Virtual and augmented reality
Photo by Uriel Soberanes on Unsplash
Librarians have long been renowned for their ingenuity and resilience. Though many thought that libraries would ultimately disappear, as the Internet became open to the general public, librarians were able to learn how to integrate it into the programmes they provide and turn the situation to benefit them (Santos & Esposo-Betan, 2017).
The word used to describe a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment that can be explored and interacted with by a human is virtual reality. The person becomes part of or is immersed in this virtual space and is able to control objects while there, or execute a series of actions to decide what happens in the world (Barnard, 2020).
Advantage of virtual reality is an expansion of reading a book, a good novel for example you can really imagine your self there and immerse yourself in the books story or world, with virtual reality it creates unique visualisation methods, and has the potential to extend the scope of the possible as well. It is possible for virtual reality to go beyond recreating past worlds or artefacts. It can be used to construct new spaces, endless options and environments (Hannah., Huber., & Matei., 2019).
Instead of simply inputting the data through multiple channels, presenting information in a VR environment has the added advantage of encoding in a contextual and holistic way. Another analytical viewpoint is that proposed by cognitive studies on information encoding in spatial objects. Spatial representations linked to a deeper cognitive process, including those that position our own bodies in a live experience, may be more capable of helping the human mind to store and retrieve data (Hannah et al., 2019).
However exciting these emerging developments might be, before investing entirely, it would be wise for librarians to take a step back and objectively examine them. Higher-end systems can not only be very expensive, but they can be difficult to set up and maintain, have health and safety problems related to their operation, and it remains to be seen who is most interested in using them and for what reason. This makes it a great challenge for libraries to create an efficient VR/AR service. In spite of all the excitement surrounding it, librarians would be reasonable to ask whether the benefits are worth it, especially in organizations with scarce resources (Greene & Groenendyk, 2018).
References
Barnard, D. (2020, November 3). The complete guide to virtual reality and the VR industry. Virtualspeech.com. https://virtualspeech.com/blog/complete-guide-to-virtual-reality
Greene, D., & Groenendyk, M. (2018). Blurred Lines-between virtual reality games, research, and education. In IFLA. IFLA. http://library.ifla.org/2133/1/075-greene-en.pdf
Hannah, M., Huber, S., & Matei, S. A. (2019). Collecting Virtual and Augmented Reality in the Twenty-First Century Library. Collection Management, 44(2–4), 277–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/01462679.2019.1587673
Santos, J., & Esposo-Betan, S. (2017). Purdue e-Pubs Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences 2017 IATUL Proceedings, Advantages and Challenges of Using Augmented Reality for Library Orientations in an Academic/Research Library Setting. https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2199&context=iatul