Tag Archives: vr

New Tech and VR kit options from the Indiana State Library

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Ch-ch-ch-changes. The Indiana State Library’s Professional Development Office has updated our circulating technology and virtual reality kits! Tech and VR kits can be checked out for up to 30 days and be used in patron programming.

Tech Kit
The Tech Kits are filled with technology and robotics devices that can be used with your patrons. Reservations for the kits can be made online. Public libraries that would like to check out the Tech Kit need to complete the online Moodle course “Tech Kit Training.” The course can be taken at your own pace, is worth one TLEU and must be completed before reserving the kit. You’ll need to create a free Moodle account to access the training. Tech kits can be checked out for up to 30 days, will be sent through InfoExpress and will arrive in two clear totes.

Tech Kits contain one each of the following:

  • Bloxels
  • Code and Go Robot Mouse Activity Set
  • Cubelets
  • Dash Robot
  • Dash Challenge Cards
  • Lego WeDo
  • Snap Circuits
  • Squishy Circuits
  • Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit

VR Kit
The State Library now has Oculus 2 virtual reality equipment! The kit can be checked out for up to 30 days and can be used for patron programing. To check out the kit, you’ll need to contact your regional coordinator to schedule an in-person training when the kit is dropped off. You can learn more about the Oculus Quest 2 here.

The kit comes with:

If you’d like to learn more about the Tech and VR kits, as well as the NASA@MyLibrary STEM kits and Breakout Boxes, check out our Continuing Education website.

This blog post was written by Courtney Brown, Southeast regional coordinator from the Indiana State Library’s Professional Development Office. For more information, email Courtney.

Virtual reality (augmented reality): The next step in information evolution

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From oral traditions to pictographs to manuscripts to mass production printing, humans have always looked for the best way to share stories with the most number of people in the most effective way. We have adapted to use different media to tell our stories and virtual reality and augmented reality are the next media platforms.

Libraries have long been a place to try out new technologies before they become household items. Remember when Bill Gates gave us all those PCs?

Immersive experiences can provide safe training spaces (imagine performing surgery without having to risk a patient), increase empathy (imagine literally viewing the world through the eyes of a person who is homeless) and let one travel without limits (imagine taking a field trip to the moon—walking in Neil Armstrong’s footsteps).

The HTC Vive is one of the first commercially available VR headsets and one of the most high-end platforms available. Because it’s more than just a headset, users experience more immersive activities because the handheld controllers are tracked as well as the head.

The following programs help to get a feel for what VR can be:

  • Tilt brush – 3-D art you can create and interact with
  • Google Earth – visit anywhere the Google cameras have been
  • The Body VR – learn about biological systems as if you were in the Fantastic Voyage
  • SoundStage – virtual sound equipment to create music

As patrons start to see VR depicted in more areas of life (“Ready Player One” hits theaters in March 2018), providing the unique experience of actually being a participant in VR will be an exciting opportunity for Hoosiers in every community.

The HTC Vive Virtual Reality Kit is available for check out by libraries eligible for Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grants through the Indiana State Library (ISL), including school and academic libraries, as well as any public library that meets standards. The kit is available for a loan period of three months and will be delivered and set up by ISL staff who can train up to six staff members at the time of delivery. Libraries can return the kit to ISL after use or schedule a time for an ISL staff person to pick it up. The kit cannot be shipped through InfoExpress. Libraries are encouraged to develop programming around the kit to share with patrons. The HTC Vive Virtual Reality Kit can be scheduled by contacting your regional coordinator.

HTC Vive Virtual Reality Kit components:

  • 1 set of HTC Vive Virtual Reality equipment (including head set, 2 hand controllers, 2 light houses, and cables)
  • 2 tripods for the lighthouses
  • 1 computer (not wireless compatible)
  • 1 keyboard
  • 1 mouse

Funding for this project is from the Institute of Museum and Library Service under the provisions of the LSTA.

VR in libraries:
Public Libraries Online  – provides programming ideas
California’s Virtual Reality Experience  – installed VR systems in over half of the public library jurisdictions in underserved communities
Graduate Research Intern, Diana Hellyar

This blog post was written by Wendy Knapp, associate director of statewide services.