The Application of Procedurally Generated Libraries in Immersive Virtual Reality

Abstract

While digital libraries offer essential benefits for the digital age such as constant availability and accessibility, they often fail in providing a similarly enjoyable browsing experience that benefits engagement and serendipitous exploration inherent to traditional library experiences. In this paper, we propose a virtual reality (VR) library environment that emulates a traditional library promoting an engaging browsing experience that benefits browsing enjoyment and serendipity. The implemented system uses procedural content generation to dynamically generate a library-like environment, wherein each room corresponds to a specific category of the digital library. To assess the usability of the implemented system, we conducted an A/B study comparing the VR environment with the web interface of Project Gutenberg. The results of the study suggest that while the physical demand for using the VR environment is higher, the system can significantly benefit the browsing experience and entice users’ curiosity. Furthermore, the study suggests that the system can increase user engagement and users generally felt that using the system was rewarding.