XR Cone: Turning non-standard collections into a hall of inspiration

Abstract

The TU Delft (TUD) Library is embarking on an ambitious project to turn its iconic book wall into a collection wall that reveals and activates physical and digital collections in its main hall. Currently in the research and development phase of the project, we are testing our ideas through a series of prototypes. Our second prototype, XR Cone, is a proof-of-concept station to visualize and navigate our nonstandard format collections (videos, maps, 3D scans, and more). Conceptualized by library staff and coded in-house by a developer at the XR Zone learning space, this XR application turns the interior floors of the central cone into shelves of animated visualizations. Users can interactively browse collections that currently exist online in separate websites and have a limited physical presence. Using XR, the physical area right in the middle of the library can present a plethora of interactive multimedia, while keeping the space visually “quiet” for students studying. For feedback, we relied heavily on surveys and connections with education, holding structured user testing sections with related courses and student groups. We plan as well to incorporate XR Cone into an upcoming XR festival the library is co-facilitating—extending our connection and reach to the greater XR community. Content-wise, the 3D scans and models make the most of XR, but the TUD New Media Center was also keen on how it repackaged the videos from their lecture capture service. Video content from programming is also made available to visitors to browse for inspiration. This paper documents and overviews the development and functionality of the XR Cone application, provides some insights derived from its user testing (within the TU Delft Library), and offers preliminary assessments and reflections connecting to the larger theme of how XR multimedia can be in service of libraries as institutions and communities.

Keywords: extended reality (XR), interaction, digital collections, new media, developer