Pat Stuart

What’s the latest buzz for libraries of the future?  It’s a topic of current interest in Powell as we plan how new spaces will be used over the next 20 years.One equation, I’m told, is:# (of computers) +  VR (Virtual Reality) = New Tech FormulaCutting edge technology, they say, is leaving the “simple” computer behind and VR or Virtual Reality with its immersive experience is the coming thing.  Even though the big companies have been focused on it for a short period of time, recent talk in the library world says that we can be pretty sure it’s going to change the way we work, how we learn, what we do for entertainment, and just about everything.  Therefore, by extension, it will mean changes in library offerings.

But, not yet.

Still, that technology has been exploding giving us all something to think about.  Want a headset?  The price is coming down.  As for content, its developed huge energy.  Want to produce your own immersive reality?  The price of a 360 camera starts about $400.  And, that’s not all.  According to the American Library Association by 2025 the market for virtual reality content might be as much as $5.4 billion and the hardware another $62 billion.

What a major wow!

And, why is it important for libraries?  Because our libraries function as information centers, meaning in this age of technology that libraries have increasingly become the go-to place to learn about new technologies as they come on line.   

But virtual reality?  Immersive technology?  Most of us don’t even know what it is.  

Essentially, what I learned is that VR is a new way to convey information, to entertain, and to give people a sense of interacting with others without being physically present.  Potentially, in the not-too-distant future, the immersive reality VR experience — enthusiasts say — will be the primary way of doing long-distance business with the avatars of businessmen, professionals of all types, designers and artists meeting in VR offices.  

As an effective way to communicate information, VR is already here.  Film makers have started doing immersive creative storytelling with one VR project already chosen for the Cannes Film Festival, while newsrooms have experimented with immersive reporting, placing audiences in the middle of unique international situations.  

Right now, the University of Maryland, with a $31 million grant, is employing virtual reality researchers to work on projects in health care, public safety, and education.

Teachers will soon have a host of tools to incorporate in their teaching plans, while a number of companies are working on software for home use with children.  One by Samsung, for example, enables parents to narrate a story and describe a personal experience to their child in the kind of augmented reality that gives the child a feeling of actually being there.

That all sounds positive ... utopian, even.  But there are down sides, and researchers, ethicists, scientists have just begun looking at them.  We can be sure of only one thing.  The development and use of this new technology will far outpace our ability to cope with it.

It’s all new.  It’s a real shift in social experiences and, potentially, it will have a big, long-term cultural impact.  

If people like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg are right, it won’t be long before VR will be entering our homes, our offices, our schools, and ... yes, it’s already in many of our libraries.  From California to New York, our larger libraries have been incorporating VR technologies into programming and beginning to offer patrons the opportunity to familiarize themselves with how it works.  That’s not something we’ll be doing any time soon, but it may well be in the mix of future plans.

Something on the list of things to think about as we’re laying out the footprint of our new Powell library.