Lunyra Library
What is the best way to store knowledge, and what is the best way to make it accessible? Most contemporaries would answer these questions with the phrase “make it digital.” In fact, nations like Sweden have changed their education system to make use of this technology, trading books for tablets. During the Covid pandemic, the whole world was forced to go even further by staying at home. What has been called the future of schooling turned out to have backfired. Apart from myopia and deficient social skills in the case of remote work, even the minor Swedish changes significantly dropped the skill levels of students over the last decade¹. This led the Scandinavian nation to reintroduce the printed form. With fewer distractions, haptic feedback, and the ability to make sketches, the future doesn’t look so futuristic after all. But what if you could reinvent this age-old technology?
Before there were books, papyrus rolls were the most reliable information storage technique. In fact, one could argue that their design is even more intuitive than the book. If folded out, and if the ancients only wrote on one side, these objects have a singular surface to them in which all the information can be connected². It is not possible in a physical book to have all pages open at the same time, which may lead to unnecessary effort when having to connect the dots. The design principle of WYSIATI (What you see is all there is) is broken. But is this a bad thing?
Even though the book itself is fragmented in its presentation, if viewed as a single information source, determined by the object and position in physical space, similar to single letters, a new meaning is created. The trained reader doesn’t read single letters but whole words or even phrases. That is why, as long as the first and last letters stay in their position, the remaining ones can be mixed wildly: “Tihs sweoh the adtaplbaiity of our bairns.”³
The story might also continue after the last page as human civilization continues to create new writing, building on the ones that came before.
These insights should give us ideas on how to arrange the content within Lunyra Library.
While it is impossible to present the sum of all knowledge or even to find an objective rating system for which books are included, we aim to offer visitors the most intuitive grasp of the most important texts ever written. Going from the library's point of view to the reader's, it is also impossible for them to read 1% of what we offer⁴. But they can get a grasp of how industrious Shakespeare has been by taking a walk to his shelf and reading a random passage. Or, if they want to be more specific, using the Lunyra application on their virtual lens to quickly search for “Shakespeare passages in which a main character is killed.” Dots appear on the found content with lines leading to it. Once the book is taken out, an arrow is displayed on the edge, easily guiding the budding playwright to the dramatic passages. Because Shakespeare uses words that are unfamiliar to non-English literature students, our app features the LookUp function. Simply holding the finger below the word “Puissance” will display the meaning “Power or might” with an example sentence that is contextually relevant.⁵
The physicality separates the book and the roll from digital devices, which have to simulate their abstract content in single stills. Instead of turning the page, which keeps both pages in the reader's hand, a digital device replaces one page with the other, breaking the spatial consistency. It also makes a real library more interesting than a digital one.
If the book is superior to all other forms of text storage when it comes to humans, libraries should reflect their importance and enhance the joy of reading. The Lunyra Library aims at doing that with five points.
1. The Building
Like a plant bearing fruit in soil, the Lunyra Library's shape is purposefully unfinished, suggesting growth. It is made up of two circles, one slightly larger than the other, that are joined together, creating an amoeboid shape. A visitor walks from the smaller circle, which features the lounge, to the main hall and various other rooms in the large circle. One giant glass dome at the top of the building creates an open space that is used for cultural events. The dome also includes a small museum by the Lunyra City Archive that features a directory of every mayor of the city and the property directory. Key events of the city's development are displayed in a visual form.
2. Standardized Books
All books inside the Lunyra Library fall into three sizes: A5, A4, and A3. Using a new material for binding, our books combine the lightness of paperbacks with the durability of hardcovers.
A problem for standardization concerns the practice of making the page count the important factor in the book overview. While useful for navigating the text, it distorts the true length and complexity of the content. Books use different font sizes, line spacing, and indents. When translated to a different language, the page count is not uniform, as words like “beaucoup” take longer to write than “very.”⁵ Even more distortion occurs once the text is digitized and the reader chooses a different sized font. We, therefore, propose counting the characters of each book and simplifying them. By using a standard A5 paper with 12 pt text and regular spaces as a reference for one sage, astronomical character counts are avoided.
A children's book with 200 pages and a lot of illustrations could have the same sage count as a short novella with 50 pages—approximately 45 sages. Because visual information also takes time to process, sage counts are usually avoided for art books and graphic novels.
These counts are especially useful when switching from the printed form to the digital one. On the devices, it is possible to change the font by switching between 0.5, 1, 1.5, or 2 sages. The sage count stays consistent and is indicated by a bar whose size is dependent on the book's length.
3. Closeness vs. Distance
The Lunyra Library provides both enhanced concentration when being surrounded by other silent visitors in the main hall and the ability to communicate in the lounge to attend events or chat with people walking by. The lounge has a vast collection of international magazines and a coffee shop to stir up the conversations. Furthermore, next to the main hall, there are project rooms, separated with a glass door and only accessible to single teams working on a project of their choice. These rooms can be rented months in advance or, if one is lucky, spontaneously. For visitors who need to communicate with people abroad, work rooms are available. With the Lunyra app, it is possible to order books to one's room. The automated sorting system is made up of humanoid robots and invisible conveyor belts.
Because reading over long periods of time is straining to the eyes and sitting in a completely sterile environment can be disheartening, most places inside the Library should offer a view of the distance in which natural movements can be observed. These natural movements can be as simple as the movement of the sun through large windows or the flow of a stream that connects different parts of the library. However, they should not be distracting, which is why fast or eye-catching elements are to be avoided.
4. Living Authors
By placing a book on the round table in the author's room, a hologram of the author will appear in front of you. She will answer your questions concerning the book and her life's work. The AI model is trained by questions the author received over several weeks from our library staff. Authors may repeat the examination every five years, making it possible for people to choose between an author at different stages in her life. By creating the AI models at the same time for various authors, comparisons about current events, which might become historic events, are much more concrete. Apart from the five-year circles, short examinations are also done when new works are published, and the memory of the writing process is still fresh. These models are merged with the nearest long examination if views have not changed significantly.
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¹See PISA study.
²If the ancient wrote on both sides, a Möbius strip and at least two mirrors would be necessary.
³As long as the words are not too long and commonly used. "Tihs dmeonrstaets humnakidns sohpitsacdoeh cgiotivne cpalbitiiaes." requires more effort.
⁴Although advanced life extension technologies might change that.
“Cousin, go draw our puissance together” King John
⁵While taking the same time to speak, making the French language inefficient but more esthétique.
