and concerns of Second Life librarians who are attempting to balance both their virtual library tasks and assignments along with their real world library tasks and assignments.

Members of the Library and Information Technology Association and, in addition, members of the Second Life Librarians group are invited to participate in an online survey during the summer of 2008. In addition to sharing issues and concerns of balancing their work lives in both virtual and real life worlds, survey participants suggest solutions for problem resolution.

Data from 161 survey participants show that virtual world librarians are passionate about their commitments to virtual world libraries to the extent that most librarians completed virtual library work at home and are not compensated by their libraries for this work. Issues and problems shared by respondents include inadequate computers and slow internet connections at work, lack of support by library administration, blocking of virtual world software by network technicians, and little response to requests for scheduled time for virtual world library tasks.

The number of respondents is comparatively small. The authors feel a larger percentage of members may have participated if the survey was conducted during either fall or spring semesters of the academic calendar year. A second survey may be conducted in spring 2009 to compare findings and to track solutions and concerns.

Librarians may have more time to devote to real life library work and will not need to complete virtual world library tasks at home if they are provided adequate computers and Internet connections at work and are also scheduled for virtual library work.

This paper provides empirical data on the perceived allocations of virtual library work time for virtual librarians and also discusses suggested solutions for better time management of virtual work.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the current impact of virtual worlds on librarianship and identify significant gains in a new mode of information delivery and immersive learning.

Through exploratory research and observation, the prospective study addresses a very new trend in information delivery and technology within library services.

Provides evidence of global collaboration among information scientists, significant contributions to library collections, and potential for educational opportunities through immersive learning environments.

A small number of librarians are participating in virtual world librarianship in relation to the profession, due to the mode being a very new one. Future research should include studying the needs of library patrons and information seeking behaviors in virtual worlds along with accessibility, security and sustainability.

The study implies many educational opportunities and potential for information organization, information delivery, multimedia, and immersive learning on a global scale.

This study presents significant evidence that virtual worlds have provided a new medium of information delivery and educational opportunities that librarians are currently embracing and sharing with other fields, including medicine, art, science, and education.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an in‐depth discussion of reference tools in the virtual world of Second Life.

A description is given of the scripted functions employed by the author, a community virtual library reference desk volunteer of three years.

The paper finds that each tool can meet the information needs of community virtual library patrons.

The paper reveals that reference desk tool programs that run in the virtual world have implications for real world reference desks of the future.

The purpose of this paper is to give a brief introduction to Second Life, and to provide an outline of how one academic librarian has got involved with using it and reviews the issues that have arisen from a library perspective.

The paper offers a reflection on whether library activities in Second Life are different from library services in the real world and suggests that Second Life is just another “face” of the library.

Second Life is still in the very early stages of development. There are various barriers and challenges to overcome before it can be used widely within universities. However, this paper shows it does provide an opportunity to experiment and explore what information resources are required in this environment and how librarianship and librarians need to evolve to cater for users in a three dimensional world.

This paper is based on personal experience and offers as many questions as answers.

Local landfills in communities across the US are the battlegrounds in the conflict between our desire to consume goods at an extraordinary rate and our inability to deal with waste that is a by-product of this consumption. Despite efforts to reduce the amount of wastes generated through source reduction, in 2003, US residences, businesses, and institutions produced more than 236 million tons of municipal solid waste (trash and garbage), approximately 4.5 pounds of waste per person per day (EPA, 2003a). Also in 2003, 16,694 generators of regulated hazardous waste accounted for more than 30 million tons of hazardous wastes, more than half a pound of hazardous wastes per person per day (EPA, 2003b).

We conduct an experiment to examine the occurrence of the bystander effect on willingness to report a fraudulent act. Specifically, we investigate the impact of evidence strength on managers’ decisions to blow the whistle in the presence and absence of other employees who have knowledge of the wrongdoing. Results indicate that when there is strong evidence indicating a fraudulent act, individuals with sole knowledge are more likely to report than when others are aware of the fraudulent act (the bystander effect). However, the bystander effect is not found when evidence of fraud is weak. Further, a mediated moderation analysis indicates that perceived personal responsibility to report mediates the relation between others’ awareness of the questionable act and reporting likelihood, suggesting that the bystander effect is driven by diffusion of responsibility. Our results have implications for all types of organizations that wish to mitigate the detrimental effect of fraud. Specifically, training or incentives may be necessary to overcome the bystander effect in an organization.

The 2019 FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association) Women's World Cup in France saw unprecedented levels of success for women's football. FIFA estimates that, for the first time, total global viewership of the tournament reached 1bn. During the tournament, the eventual champions – the United States – saw their midfield veteran, Megan Rapinoe, win the golden boot (top goal scorer) and the golden ball award (most valuable player). In addition to her exploits on the pitch, Rapinoe, one of numerous ‘out’ lesbian athletes competing at the Women's World Cup, also received an unprecedented amount of media coverage. In this chapter, we analyse British print media coverage of Rapinoe during the one-month period of the Women's World Cup (7th June–7th July) and the week after the tournament concluded. Our findings indicate that although Rapinoe is a polarising character, media coverage of her throughout the tournament was generally positive. We show this through Rapinoe as a ‘personality’, Rapinoe as ‘outspoken’ and Rapinoe as a role model.