BOGPAUSENFrancesco Saverio Mondelli

Jacob Sikker Remin

Ane Eline Sørensen

What it is? Bogpausen is an extension of the library into the public space. It is an easy to browse and easy to use bookshelf being set up outside the library, where people have their daily routines.

How does it work?, Bogpausen consists of a

cycle of satellite library shelves. It starts with

the library collecting and choosing from its ar-

chive books, magazines, videos and CDs which

are considered as “good reads.” “Good reads”

are defi ned as a mix of classics and newer

classics, books / media that have value, but not

the newest blockbusters.

The material is set into small shelves and deliv-

ered to different subscribers, such as institu-

tions or private companies. Once the shelves

and the content are delivered the library keeps

the content updated, moving it from shelf to

shelf and constantly adding new elements.

What were your key learnings? Discovering the

complexity and beauty of the Danish library

system. Seeing how diffi cult it is not only to

create good services, but also to make them

visible and accepted.

Who is it for? Bogpausen has the aim to involve

people who usually don’t have time to go to the

library or don’t even know about the variety of

content the library can provide. Our research

has shown that once a person stops going to

the library, it becomes less present in that

person’s mind. We hope that Bogpausen can

bring back the presence of books and the joy of

reading to peoples lives.

Why is it valuable? The library’s goal is to

reach every person at least once a week and

the Bogpausen expands the boundaries of

the library into those spaces belonging to the

ordinary daily life of all citizens. In this way it

offers the library a possibility to reach those

users who have no relationship to the library at

all.

Bogpausen frees up valuable storage space for

the libraries and allows the library to create an

experience that focuses more on quality than

quantity.

Additionally, adding a Bogpausen shelf to a

company might be incentive for workers to

share experiences, ideas, form book clubs, and

strengthen the community feeling within the

company.

W1

The context The library is an historic

institution, it has always been there to store

and share human knowledge, but it is also

an institution changing and challenged by

modern technology. It was very diffi cult to

comprehend how vast and enormous the

system is, hidden behind the familiar dusty

shelves we are used to.

Approaching and analyzing this universe

gives immense possibilities of development

and exploration but it is as complex as it is

inviting.

Facing this system has inspired each of us

to embrace all its elements and try to fi nd

an appealing hot spot to consider, analyze

and develop.

User insight After the exploration phase

and the division into smaller groups, the

process changed from a general approach

to a more focused view of the system and

the different stakeholders.

The different backgrounds of the actors

pushed us towards an open fi eld explora-

tion, which consequently led to the fi rst

rough ideas: Considering the library outside

the library, merging its branches amongst

the people all around the city.

W2

First concepts We hosted a series of

brainstorming sessions in which we invited

classmates to join in on the concept gener-

ation. This gave us a complete wall of crazy

and creative ideas; sketches and thoughts

to get inspired from.

Clustering, tiling, tagging and moving them

around the wall made us focus on different

themes, and some ideas stood out for fur-

ther investigation. The following are some of

those ideas:

Just be your shelf! Visualization of which

books you are made off.

Pull-down privacy pods Have privacy even

in a crowded place like libraries.

Kit of the day Why not propose a book, a

CD and a movie related all together.

Give it to your neighbors! Before the loan

ends, pass it on to your neighbor.

W3

Follow my life strategy The library knows

important changes in your life, and can sug-

gest related reading for new situations.

Audio books in trees Books read aloud

from trees in public parks.

Data visualization Showing the content of

the library on the outside of the library.

Context visualization Connect different

books and media across the Dewey decimal

system.

Borrow an offi ce The library as an exten-

sion of you working environment, offering

meeting facilities, workshop spaces etc.

Library on the road The library comes to

you, where you are.

Experience prototyping We realized that the

best support for our concept was to create

an inviting and joyful browsing experience.

Furthermore it should be easy to transport

and set up.

As a prototyping environment we chose a

kindergarten, reaching the parents coming

to pick up their kids. We thought this a

perfect testing scenario. We gave ourselves

a very limited time frame (everything

happens in less than 10 minutes, in which

W4parents arrive, wait for the kids and go

away), and a small space (the waiting room).

If our concept could work here, it could

work most places.

We set up the shelf with 24 elements (20

books, 3 DVDs and 1 CD) and promoted

the service through small pamphlets and

personal welcoming on the fi rst day of the

service.

The feedback was extremely good, many

people immediately started browsing the

shelf and really appreciated the effort of the

library to get closer to their life and daily

habits. By the end of the day the fi rst books

started to disappear from the shelf.

Solution concept When introducing

the service, we received very positive

feedback from the fi rst people approaching

Bogpausen. By Wednesday in the fi nal week

we received confi rmation of that feedback:

More than 35% of the content of the shelf

was taken in less then 3 days!

It is great for the group to know that the

service we created has been accepted and

seems to be working. It now feels natural

to think about a wider and more polished

experimentation in more scenarios side by

side with the Copenhagen Library.

A lot of focus should be put on designing

and optimizing the backstage of the service.

After many debates the overall view of the

service cycle, and through sketching it in

video, we reached some relevant technical

elements that need to be explored further:

W5

Fantastic opening promotion Bogpausen

shelves placed around public spaces in the

city?

Refi nement of selection process How do

we defi ne the “good reads” better? And can

we possibly automate the sorting process?

Recycling the book buses Recently

the “Book Bus” service of Copenhagen

has been canceled. Could we somehow

integrate these in our service?

On the road sorting Refi ning and

automating on the road sorting, to help the

librarian speed up the service.

Book trading Could we somehow

implement the books of the users by

allowing them to drop off used books in

Bogpausen shelves?

In this scenario Bogpausen is

requested by an employee to his

boss to get a healthier nuance in

his daily working routine.

As soon as the shelf is delivered

a new social space is born.

The backstage explanation of

how the Bogpausen service

works.

A close up to the sorting “on

the road” system of Bogpausen.

Most of the tasks are infact

operated in the book-van.