CVC and UAB's "Library Living Lab" opens its doors

The first technological services and solutions laboratory located in a library in Catalonia opened its doors on 25 April. The lab is located at the Volpelleres Library of Sant Cugat del Vallès and aims to be a participatory lab, in particular for the neighbouring community, who actively collaborated in the project.

22/04/2015

The Library Living Lab (L3) was born as a space in which to explore technological applications in new forms of experimenting and interacting with books and other library contents, and culture in general.

The laboratory will permanently include an interactive video wall, a 3D printer and two multi-tactile screens, as well as several mobile devices. At the L3 there will also be specialised personnel ready to help users participate, answer questions, collect suggestions, etc.

For the Library Living Lab to make sense, it needs to be a dynamic and collaborative project, in which community members work together with CVC and UAB researchers and with other public institutions. The project aims to make community members the active and central agents, and participants will be able to take part in the identification of needs, design, implementation and testing phased of the technologies that are developed in the laboratory. This will allow creating solutions which are highly focused in meeting the needs of users from the beginning, by testing them in real environments and quickly readdressing any innovative efforts towards the improvement of results. L3 aims to do all this in a way that is fun for the old and the young alike.

Researchers emphasise the fact that all those interested in participating are welcome to come. The library will offer all the necessary information for those who wish to take part in the project, either by working on one of the existing lines or by proposing new ones.

To begin, the L3 will open its doors will three initial work lines in which community members can participate: The first is aimed at providing access to digital collections by offering added value to digitalised documents. The second is to search for new forms of interaction between users and machines. To do so, participants will work with the use of augmented reality of real world objects. Finally, a group for those interested in 3D printing will be created.

In addition to these areas, all users are welcome to suggest new lines of research and work.