Mixed Library - Bridging Real And Virtual Libraries

New technologies, especially mixed reality devices, such as Microsoft HoloLens, are blurring the difference between the real and virtual worlds. These developments provide an exciting opportunity to redefine virtual library while maintaining utility and effectiveness. Developing a mixed library system requires identifying the set of services to be supported by the system and identifying well-defined service protocols. We describe a mixed reality based system, a prototype mixed library, that provides a variety of affordances to support embodied interactions and improve the user experience. By leveraging embodiment and context awareness, a mixed reality based user interface can provide many ways to aid a user. We use Microsoft HoloLens device to augment the user's experience in the real library and to provide a rich set of affordances for embodied and social interactions. In addition, the user can also access services of the virtual library when not in the real library.