[youtube]http://youtu.be/tUR3mEp26eE[/youtube] Welcome to the Book Hive, a large-scale interactive sculpture created by Rusty Squid to celebrate 400 years of public libraries in Bristol, UK. The Hive is a swarm of animated books within hexagonal cells that open and close. The Hive will continue to expand until it contains 400 books, one for each year. The project was funded by Arts Council England, whose regional director Phil Gibby states: We believe that everyone, particularly children and young people, should have the opportunity to experience the richness of the arts, museums and libraries, and by supporting excellent projects like Book Hive, we can bring together the...
The "bookBot" invades the library
Carl Piraneo works at the "bookBot" at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Photo: Allen Breed / APThe library is a changing and I trust it is going to look a lot like the new James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Carolina State University.Designed by the Oslo-based firm Snohetta, the 5-story library includes little of what one would expect in a traditional library.Yes, there is an area within the library that houses about 40,000 books. The rest, all 1.5 million of them, are housed in 18,000 metal bins. Four robots navigate the bins to...