A modern take on a traditional cultural monument. That was, in short, the thematic focus of the Culture Programmme's open call. The project submitted by the Municipal Library in Prague fulfilled the assignment to the letter. Its result? Virtual reality in the library - the library in virtual reality.

 

Historical building alternatively

The project gave rise to the Visiolibrum application. It consists of several parts, the main one being the conversion of the historical building of the Municipal Library in Prague on Mariánské náměstí into virtual reality. “The library building is converted to different time periods in virtual reality, readers and the general public can walk through it,” says Martina Šedová, the project coordinator at the Municipal Library in Prague (MKP). The application also offers several mini-games inspired by the history of the building. For example, you can search for books that were walled up and hidden there by librarians from the Nazis during the Protectorate (2nd World War).

Alternative use of a cultural monument: Municipal Library of Prague in virtual reality

A gallery right in your glasses

Another part of Visiolibra is a virtual gallery. This is the Gallery of the Capital City of Prague, in cooperation with which exhibitions created as part of painting courses organized by the library can be seen. “We are starting to cooperate with Czech galleries, we will exhibit more paintings by people with mental illness, in the future we would like to screen virtual films using the equipment we have acquired thanks to the project,” continues project coordinator M. Šedová, listing the services offered.

Library VR administrator Tim Voronkin also leads virtual reality drawing courses

Do you have your own virtual reality glasses? Then you can download the Visiolibrum app from the library website and browse the library and gallery from the comfort of your home. You can find everything you need on the project website. The download is free and the app can be used freely for private and public purposes.

Virtual reality for the public…
“Virtual reality for the city library means a further expansion of services, it is another activity that we can offer to Praguers – readers,” explains Josef Bolek, head of the Smíchov branch of the Municipal Library in Prague. Virtual reality is intended for all readers, but children should be over six years old. Then they can also try VR accompanied by their parents. It is said that mini-games inspired by the work of librarians or the library’s past tend to be successful with children.

Last year, 2,300 people visited the virtual reality at MKP, it was on display at the library's stand at the ComicCon 2024 festival, and a virtual reality day was also held at the Petřiny branch. You can also visit it at the library: "information on who interested parties can contact can be found on the library's website, but we also have it posted at the branch," concludes the head of the Smíchov branch of the library.

…even for those who can’t normally get to it
When a reader can’t go to the library for virtual reality, virtual reality will come to them. The Prague City Library has established cooperation with retirment homes and a number of other organizations. “We cooperate extensively with the "Jedlička Institute" (medical and educational institute specialized in the care of disabled children and adults), where our lecturers used to travel with virtual reality,” says Martina Šedová. After all, clients of the Jedlička Institute even had several exhibitions of paintings that they created thanks to the VR application. “We also do projects for seniors in cooperation with the National Institute of Mental Health, such as memory training,” says M. Šedová, adding that virtual reality has been shown to help improve seniors’ memory.

Another large group of users is the Ukrainian minority. By the way, one of the key people in the project is a Ukrainian expert who works as a virtual reality administrator at MKP. He helped set up and fix errors in the Visiolibrum application. “If something goes wrong in the Visiolibrum app, I fix it,” virtual reality expert Tim Voronkin sums up his role with a smile and succinctly. The position of virtual reality coordinator at the Prague Municipal Library was created thanks to a project financed by the EEA and Norway Grants. However, virtual reality and its coordinator remain in the library even after its completion.

 

Courses and creation in VR

The library organizes various workshops and courses through virtual reality. For example, painting courses in virtual reality. “I am also a lecturer of a course for Ukrainian teenagers. The course teaches how to draw in virtual reality, use various instruments, and make your own project,” describes Tim Voronkin about his second role. VR, like any new technology, is very interesting and attractive to young people.
Several courses have already been held in the library. The paintings created during the courses can then be seen in the library on Mariánské náměstí, or in the virtual gallery Visiolibrum.

Books that came to life

Students share their impressions of the virtual reality painting course with us: “I like it, it’s something new, a new experience. I also like painting, so I enjoy it,” says Zlatosalva. In the virtual drawing course, the theme of which is characters from books, she painted a gray cat with blue eyes. Her goal was to portray it half realistically, half like an animated painting.
“I painted a character from Harry Potter – a mythical animal, the hippogriff called Buckbeak. I chose him because I like unusual animals and I like Harry Potter,” says Kateřina, another participant, for whom this is also her first experience with virtual reality, and she also praises the lecturer Tim.
Vlada is also enthusiastic about drawing in virtual reality: “I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never seen you paint in the air,” adds the young artist. The works of these aspiring painters will also be available for download in the aforementioned virtual gallery as part of the Books That Came to Life series.

Virtual reality art: Kateřina and her Buckbeak, Zlatoslava drew a blue-eyed cat

Library as a bearer of new technologies

"We are very grateful to the Norwegian project partner, before the start and during the project, our Norwegian colleagues inspired us a lot," says Martina Šedová, praising the cooperation with the library in Trondheim, Norway. The library coped with the challenge of introducing new technology into a traditional institution in a first-class manner.
"We are happy to be able to offer virtual reality. It is another of the innovations that our users can try out. As an institution, the library also wants to bring modern and yet untested forms of education," says the head of the Smíchov branch, J. Bolek. According to the project manager, thanks to the project, many library employees have realized that virtual reality does not have to be something so distant and that their role can also be to educate people in digital literacy.

Martina Šedová, VR project coordinator at the Municipal Library in Prague, filming an interview

 

About the project:

• Download the Visiolibrum App here: VR app - MLP
• Where to go to the library for virtual reality?: Virtual reality in library | MLP
• About the project - MLP web: Virtual reality in library | MLP
• About the project - EEA Grants web: Virtual model of the Main Building of the Municipal Library of Prague: a modern online experience and knowledge space

 

Project name:	Virtual model of the Main Building of the Municipal Library of Prague: a modern online experience and knowledge space
Project promoter:	Municipal Library in Prague
Project partners:	Trondheim folkebibliotek (Norway) Municipal museum of Prague
Program:	Culture
Grant:	6 625 000 CZK
Project objective:	To open the central building of the Municipal Library of Prague (MKP) to a new audience by converting it to virtual reality, satisfying the growing demand for online services and digital content. To introduce inaccessible areas of the library to the public. To create a virtual gallery serving for the effective organization of online exhibitions. Publishing outputs as for free use.