Community Virtual Library originally created a library of resources for Nonprofit Commons (NPC) many years ago. In 2018, it was given a makeover by Bree Theodore (jodielandon in Second Life) that made sure the library hosted a growing collection of resources relevant to nonprofits. Additionally, it has served as the location for the annual Nonprofit Commons Community Harvest event in November of each year.
Now, in 2025, with many additional resources available to nonprofits and to support advances in technology, Community Virtual Library and Nonprofit Commons formed a partnership to update and refresh the library. Not only did the project aim to update resource and social links, but it also aimed to make the user experience more seamless at this self-serve location. Collaborating with the Nonprofit Commons made sure that changes that were put in place best served the focus population, and get a clear understanding of the community.
Helping People Connect Socially to NPC
In the front entrance of the CVL Nonprofit Resource Library, various social links to connect with Nonprofit Commons are on the walls. Here is how they looked when we began the project, as it was initially decided to only update the left wall by replacing outdated social links and replacing them with newer ones. Here, Discord is being added to the left hand side.
After a bit of working with it, it became clear that balancing the social icons on the left and right walls (the right was not used) would look better. Here is the layout as of May 2025. You will notice that the image on the wall is different in this shot, that will be discussed more in a subsequent update as that room is still in progress.
Improved Interior and Exterior Signage About Library
In the initial discussions about the library, it became clear that the access to the Community Virtual Library office portion of the building was not easy to determine for new visitors. In fact, the exterior doors were easy to mistake as a window. The other issue is that for avatars approaching from the Community Virtual Library office entrance, it was not clear this was also the Nonprofit Resource Library, so an additional ground level sign was added.
The interior door to the the Community Virtual Library hides behind an empty bookshelf, which also had no signage behind it. A Community Virtual Library sign was added here to help indicate added importance to this area (items cannot be added to the bookshelf itself due to design).
The next installment of this series will take an in-depth look at the transformation of the lounge area and the integration of video links and other resources, as well as the updates to the welcome desk.
About Nonprofit Commons
Nonprofit Commons is a community-led project, currently sponsored by AvaCon, Inc., a US 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit organization. Nonprofit Commons was designed to lower the barriers of access to technologies like virtual worlds, to create a community of practice for nonprofits to explore, learn, and to investigate the many ways in which nonprofits might utilize these unique environments. Through this community, NPC provides free office space to qualifying groups, host virtual networking events and weekly community meetings sharing best practices, workshops, and other peer-led professional learning.
About Community Virtual Library
Community Virtual Library strives to create a real (albeit virtual) library for digital citizens, fostering community building and virtual networking for librarians. It is a “real” virtual world library maintained by information professionals which supports the Virtual Worlds Education Consortium and digital citizens seeking information across the metaverse. Community Virtual Library is part of Metaverse Libraries, which is dedicated to “real libraries in virtual environments,” such as the CVL Nonprofit Resource Library at Nonprofit Commons.