Library Hi Tech News

Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in libraries and museums
Adetoun A. Oyelude,
Article information:
To cite this document:
Adetoun A. Oyelude, (2018) "Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in libraries and museums", Library Hi Tech News,
https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-04-2018-0023
Permanent link to this document:
https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-04-2018-0023
Downloaded on: 25 June 2018, At: 07:57 (PT)
References: this document contains references to 1 other documents.
To copy this document: permissions@emeraldinsight.com
Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:390635 []
Downloaded by University of California Santa Barbara At 07:57 25 June 2018 (PT)

For Authors
If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service
information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit
www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information.
About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.com
Emerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of
more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online
products and additional customer resources and services.
Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics
(COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.

*Related content and download information correct at time of download.

 Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in
libraries and museums
Adetoun A. Oyelude
This edition of the column focuses on
augmented reality (AR) and virtual
reality (VR) in libraries and museums,
as seen from the internet cyber sphere
including blogs. It takes a look at the
first quarter of 2018 and analyzes the
trending issues within the period,
highlighting examples of some
institutions that make use of VR and
Downloaded by University of California Santa Barbara At 07:57 25 June 2018 (PT)
AR. The advantages of the use of VR,
AR and sometimes mixed reality are
also pointed out.
Virtual reality and augmented reality
in everyday use
Libraries, archives and museums are
increasingly using AR/VR technologies
in their service delivery because it is
trending. The year 2018 is expected to
be huge for VR technology. The use of
VR is projected to “nearly double in
monthly users annually bringing
estimates to 17 million monthly US
users by 2019”, said Janko Roetgers in a
post found at http://variety.com/2017/
digital/views/vr-headset-data-mau-2017-
2019-1202440211/. This may be because
of innovations in industries such as
gaming, social media and entertainment.
Facebook is the largest investor in AR
and VR, and because Facebook is also
extremely popular, many are opportune to
have a go at VR and AR through the use
of the Facebook social media platform.
VR “involves using 3D graphics and
advanced interactions to immerse a
real-world user in a simulated
environment”, by the description of the
University of Indiana University,
Bloomington’s Blogspot. AR stands for
extended reality and actually, in
technical terms, means a combination of
virtual and real reality (UWS, 2018).
Both VR and AR, 3D printing and other
technologies have altered how we live
and work. These technologies are used
on a daily basis to change the face of
work, formal and lifelong learning.
LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS V
C Emerald Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-04-2018-0023
In a Google blog of January 2, 2018,
Reza Ali and Josh Carpenter wrote
about the crop of Android and iOS
devices that will soon be able to provide
AR experiences; that is, the user will be
able to look and place digital objects
where they look. Google is doing this in
a bid to bring AR to the Web platform.
To achieve this, a 3D model viewer is
used, and one can scroll to zoom or drag
to rotate the 3D model. It is reported
that the model comes alive with AR.
The article is loaded and the AR
experience can commence. More of the
technical stuff that powers this can be
found at https://blog.google/products/
google-vr/augmented-reality-web-everyone/.
Eric Muskopf, in a blog post of
March 14, 2018, reported that Google
has designed through Resonance Audio,
a way of enhancing VR and AR. The
device, launched in 2017, “enables
developers to create more realistic VR
and AR”. Resonance Audio is open
source and is presented as a standalone
library and associated engine plugins,
VST plugin, tutorials and examples
within the Apache 2.0 license (https://
developers.googleblog.com/2018/03/
resonance-audio-goes-open-source.html).
Apart from the software or apps
developed or being developed by Google
that provide the AR experience, there is
the Vuforia in Unity. As reported by
Mauricio Vergara on January 15, 2018,
Unity 2017.3 provides cross-platform AR
support for android, iOS and Universal
Windows Platform (UWP) devices
through one Application Programming
Interface (API). Developers can write
their apps once and run the apps using the
best technology. Vuforia Ground Place
(which is a free component) allows the
user to attach digital content to horizontal
surfaces, for example, floors or tabletops,
to create games and product visualization
apps that interact with the real world
(https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/01/
15/vuforia-in-unity-build-cross-platform-
ar-apps/).
Teachers can take their students on a
VR and AR tour with Google
Cardboard and Aurasma. VR apps can
be used with laptops, iPads and other
mobile devices or electronic
whiteboards. Libraries can use these too
in serving their clientele. Some
examples of these apps (free) are as
follows:
 360 Cities (www.360cities.net/) –
this takes the user to any place in
the world with a 360 degree view;
 AugThat (http://augthat.com/) –
this features a large content-based
VR library; and
 Look at the ISTE Librarians
Network Webinar.
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxf6Vxv
WXAo&feature=youtu.be). Elissa
Malespina, author of Augmented
Reality in Education: Bringing
Interactivity to Libraries and
Classrooms has created a webinar
about using AR and VR in the
classroom. The post by Jennifer
Snelling, which elaborates and gives
links to 25 resources on AR and VR
(inclusive of those that are not offered
free), can be found at www.iste.org/
explore/articleDetail?articleid=883&
chttps://www.iste.org/explore/articleDetail?
articleid=883&category=In-the-classroom
&article=.
Virtual reality and augmented reality
in libraries
From their library blogpost of
February 8, 2018, the University of
California, San Diego, sponsored a
Hackathon for Virtual, Mixed and
Augmented Reality, which was to be
held from February 23-25, 2018 (http://
libraries.ucsd.edu/blogs/blog/library-
sponsors-hackathon-for-virtual-mixed-
 and-augmented-reality/). A subsequent
post of February 28, revealed that the
Geisel Library, UC, San Diego’s Digital
Media Lab (DML) uses the expertise of
students and faculty to make learning
fun. Free 3D printing, VR headset use
and expert consultation is offered in the
library. The library’s 3D printing has
helped put a turtle back in shape by
replacing its back shell; the 3D scan of a
Roman collection of coins has revealed
minute details, as well as made
prototypes of expensive equipment,
greatly reducing cost. These and more
can be read at http://libraries.ucsd.edu/
blogs/blog/a-hub-for-innovation-and-
learning/#more-8897.
On February 21, 2018, Mahnaz Dar
posted on the School Library Journal
Downloaded by University of California Santa Barbara At 07:57 25 June 2018 (PT)
blog about the three steps for
introducing teens to VR at the American
Library Association (ALA) Midwinter
Conference, seeing VR as a way for
librarians to create educational
programs that teens resonate with. Dar
reported on the presentation by Maddie
Clybourn at the conference. Prince
George’s County Memorial Library
System has a very good VR initiative
from the report. With an Oculus Rift,
many teens use the library more than
before. The steps recommended are as
follows:
 in museums
get the teens to take interest in the
device for the VR by asking for
their help in figuring out how to
use it;

create thematic, curated
programming related to events the
teens identify with, for example,
Black History Month,
Independence Day, etc., and use
statistics to determine what to
focus on; and
 encourage teens to contribute
content of their own. Encourage
them to make short films with the
cameras given to them, which they
can view through the Oculus Rift.
Another device that helps in creating a
VR or AR experience found in the
County Memorial library is the Google
Tilt Brush, which allows users to paint
in 3D. Find out more about it at https://
www.slj.com/2018/02/technology/3-
steps-introducing-teens-virtual-reality-
ala-midwinter-2018/.
In the University of Iowa, students
have developed Grawbox, a reality
sandbox that helps visualize how
gravity works:
To use Gravbox, one first sculpts an
environment out sand; then, a computer
program projects a moving particle onto
the terrain. The projected particle
simulates how an object (such as a comet
or space probe) would travel through the
imagined landscape.
The sandbox, developed through team
work of a group of students and their
lecturers, is a VR learning tool.
Libraries can provide space and
services in which these can be
developed and used.
Big Deal Media, an outfit that “saves
educators hours of research and
thousands of dollars while identifying
top-quality resources and OERs for
schools and classrooms”, is a collection
of trusted print and electronic
publications, which offer the
information and tools K-12 educators
need. The platform has a variety of VR
and AR resources that can be used
educationally. These can be used by
libraries to engage their clientele who
are educators. See more at https://www.
bigdealbook.com/topics/?show=virtual_
augmented_alternative_reality.
Virtual reality and augmented reality
VR is used in museums for real time
experiences of users either in the
museum, or even outside it, online and
elsewhere. Museum applications
provide additional ideas for libraries
and their use of AR and VR. VR as an
artistic medium was introduced by
curator Tina Sauerländer who presented
alternative reality media in a physical
space. This was achieved by curating
VR exhibitions found on the ZKM blog.
ZKM is a Center for Art and Media, in
Kalsruhé, Germany. Find out more
about it at http://zkm.de/en/event/2018/
smartplaces/innovaton-in-culture/virtual-
reality-in-art-institutions. The artworks
curated using VR are exhibited at “peer
to space” – //www.peertospace.eu/
#/multiplex/.
In a similar manner, the Victoria and
Albert Museum blog had a guest post by
Yuli Letov on Hearing Futures:
Gamification of hearing aid technology,
published on March 1, 2018. This post
highlighted the underuse of modern day
hearing aids. The new-age hearing aids
were noted to have apps that can train
elderly users to improve their usage of
the hearing aid. The aids can do much
more than amplify sound and, in 3D,
assist even those without hearing
disabilities to appreciate what those
who need it pass through and, thus,
empathize more with them. Many
products are available that
Range from applications to train elderly
users on how to improve their
understanding of the various hearing aid
function, to a game that helps children
without a hearing impairment to
understand what it feels like to have
hearing loss, with a view to increasing
empathy with aected relatives.
Read more at //www.vam.ac.uk/blog/
network/guest-blog-post-hearing-futures-
gamification-and-virtual-reality-in-the-
next-generation-of-hearing-aid-technology,
and more on the hearing aid development
at http://3d-tune-in.eu/.
Still on museums, on February 7,
Irena Pamic encouraged readers to take
an AR tour of the museum to look at
great early nineteenth-century British
landscape paintings by J.M.W. Turner
and John Constable. A riddle could also
be solved while at it. There is a Riddle-
Machine in there! See more at https://
www.vi-mm.eu/2018/02/07/experience-
treasures-from-the-victoria-and-albert-
museum-in-an-amazing-new-way/. Again,
Roman museums and sites could be
experienced (https://www.vi-mm.eu/
2018/02/06/light-projection-a-new-virtual-
experience-in-roman-museums-sites/).
The Oculus blog of February 28,
2018 wraps up various VR tours of
museums celebrating Black History
Month. The different reminders of great
black people as curated in the museums
can be explored in VR. Oculus
highlighted “a selection of immersive
content across the Oculus Platform that
acknowledges the lasting impact of
Black culture across the African
diaspora to educate and inspire”. From a
tour of “the Smithsonian’s National
Museum of African American History
and Culture in 360˚”, to “The People’s
House: Inside the White House with
Barack and Michelle Obama”, the post
celebrates Black History Month in style
in VR at https://www.oculus.com/blog/
celebrate-black-history-in-vr-this-month-
and-every-month/. All these are ways in
LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS
 which VR is being used in museums. It’s
trending.
Electric South and the Goethe-
Institut presented “New Dimensions -
Virtual Reality Africa”, a selection of
VR productions from Kenya, Senegal
and Ghana, on their website. Each of the
virtual reality works offers a view of the
vibrant, diverse and ever-changing
cultural landscape of contemporary
Africa. In February 2017, an exclusive
preview of works in progress was on
show at the 2017 “Berlinale Africa
Hub” at the 67th Berlin International
Film Festival (Berlinale). These are VR
works on art of Africa. More can be
viewed at https://www.goethe.de/ins/
za/en/kul/sup/new-dimensions.html.
Meanwhile, Iziko Museums of South
Africa posted on their website on
Downloaded by University of California Santa Barbara At 07:57 25 June 2018 (PT)
January 8, 2018 about the winter
exhibition they set up virtually. The
best photography of nature themes
can be found in the exhibition which
is mounted by Iziko Museums of
South Africa and Nature’s Best
LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS
Photography. The event, sponsored
by Digital Agency, NMPi South
Africa, “brings visitors an exciting
augmented reality (AR) experience
as part of this year’s “winners”
exhibition”. Visitors to the
exhibition are required to download
the Zappar AR application on their
smart phones to allow them to unlock
the experience on their digital
devices. The Zappar App will also
activate an “augmented audio guide”
for the exhibition when visitors scan
special AR codes throughout the
exhibit. Iziko is now at the forefront
of innovative projects. More can be
found at //www.iziko.org.za/news/
entry/augmented-reality-african-nature-
experience-at-iziko.
Concluding remark
In all, VR and AR are taking the
center stage of technology that is used
in libraries and museums in 2018.
Research is on-going; more uses are
being adopted for VR and AR. It is safe
to predict that a great deal more will be
revealed about VR and AR in other
related areas such as in archives and
documentation centers and in everyday
use because of the “inno-creative” ways
in which they are being used. This
column will certainly address VR and
AR again before the year runs out. It’s
trending.
REFERENCE
UWS (2018), Available at: //uws.ie/en/software-
development/augmented-reality-apps/
Adetoun A. Oyelude (toyelude@
yahoo.com) is Principal Librarian at
Kenneth Dike Library, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.