This video provides a tour of Stanford University Libraries' Special Collections Virtual Archives. This Virtual Archive is a very small but growing subset of their deep storage facility replicated in Second Life. For the first time scholars from around the world and the casual Second Life passersby can walk through Stanford's closed stacks and browse some of their manuscript collections. In Real Life this access is restricted to Special Collections staff only. This video shows how to navigate the virtual archive and access further information about a given collection. Patrons can open virtual Hollinger boxes and a sampling of scanned documents from the real life box will appear along with a link to that collection online finding aid. They can then post their reference questions or suggestions for additional collections for the virtual archive on the bulletin board. Those messages will be answered by Stanfordâs Special Collections staff. As all archivists will appreciate, Stanford's Virtual Archive provides access for patrons without endangering the priceless collections at Stanford University.

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