British Library x Google

Using existing digital tools to

refresh the pages and narrative of the British Library

Overview

In order to keep up with the changing times, the British library sought to find a new group of users. The British Library is an institution that holds complicated texts with long histories that only appeal to a specific group of academics. We activated Google Employees, where the Google office is in the proximity of the British Library. We created a new way to adapt books, using Google platforms as the structure. Highlights from the British Library’s treasure room and iconic British literature were chosen and match them to various Google products to enhance the narratives of the books. Having the Google interface gives employees a familiar feel and able to provide books for them to escape their busy work life.

Produced in collaboration with Daphne H-J, Sydney Nagahiro, Soojin Yeo, Vanessa Van, Yeijing Kang

A digital story

The narrative embedded in Google Apps are available on an online bookshelf

How the story works

The project examines the British Library’s old text to identify its uniqueness and importance. Using coding, Aftereffects and Photoshop, we “secretly smuggle” the literature’s characters and voices into the Google interface.

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User research

on British Library

To understand the users of this institution more in-depth, the project adopts methods from the cultural probe to surveying with diagrams. We identify workers in the knowledge quarter as non- users of the institution.

Working proposals

The project has tested out a variety of methods and outcomes to engage with the non-user before focusing on using Google tools to tell stories of old literature.