Videos of student projects from Jeffrey Schnapp's "Library Test Kitchen" course

Watch videos of Library Test Kitchen student projects, including a WiFi cold spot, a Neo-Carrel sleeping chair, and “library friend” Biblio.

What form should Harvard libraries assume in the twenty-first century? Should they simply vanish into virtual desktops and merge into a timeless and placeless universal database? These are the questions that students in the course "Bibliotheca II: Library Test Kitchen," taught by professor of Romance languages and literatures Jeffrey Schnapp, tackled this past spring, and that culminated in a variety of student projects that “define new dimensions of the library experience.” (Learn more about the course, and about efforts across the University to bring digital advances to bear on the humanities, with these links.)

Below, watch videos on several of the projects, including a Neo-Carrel sleeping chair created by Graduate School of Design student Vera Baranova; a WiFi cold spot; and Biblio, a “library friend” that scans books, tracks and shares research, and even makes bibliographic recommendations for further study (both projects created by Ben Brady, M.Arch ’12).

&nbsp">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yWLo9piwMc] 

 

Related topics

You might also like

Five Questions with Michèle Duguay

A Harvard scholar of music theory on how streaming services have changed the experience of music

Harvard Faculty Discuss Tenure Denials

New data show a shift in when, in the process, rejections occur

Five Questions with Andrew Knoll

A paleontologist on how to understand Earth’s biggest extinction event

Most popular

Harvard Students, Alumna Named Rhodes and Marshall Scholars

Nine Rhodes and five Marshall scholars will study in the U.K. in 2026.

Explore More From Current Issue

Wadsworth House with green shutters and red brick chimneys, surrounded by trees and other buildings.

Wadsworth House Nears 300

The building is a microcosm of Harvard’s history—and the history of the United States.

A woman (Julia Child) struggles to carry a tall stack of books while approaching a building.

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The rise of Cambridge cyclists, a lettuce boycott, and Julia Child’s cookbooks

A diverse group of adults and children holding hands, standing on varying levels against a light blue background.

Why America’s Strategy For Reducing Racial Inequality Failed

Harvard professor Christina Cross debunks the myth of the two-parent Black family.