Information technology and libraries: Plunge in digital world in the National Library of France laboratory

It has been two weeks that a new lab of modern technologies is open in the National Library of France. On the area of 120 m2, occupying the western wing of the Library, the latest digital technologies for further application in libraries are being studied.

‘Numerous applications are meant to simplify the work of students and researches’, - believes the lab director Bruno Rivers. Among the latest novelties: electronic leafs, touch-sensitive board and robots.

The only specimen of the touch-sensitive board in Europe is here: in USA the same one is used by President B. Obama in the White House. It enables the user to zoom the images, read texts, listen to music, access the Internet, etc. Several users can work on it simultaneously.

As to the electronic leaf, the thickness of which is just a little bit more than that of a paper one, it could become a revolutionary step for the press and a possible solution for crisis: it could be edited and reedited limitlessly through wi-fi. This device is fed by a battery or solar sensors.