Virtual technologies to enable novel methods of access to library archives

Abstract

MUBIL is an international research project aiming at establishing a novel learning framework based on Virtual Environments technologies in order to disseminate the content of libraries archives, especially ancient manuscripts. The project, lead by the Gunnerus Library of Trondheim, Norway, and participated by the NTNU (Norway) and Scuola Sant’Anna (Italy), has the secondary objective of testing the extent to which distinctive features of Virtual Environment, such as immersion and interaction, impact on the involvement of the public, especially youngster, and therefore on the efficacy of the transmission of content, such as old books, traditionally challenging to disseminate to such a public. The framework includes three different levels of development, described in this paper, and is expected to establish a methodology for the evaluation of the achieved results in the last stages of the project, ending in October 2013.