Projects

Within the Library 2.0 model, visitors of public libraries are enabled to actively shape the services of their library. Unlike previous trends, principles of participation and collaboration should be assimilated into the physical space of public libraries instead of being added as an extra layer on top of existing services. We present a set of eight design principles for motivating participatory systems in the Library 2.0 context. Based on these principles, we introduce bibox, a tangible book rating- and recommendation system for public libraries. In an in-the-wild study, we evaluate how our system motivates active participation. We show that the proposed design principles can contribute to higher levels of engagement from the users of the system within the Library 2.0 context.

OPAC interfaces, still the dominant access point to library catalogs, support systematic search but are problematic for open-ended exploration and generally unpopular with visitors. As a result, libraries start subscribing to simplified search paradigms as exemplified by web-search systems. This is a problem considering that systematic search is a crucial skill in the light of today's abundance of digital information. Inspired by novel approaches to facilitating search, we designed CollectionDiver, an installation for supporting systematic search in public libraries. The CollectionDiver combines tangible and large display direct-touch interaction with a visual representation of search criteria and filters. We conducted an in-situ qualitative study to compare participants' search approaches on the CollectionDiver with those on the OPAC interface. Our findings show that while both systems support a similar search process, the CollectionDiver (1) makes systematic search more accessible, (2) motivates proactive search approaches by (3) adding transparency to the search process, and (4) facilitates shared search experiences. We discuss the CollectionDiver's design concepts to stimulate new ideas toward supporting engaging approaches to systematic search in the library context and beyond.

When considered through the lens of ubiquitous computing, interactive wall displays represent a promising infrastructure to provide information services. In the context of public libraries the design has to take particular account on two domain-speci c aspects. First, libraries are valued for their calm atmosphere. Thus, interaction has to occur in an unobtrusive manner. This is challenging as interactive displays need to catch assers-by's attention to communicate interactivity. Second, given that public libraries are demographically diverse places, a low barrier to entry has to be guaranteed to provide access to the largest possible number of visitors. With ADAPTIKs we present the concept of an interactive display that makes use of visual adaption as a means to unobtrusively attract the visitors' attention. The concept bases on a contextual analysis and illustrates how the visitors' position and body movements can be used to generate an adaptive silhouette that acts as a keyhole to an information landscape.