Collection windows

Over the past two decades, heritage institutions have digitized their collections on a large scale. This brings opportunities to search and use the collections remotely. At the same time, the scale of digitization is so large that it becomes almost impossible for inexperienced searchers to grasp, let alone experience and fully use, the scale of the collections.

This presents challenges as heritage institutions have pursued fully digital services in Corona times. At the same time, we see that in the post-Corona era, people are again seeking more human contact. For example, visits to the building of libraries and museums are increasing again. This presents opportunities to explore how we can improve physical interaction with large-scale digital collections so that interested parties can increasingly better understand the scope, content and possibilities of the collections.

To this end, the KB, national library of the Netherlands, and TU Delft, want to investigate by design how to challenge and entice passers-by as they pass by to explore the digital collection. In doing so, they choose an approach that emphasizes participation and co-creation by creating an experimental environment in the public space at the entrance to the KB. In addition, they explore the possible institutional change in the KB's way of working and include this in the research process. They will describe the lessons learned in a publication, but they are mainly aiming for a presentation at Dutch Design Week 2024 and a final symposium.

The project

The Collections Window is a research project investigating the ways in which passersby physically interact with a digital collection. It consists of a prototype installation that offers a window on the KB's collection. A window that allows everyone to take a peek into another world. A world of literature, art & imagination.

One continuously investigates and monitors the interaction in the Collectives Window project by observing and analyzing; and how users give meaning to the collection they see and how to connect it to current social issues.

There will be €64,950 as a PPP program supplement.