Rare thing: augmented reality opens the windows of the TSU library

TOMSK, Jun 17 – RIA Tomsk. To thumb through the centuries-old book and examine close notes of the author in the margins – such chance is given to everyone by the augmented reality technologies used in Research Library of Tomsk State University (SL TSU). About rare books in the "digital" format – in the material of RIA Tomsk.

Research Library of Tomsk State University was opened in 1888 simultaneously with the university. As indicated on its website, upon receipt of the first book collections, luxury publications were placed in special cabinets. In 1914, these windows were installed in a special room built for the library building. Since then, it stuck the name "Showcase Room". It was intended for a rare fund.

The modern "Showcase Room" – is the Book Museum of Research Library of Tomsk State University. Its exhibits include unique manuscripts relating to the initial period of the history of Siberia and Tomsk, Western European and Slavic-Russian books of the 15th-16th centuries, and many others.

Without harm to the book

"Our museum collections – are books which need to be cherished and preserved. Rare books, of course, we don’t give to flipping through, because fingerprints and interaction with human skin are destructive for them", – the deputy director of the Research Library of Tomsk State University (RL TSU) Tatyana Polezhaeva told RIA Tomsk.

Save books and at the same time give them into the hands of visitors – this issue was solved with the help of augmented reality technology. The university's IT partners have developed software which allows "to thumb through" rare publications on library tablets.

"We can virtually take in hand "The Encyclopedia, or the Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts", which publishers were Denis Diderot and Jean D'Alembert (XVIII century), "Saint Petersburg Vedomosti" in 1796. To make this possible, we digitized many rare editions stored in the library. It is possible to see them in the "digital format" in the Museum of the book, as well as on the website of the RL TSU", – says Polezhaeva.

Books which are available for viewing in this way are marked with special cards with an encrypted code. It takes only a few seconds to access the digital version of the rare copy.

History in 3D

During excursions, the staff of the RL TSU Book Museum tell visitors about the history of printing. The tablet helps them to demonstrate in action an old typographic machine that most of us have never seen. We point the camera at a card with a code, wait a few seconds, and see how the 3D model of the machine works.

"The project on the use of technologies of augmented reality will be expanded. In the near future, it will be replenished with new scanned books. Also we plan to make a mobile version of the application: visitors will be able to download it to their smartphones and "thumb through" books on their own, to study the work of a printing machine", – summarizes Polezhaeva.