Books Make Friends – The National Library of The Netherlands kicks off a second collaboration with KABK

On Monday, 21 February 2022, students from the Master Non Linear Narrative and the Bachelor Interactive / Media / Design departments of the Royal Academy of Art visited the National Library of The Netherlands (Koninklijke Bibliotheek). This day we organized a kick-off for a semester-long collaboration, during which students will research the library’s comprehensive catalogue of alba amicorum (friendship books) with a view to making these resources accessible to a wider audience (like e.g. other makers, creative users). These projects are a follow-up to the project with the KABK’s IAFD department.

The kick-off started on site, with presentations by several restoration experts. These talks were followed by a guided tour of the library’s large-scale storage depot. The program was completed by talks on user accessibility within an open digital context. In order to understand the significance of the alba amicorum collection and gain insight into how archives can function as a source of inspiration for new cultural creativity, students attended presentations by Rianne Koning, Coordinator Public Programming, Jeroen Vandommele, Curator Modern Manuscripts, Sophie Reinders, Assistant Professor at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen and Dick van Dijk, Creative Director at Waag Society. 

[Photo credits: Roel Backaert]

KB depot
KB restoration atelier
Presentation by Sophie Reinders
Presentation by Dick van Dijk
Presentation by Jeroen Vandommele

KB x NLN + IMD – Midterm presentation

April 4, 2022 @ 10:00 17:00

Midterm presentation by NLN and IMD students of their concepts and prototypes.

Rianne Koning

KB, National Library of The Netherlands

Prins Willem-Alexanderweg
Den Haag, Zuid-Holland 2595 BE
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KB x NLN + IMD – Kick-off

February 21, 2022 @ 12:30 17:30

Kick-off in the KB Atelier, including guided tours through the KB depots, restoration atelier and an presentation with the most wonderful alba amicora. Dick van Dijk (Waag Society) and Sophie Reinders (Neerlandica) will give presentations about Heritage in contemporary debates and female alba.

Rianne Koning

KB, National Library of The Netherlands

Prins Willem-Alexanderweg
Den Haag, Zuid-Holland 2595 BE
+ Google Map
View Venue Website

Friends from the past, alba amicorum [2021/2022]

A collaboration between the National Library of the Netherlands (KB) and the Royal Academy of Art (KAKB), The Hague.

15 graduating students of the Interior Architecture and Furniture Design department developed interactive spatial experiences for the visitors of the KB by exploring the unique collection of the alba amicorum, the friendship books from the 16th century and beyond, which can be seen as predecessors of today’s social media.

Film credits: Medina Resic

Friend from the past – Poster

This poster is one of the deliverables of the project with the IAFD students. All 5 projects are summarized in this poster. Credits for the production of this leaflet goes to: Tariq Heijboer & Anne van den Dool, commissioned by the National Library of The Netherlands (KB).

Haagse Bakjes

The «Haagse Bakjes» concept exposes a fundamental role of the library. That of being a neutral space where all opinions and viewpoints are archived, but readily available. Situated near the coffee machine the concept highlights one topic, but offers an environment of perspectives for reading and discussing while people enjoy a coffee break.

Student team: Isabella Boezel, Kathleen Panariti, Levie van der Heijde, Nova Meijer, Sonia Alarcon Segarra

In the 2021-2022 edition of the Interactive Environments minor they collaborated with the KB National Library to develop 5 concepts as an answer to the following design brief. Traditionally, libraries are strongholds for people who enjoy consuming tangible content. However nowadays, more and more content is being published digitally and analogue collections are being digitalised. And thus, the question arises: how can libraries adapt and thrive in the future, while also bridging the gap between their physical and digital collections and spaces?

Roots

The «Roots» concept envisions that the digital collection actually overgrows the physical books and furniture in the library. A library visitor can easily bump into data from the growing digital collection and become inspired in the same way as if they were browsing the physical versions of the books.

Student team: Agnes Lee, Anna Belenguer Martí, Lonneke Visser, Meryem Maskouri, Nathan Douenburg, Pien Adank

In the 2021-2022 edition of the Interactive Environments minor they collaborated with the KB National Library to develop 5 concepts as an answer to the following design brief.

Traditionally, libraries are strongholds for people who enjoy consuming tangible content. However nowadays, more and more content is being published digitally and analogue collections are being digitalised. And thus, the question arises: how can libraries adapt and thrive in the future, while also bridging the gap between their physical and digital collections and spaces?

MEMO

The MEMO concept aims to attract interest for the library through examples. A visitor can pick up an audio playback shell at the entrance and walk through the library tuning in to several stories as told by the voices of another visitor. The stories relate to personal experiences with the library.

Student team: Isa van Gameren, Katarina Pinto, Loïs Epskamp, Nadyne Aretz, Shiva Aghaei, Sijmen de Vries

Interactive Environments Minor 2021/2022

In the 2021-2022 edition of the Interactive Environments minor they collaborated with the KB National Library to develop 5 concepts as an answer to the following design brief. Traditionally, libraries are strongholds for people who enjoy consuming tangible content. However nowadays, more and more content is being published digitally and analogue collections are being digitalised. And thus, the question arises: how can libraries adapt and thrive in the future, while also bridging the gap between their physical and digital collections and spaces?

KY – O – MI

The KY-O-MI concept makes it possible for the library to expose their digital collection at a satellite location. For example, at the train station or during an event at a university. The inflatable installation creates two access point to the digital collection of the library to allow data exploration in a social setting.

Student team: Dorrit Huijskes, Eva Jonkers, Gloria Orcan, Kenwyn Hoefnagel, Loes de Vries, Vivian Nguyen

Interactive Environments minor edition 2021-2022

In the 2021-2022 edition of the Interactive Environments minor they collaborated with the KB National Library to develop 5 concepts as an answer to the following design brief. Traditionally, libraries are strongholds for people who enjoy consuming tangible content. However nowadays, more and more content is being published digitally and analogue collections are being digitalised. And thus, the question arises: how can libraries adapt and thrive in the future, while also bridging the gap between their physical and digital collections and spaces?

First results of the KABK students in the ODL project

The first collaborative project with students from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) has been successfully completed. This collaboration, part of the Open Digital Libraries project, revolves around making the KB collection more visible and findable.

The first results

In recent months, the first group of fourth-year students from the Interior Architecture and Furniture Design bachelor’s program have been working on making the KB collection Alba Amicorum (friends’ books) attractive. The (digitized) seventeenth-century album by Jacob Heyblocq, rector of the Latin school of Amsterdam, is central to the research. From December 16 to December 23, the five installations are set up in the KB Atelier. On January 22, subject to possible corona measures, it is possible to view the results during the open day in the KABK.

Photography: Ira Grünberger
Photography: Ira Grünberger

Collaboration between TU Delft and KABK

In order to achieve the objectives, we have started a collaboration with TU Delft and KABK. Students from both programs dive into our digital datasets, our physical and digital collection (from Delpher, to manuscripts, to the web archive) and engage them in conversation with users, students. In this way they hope to be able to map out what national libraries can focus on when it comes to making the treasures that are preserved more visible and tangible. After all, how do you make it clear that the collections of national libraries are owned by and for everyone?

Photography: Ira Grünberger

The sequel

From January, a new group of KABK students will continue to work on the question of how a digital collection can be presented to the public. In due course we will share information on how you can get involved, view the results or think along with the students.