The Musical Library : An Audible Browsing Experience

Abstract: Reports shows that the loan and visit statistics in our libraries are declining. During a research process, two major design openings was discovered: the categorization of books in libraries is vague and inadequate and the way of displaying books is not facilitating browsing activities. Through user-centered workshops and user tests a prototype library is developed. The Musical Library bases categories on mood and atmosphere and mediating them through music. The Musical Library is a concept that enables co-experience by inviting users to collectively create the playlist for the books, to give other users a feeling of the category. Findings from user tests show a positive change in the browsing behaviour.