CENIC Helps to Power Virtual Reality in California Libraries and Shape Workforce of Tomorrow

The American Library Association identified virtual reality as one of the top library technology trends for the future. At the same time, immersive experiences require increasing bandwidth and high-performance networks. In California, CENIC’s California Research and Education Network (CalREN) provides the needed speed for its members, which has included many more libraries after a major push by the state starting in 2013. “The CENIC network is changing the possibilities for services that libraries can offer,” said Sara Jones, a former state librarian who is now Califa president and director of the Marin County Free Library. “VR is a key example of that.”

Slow Internet is one of the biggest barriers to offering VR. While slow connections allow low-quality VR video to be gradually uploaded, streaming lag times affect the user’s visual experience and can result in motion sickness. CENIC’s fiber optic network provides the high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity for reliable VR programming.

Jones shared Marin County libraries’ VR success story at CENIC’s 2019 conference. Marin piloted VR technology in 2016 for the California Virtual Reality Experience, an initiative to install VR systems in underserved communities in more than half of the state’s 184 public library jurisdictions. Now, three years into the initiative, it’s wildly popular. California’s program has expanded to Washington and Nevada. “When we first went to professional conferences, we used to have one or two people in the audience using VR,” Jones said. “Now, at least 75% are using VR in their libraries. Adoption is really growing.”

Revolutionizing Library Services

“XR” stands for extended reality, an industry term encompassing virtual reality, augmented reality, and 360-degree video. XR Marin is a collaboration between Marin County Free Library; XRLibraries, a company launched in 2016 as the project coordinator for the California Virtual Reality Experience; Novato Unified School District; and Marin County Office of Education. The libraries host a variety of XR programs: school field trips, after-school programs, summer camps, career and technical training, story times, art classes, and gaming. The hope is that young people who are exposed to new technologies early and often will go on to leverage such tools throughout their education, and one day become researchers and inventors in such areas as medical applications, climate research, and industry.

Children listen to a story while inside a three-dimensional world. Teens and adults create and print 3D models and sculptures, design 3D video games, and produce 360-degree video tours of cultural sites and historic places. Educational programs allow students to go inside of a human cell, join prehistoric dinosaurs for a walk, and tour the International Space Station.

Tech-savvy teens work for the library as “XR Stars,” helping patrons use the equipment. The XR Marin Regional Training Center provides workforce training in VR content creation. Marin libraries provide outreach bringing VR equipment to schools, senior centers, the county fair, and even to people displaced by deadly wildfires last fall. “It gave wildfire evacuees a few moments of being able to forget their own reality and have a good time,” Jones said.

Marin libraries got VR equipment from HTC Vive and content from XR Libraries, which also offers tools and instruction for VR content creation, professional development, a community forum for users, and a gallery for people to show off their work. “XR libraries is a whole community of practice and people can join even if they bought all their own equipment,” Jones said. “Everyone has the same goal: better adoption and better sharing of this technology to support libraries and education.”

Partnering to Expand Learning Opportunities

Virtual reality programs continue to grow in popularity and it’s easy to see why. Jones pointed to several success stories. A teenage girl who enrolled in a VR content creation summer camp initially said she was forced to sign up and planned to quit after the first day. “She ended up staying all three weeks,” Jones said. “She borrowed the cameras and filmed her family’s farm.”

Logan, a student with autism, who has been unable to answer questions for most of his life and instead repeats the question, began responding when immersed in a virtual world. Logan has continued to show increased articulation in the real world, enabling him to make choices and advocate for himself. “It was one of very few times, if not ever, when they asked him, ‘Logan, what do you see?’ and he responded: ‘I see fish.’"

Jones is putting together a national conference about virtual reality programming in libraries. She hopes bringing stakeholders together will result in grant funding, discounted pricing on equipment, and other opportunities to expand VR programs. “When we put our resources together, as CENIC does or like these programs do, we become so much more powerful to everybody,” she said. Work is underway to connect all of California’s libraries — most at gigabit speeds — to CENIC’s cost-effective network, enabling many new innovations, and perhaps nurturing the next generation of innovators.

Libraries interested in implementing VR programming may contact XR Libraries at info@xrlibraries.com. The Institute of Museum and Library Services offers several types of grants aimed at increasing the amount of online content and services that libraries offer.

Watch the panel discussion, “Beyond Connectivity: Reimagining Public Libraries as Platforms for Learning and Innovation,” and check out more content from the 2019 CENIC Conference.