British Library Simulator (BL Labs Staff Award Joint Winner 2020)
Channel: British Library Labs
Date: 2020-12-15

BL Labs Staff Award Winner 2020 by Giulia Carla Rossi, Curator, Digital Publications
Contemporary British, British Library

Giulia created the British Library Simulator in May 2020, during the period when the Library was closed to the public. The Simulator was made using Bitsy, and hosted on itch.io and promoted using the BL Digital Scholarship blog and other social media channels. The Simulator allows you to walk around the public spaces of the Library, visit a Reading Room, and see the basement (nearly). The project was both a response to the initial impact of lockdown, to continue to engage people with the Library in a fun way while access to the building was not possible, and also a way of drawing attention to the Library's collection activities around "emerging formats". Bitsy was deliberately chosen as a tool due to its democratic nature - the tool is relatively simple to learn and can be used by individuals without access to specialist software or equipment. We knew from previous projects that Bitsy was a popular and well-used tool for interactive story-telling in the UK, and we had been collecting examples in our Interactive Narratives Web Archive collection. 

The Simulator itself also referenced other Library collections, such as the UK Web Archive, Sounds, and the 'Our Story' section of the BL website. The Simulator was popular both with the public and Library staff. It has been viewed more than 5,000 times (with most use during the period when the Library was closed to the public), and attracted press attention in the UK and in Europe. Subsequent attention has come from another national library in Europe, and also a student and librarian in the US, who is preparing a Fulbright application to study interactive storytelling and games in the UK. Giulia followed up the Simulator by leading a Hack n Yack session on Bitsy for Library colleagues, and a BL colleague has produced a simulator for the Qatar Digital Library. 

The British Library simulator can be viewed at https://giuliac.itch.io/the-british-library-simulator and will also feature in the forthcoming 'Highlights' section of the BL website.

Giulia can be found on twitter https://twitter.com/giugimonogatari and https://www.bl.uk/people/experts/giulia-carla-rossi

Judges comments:
The simulator was created by Giulia in May 2020 using ‘Bitsy. It has been viewed more than 5,000 times (with most use during the period when the Library was closed to the public). It has attracted press attention in the UK and in Europe. Subsequent attention has come from another national library in Europe, and also a student and librarian in the US, who is preparing a Fulbright application to study interactive storytelling and games in the UK. 

Giulia followed up the Simulator by leading a Hack n Yack session organise by the Digital Scholarship team on Bitsy for Library colleagues,. A BL colleague has produced a simulator for the Qatar Digital Library as a result of this.

This was a unanimous favourite with the judging panel. Thank you Giulia for such a fun project.